Adult and Community Learning Services (ACLS)

Data Entry and Desk Review

September 6, 2019

Dear Program Directors,

I am writing to update you on FY20 data entry and review policies and procedures.

First, effective October 1, ACLS requires grantees to:

• Ensure that all LACES users, including teachers, have unique logon credentials.
• Enroll all students in LACES even if they do not attend 12 hours.
• Enter attendance at the daily level. That is, attendance must be recorded for each day that a student attends.
• Enter attendance within one week and recommends the best practice of entering attendance every day during class.
• Enroll students in class in LACES within one week of starting and recommends enrolling students before they start to ensure that teachers have up-to-date rosters and can enter attendance on the first day.
• Enter NRS assessment scores within four weeks of administration.
• Maintain supporting documentation for all LACES data, including attendance except when teachers enter attendance during class.
• By January 2020, have written data collection and entry policies and procedures.

Many programs were meeting these requirements last year because they developed workflows and procedures soon after the transition to LACES. I am confident that all programs will be similarly positioned by the end of December. Beginning January 2020, ACLS program specialists will inquire about data entry procedures during site visits and will monitor data entry timing in LACES.

Second, ACLS is developing a desk review process and tool that is modeled on the work of several other states. Five times a year, programs will be required to enter specific enrollment, assessment, post-exit outcomes, and financial outcomes into a workbook and email it to their program specialists for review.

While the goal of the FY20 desk review process is to improve data quality, it also serves two additional purposes. First, it will ensure that grantees and ACLS are looking at the same data in the same way; this was one of the clearest requests from the field last spring. Second, the tool and process shares the responsibility of data review between the field and the state.

I anticipate releasing the desk review workbook later this month. LiteracyPro Systems is developing training videos and supporting documentation to guide programs through the process and tool. In addition, LPS will conduct training webinars focused on completing the workbook. ACLS and LPS are finalizing the webinar dates and will send out a registration form separately.

Sincerely,

Wyvonne Stevens-Carter
Adult Education State Director