Questions for LACES training

University Center, Harford County

Nov. 12, 2014

  1. How important are goals?
  2. Which are important?
  3. Do we need to update at the completion of each semester and each placement? (especially for students who are continuing in same course, such as ESL multi-level)
  4. Is there a difference in goals mandated by LACES and those by the state of Maryland?

The Primary Outcomes (Enter Employment, Retain Employment, Obtain GED/Secondary School Credential, Enter Post-Secondary Education/Training) on NRS Tables 5, 8, 9, and 10 are now populated based on the Cohort folder, not the Goals folder. OCTAE changed to a cohort-based system from a goals system on July 1, 2012. You may continue entering the primary outcome goals into the goals folder if you want to for your own tracking purposes, or you may choose not to. You should still enter personal and state goals into the Goals folder.Additionally, the Secondary Outcomes on Table 11 (an optional table) still generate based on the Goals folder. The Table 11 outcomes are:

  • Achieved Work-Based Project Learning Goal
  • Left Public Assistance
  • Achieved Citizenship Skills
  • Increased Involvement in Children's Education
  • Increased Involvement in Children's Literacy Activities
  • Voted or Registered To Vote
  • Increased Involvement in Community Activities

The specific program goals for Table 8 (Family Literacy outcomes) are still generated from the Goals folder and should continue to be added manually. However, please note that many of the Family Literacy goals fall under umbrella goals such as Increase Involvement in Child(s) Literacy Activities or Increase Involvement in Child(s) Education. There is no need to enter all of the family literacy goals, as a student meeting any one of the goals under the umbrella goal will result in a Met Outcome for the umbrella goal.

For additional information regarding Table 11 or Table 8, please go to the Online Documentation link on the User News page and click, then click the National Reporting System (NRS) Documentation link on the left. When the documentation page opens, click the top option of “NRS Tables” and in the resulting window, click the specific table documentation available on the far right.

Regarding cohort data versus goals; changes related to the collection and reporting of follow-up measures went into effect on July 1 of the 2012-2013 fiscal year. While goals are manually entered and can be updated at any time, cohorts are automatically generated by the database when the student exits the program, provided the criteria for cohort inclusion are met.

LACES will automatically assign students to a cohort

1.IF they meet the cohort criteria described below

2.AND have met all NRS requirements to be an NRS participant

3.AND have exited the program

Entered Employment cohort

  • ANY student whose employment status was unemployed at the time of entry.
  • For students continuing from the previous fiscal year, LACES will determine if the student’s earliest work history record upon entry in the new fiscal year indicates unemployed.

Retained Employment cohort

  • ANY student whose employment status was employed at the time of entry.
  • ANY students who were unemployed at the time of entry but were employed during the first quarter after leaving the program.
  • For students continuing from the previous fiscal year, LACES will determine if the student’s earliest work history record upon entry in the new fiscal year indicates employed, employed-part, or employed-full.

Obtained a GED or Secondary School Diploma cohort (Students may achieve the outcome before the end of the reporting period for the program year in which they exit, or through the collection period after exiting in the fiscal year)

  • ANY student who took all 5 GED tests as evidenced by the scores being entered in the Assessment folder, or a Date Earned or Date Taken But Not Passed Date being entered in the Diploma folder

OR

  • ANY students who were enrolled in Adult High School at the High Adult Secondary level.

OR

  • ANY students who were enrolled in Adult High School who enters the program at an entry level of 11th or 12th grade regardless of NRS test score.

OR

  • ANY students who were in the assessment phase of the NEDP (National External Diploma Program) as indicated in the Education folder by entered a Date Entered the Assessment Phase of the NEDP

Entered Postsecondary Education or Training cohort (Students may achieve the outcome anytime from exit through the end of the following fiscal year)

  • ANY student who earned a secondary credential or diploma while enrolled.

OR

  • ANY student who already had a secondary credential/diploma at the time of entry (whether US Based or Non-US Based).

OR

  • ANY students who were enrolled in a class with the Primary Program type of Transition

The follow-up for all primary outcomes is conducted by DLLR using a data match.

The NRS tracks the following cohorts on Tables 5 (Mandatory Goal Table)

  • Enter Employment
  • Retain Employment
  • Obtain GED/Obtain Secondary School Diploma
  • Place in Post-Secondary Education/Place in Post-Secondary Training

The education primary outcomes (Obtain GED/Secondary School Diploma, Place in Post-Secondary Education/Training) are tracked for students who are NRS participants and leave with those cohorts indicated in the FY for which you are reporting Table 5.

The employment outcomes are tracked for preceding data ranges that cross fiscal years.

