The National Reporting System
Larry Condelli - Managing Director
U.S. Congressional demands for data on outcomes of adult education students, along with similar pressures within the States, caused State directors and the Department of Education to begin planning a reporting system that would provide these data.
What resulted was the National Reporting System (NRS), the outcome-based accountability system for the Federally funded adult education program. Through a series of projects beginning in the mid-1990s, AIR helped develop this system and has continued to support the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Vocational and Adult Education in implementing it. This work includes identifying measures, procedures, and reporting requirements; assisting the Department in setting policy; developing all of the guidance documents; conducting a training series on NRS requirements; improving data quality; using data for program improvement; and supporting local program monitoring.
Dr. Larry Condelli, a Managing Director at AIR, is the project director and helped create the system. Over the last six years, Larry and a team of AIR researchers have trained staff from all States on NRS requirements and procedures, developed training materials for States to use to train their local programs, and provided technical assistance to States on implementing the NRS.
NRS data include measurements of student success in:
- Improving literacy skills,
- Obtaining and retaining employment,
- Obtaining a GED or secondary credential, and
- Entering postsecondary education.
The NRS has two Web sites to provide continuous and ongoing training resources for the field.
- NRSWeb (www.nrsweb.org)
- NRSOnline (www.nrsonline.org)
With the initial implementation of the NRS, there is now a national database that describes adult education students, their attendance patterns, goals, participation, and outcomes. The Department uses these data to assess State performance relative to performance standards and to demonstrate the successes of the adult education program. State accountability systems have shown a marked improvement in data collection and assessment. Many States have created a “data use culture’” that builds upon their program management and improvement processes.
“The professional development workshops designed and delivered by AIR were invaluable to us as we helped local adult educators develop the skills they needed to use the data collection/reporting system as a tool for improving the overall adult educational system. The NRS is a tool that—when used appropriately—helps everyone involved in the adult education program better understand what is happening in the program.”
–Dianne S. Glass, Director of Adult Education.