For the 2014-2015 reporting period, the employment goals exit ranges tracked are:

Enter Employment: 10-1-13 to 9-30-14

Retain Employment: 4-1-13 to 3-31-14

So for employment goals, the student must have been an NRS participant in the period in which they exited to show on Table 5. As an example, if student Michael Morton exits the program on 9-15-14 with an enter employment cohort indicator, he would need to have earned his 12 hours and valid assessment sometime between 7-1-14 to 9-15-14 to populate to Table 5. If Donald Dupont leaves with a retain employment goal on 5-12-13, he must have earned 12 hours and a valid assessment between 7-1-12 to 5-12-13.

Personal goals, family literacy goals, and secondary outcome measures should still continue to be entered manually into the goals folder.

The NRS tracks the following goals on Table 8 (Optional Table for Goals set by Adults in a Family Literacy Program):

  • Complete an Educational Functioning Level (automatic, based on the Assessments folder)
  • Obtain Employment (automatic, based on the Cohorts folder)
  • Retain Employment (automatic, based on the Cohorts folder)
  • Obtain GED (automatic, based on the Cohorts folder)
  • Obtain Post-Secondary School Diploma (automatic, based on the Cohorts folder)
  • Place in Post-Secondary Education (automatic, based on the Cohorts folder)
  • Place in Post-Secondary Training (automatic, based on the Cohorts folder)
  • Increased involvement in child(ren’s) Education (Umbrella goal, based on one or more of the following manual goals from the Goals folder:)
  • Helped more frequently with school (manual, based on the Goals folder)
  • Increased contact with children’s teachers (manual, based on the Goals folder)
  • More involved in children’s school activities (manual, based on the Goals folder)
  • Increased involvement in child(ren’s) Literacy Activities (Umbrella goal, based on one or more of the following manual goals from the Goals folder:)
  • Reading to children (manual, based on the Goals folder)
  • Visiting library (manual, based on the Goals folder)
  • Purchasing books or magazines (manual, based on the Goals folder)

The NRS tracks the following goals on Table 9 (Optional Table for Goals set by Adults in a Workforce Literacy Program):

  • Complete an Educational Functioning Level (automatic, based on the Assessments folder)
  • Obtain Employment (automatic, based on the Cohorts folder)
  • Retain Employment (automatic, based on the Cohorts folder)
  • Obtain GED (automatic, based on the Cohorts folder)
  • Obtain Post-Secondary School Diploma (automatic, based on the Cohorts folder)
  • Place in Post-Secondary Education (automatic, based on the Cohorts folder)
  • Place in Post-Secondary Training (automatic, based on the Cohorts folder)

The NRS tracks the following goals on Table 10 (Mandatory Table for Goals set by Adults in a Correctional Education Program):

  • Complete an Educational Functioning Level (automatic, based on the Assessments folder)
  • Obtain Employment (automatic, based on the Cohorts folder)
  • Retain Employment (automatic, based on the Cohorts folder)
  • Obtain GED (automatic, based on the Cohorts folder)
  • Obtain Post-Secondary School Diploma (automatic, based on the Cohorts folder)
  • Place in Post-Secondary Education (automatic, based on the Cohorts folder)
  • Place in Post-Secondary Training (automatic, based on the Cohorts folder)

The NRS tracks the following goals on Table 11 (Optional Table for Secondary Outcome Measures): All generated from the Goals folder:

  • Achieve work-based project learner goal
  • Leave public assistance
  • Achieve citizenship skills
  • Increased involvement in child’s literacy activities
  • Increased involvement in child’s education
  • Voted or registered to vote
  • Increased involvement in community activities

Goals only need to be entered and/or updated once in the fiscal year for which they are being reported; they do not need to be updated every session or every class.

  1. Do students need to be assigned a level when entered? (in demographics)How is level determined, lowest test score? So, if we’ve entered a reading score and at the end of the semester the student’s math score is the lowest score, do we change which test the level is determined by?–or just enter both tests and LACES will pull lowest to determine level?

On the Intake Form, the Level field can be left blank. Educational Functioning Level (EFL) information for the NRS tables is only populated based on the data in the Assessment folder.

A student can only be reported in ONE subject area for ONE program in any fiscal year, even if within your agency you are instructing and assessing them in multiple areas. We get it; you don’t only teach a student in one area. But from a federal perspective, you can only REPORT one subject area, and that is typically the subject area that produces the lowest Educational Functioning Level. If two subject area assessments are entered with different dates, then the first assessment entered will populate the EFL and subject area, so the assessment with the lower EFL should be entered first, or you should use the Select Subject box to select the later assessment if it has the lower EFL (see the Select Subject box instructions below.) If two or more subject areas have the same lowest EFL on the same date, the database breaks that tie by using the lowest Scaled Score or GLE. There can be occasional exceptions to the lowest EFL, but they should be rare, and should be documented. An example of a legitimate exception would be a student whose lowest EFL is Reading but they tell you they are only interested in studying Math because that’s the only thing they still need to pass their GED. In that case, you can manually override the database selection of Reading and instead track in Math since that is the area of greatest student need. Be sure to document the reason in the Comments folder so that there is no question of why the exception was made.

To override a subject area in LACES, go to the Assessment folder and double-click the assessment record for the subject area in which you WANT to track the student. In the assessment record, click the Select Subject box. Save the record, and that subject will now be the tracked subject area. You can also check the Select Subject box at the time you are entering the assessment if you know you plan to track the student in that subject area.

Typically, once you populate the Entry Level and Subject Area, that is what the student should remain it for the duration of the fiscal year. An exception to this is if the student shows an Entry Level of Completed Advanced ESL. Students with an Entry Level of Completed Advanced ESL will not be considered NRS reportable/fundable/participant students, because they have already entered as Completed and cannot show growth. So for those students, you should either re-assess them using a different ESL assessment if you initially administered a Best Plus or TABE CLAS-E, give them an ABE assessment if you feel that is the more appropriate decision. Enter the new assessments, using the Select Subject box to be sure LACES tracks using the new assessment data so that the Entry Level is no longer Completed Advanced ESL. If you use CASAS assessments that can produce either ESL or ABE levels, the level will be based on whether the ESL checkbox was checked at the time the assessment was entered into LACES. If the ESL checkbox is checked, the level produced will be ESL. If it is Completed Advanced ESL, you can convert to an ASE level by going to the Education folder and unchecking the ESL checkbox. Then, go back into the Assessments folder and force the database to re-read the information based on the updated non-ESL status by opening the assessment record and re-entering the Scaled Score or GLE with the exact same data, but which will now populate an ASE level.

Follow-Up Tip: Checking to see what subject area a student is being tracked in

For an individual student, look in the upper right-hand corner of the student’s record, in the Key Info header. The far right-hand column shows the Entry and Current Levels and Subject Area for which LACES is reporting in the current fiscal year. If you feel it should be a different subject area, you can over-ride the subject area with an appropriate reason (document why.)

For groups of students, use the Subject Area folder on the Navigation Pane from the student grid. Click the + sign next to the Subject Area folder. Click the various Subject Area folders and then click Find>Current FY in Selection to see which Current FY students are being tracked in that Subject Area.

You can also add For Subject Area to a Custom View.

Custom views are extremely useful due to the wealth of information that they can provide at a glance. Because custom views allow you to change the information displayed for whatever population you are working in, you can change a view and then use the Print functions to create an ad hoc report that can be printed via Print HTML, or saved and sent as an attachment via Print PDF or Export.

To create a Custom View, go to the View menu in whatever population you are in. Although this example will be demonstrating a Custom View to add the For Subject Area field for students, you can create and apply custom views in any tab in the database, for many different fields. Note that there are some pre-generated additional views, such as Address List and Phone List.

From the View menu, select “Create New Views.” You will get the “Add new Views” pop-up window. From this window, give your view a name (use something that will help you remember what fields you modified for that view) and then select the “Fields” button.

You will now see the Field Selection window. In the left-hand column are all of the available fields that can be added to your view. In the right-hand column are the fields currently being displayed.

You can add fields by clicking once on the field in the left-hand column to select it, then clicking the “Add” button. You can remove fields by clicking once on the field in the right-hand column and clicking the “Remove” button. If you want to select multiple items, you can highlight them while holding down the CTRL button on your keyboard when clicking each item you wish to select, but you will need to click the “Add” or “Remove” button once for each item you have highlighted. You can also change the order in which fields display by clicking the “Move Up” and “Move Down” buttons. Once you have the fields you want for this view, in the order in which you want them displayed, click “OK.” For the For Subject Area view, click “For Subject Area” and click Add, then “OK.”

You will be returned to the “Add New Views,” where you will be able to verify that the Fields area now displays the options you added. Additionally, from here you could select the “Sort By” button to pre-determine the order in which columns sort. The default order is alphabetically by last name, but using the “Sort” function allows you to pre-order multiple columns at a time based on the criteria you choose. Bear in mind that you can also always sort columns into ascending or descending numeric or alphabetical order by double clicking the column heading for ascending order, then clicking once more for descending order. Click the “Save & Apply to Grid” button to complete the creation and application of your custom view.

Custom Views are always saved once applied. You can return to the default view by going to View>Key Info, or by logging out and back into the database. A saved view can be re-applied at any time by going to View>My Views and locating the view by name. Views are specific to user name, so if one person in your agency saves and uses a view, other users would still see whatever view they are using themselves. If you export or print data with a Custom View applied, the data in your custom view is what will export. Custom views are username specific, so other persons in your agency will not see them in their My View