NOTICES
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Adult Education Fund Priorities for 1997-98
[27 Pa.B. 22] A. Section 353 of the Adult Education Act, P. L. 91-230, as amended by the National Literacy Act of 1991, requires the Department of Education (DOE), through its State Plan for Adult Education, to use not less than 15% of its annual Federal allotment of adult education funds from the U. S. Department of Education for special experimental demonstration and teacher training (staff development) adult education projects, as defined in the act.
B. The Federal objectives for these grants are to:
''1. Promote special projects which will be carried out in furtherance of the purposes of the Act and which--
a. involve the use of innovative methods (including methods for educating persons with handicaps, the homeless, and persons of limited English proficiency), systems materials, or programs which may have National significance or will be of special value in promoting effective programs under this title, or
b. involve programs of adult education, including education for persons with handicaps, the homeless, and persons of limited English proficiency, which are part of community school programs, carried out in cooperation with other Federal, State, or local programs which show unusual promise in promoting a comprehensive or coordinated approach to the problems of persons with educational deficiencies; and
2. Train persons engaged, or preparing to engage, as personnel in programs designed to carry out the purposes of this title.''
C. The State objectives for these grants are to strengthen Pennsylvania's adult basic education programs through research, evaluation and demonstration of methods, programs, techniques or operational/administrative systems to improve adult education services (special experimental demonstration projects) and to provide training for personnel working in or preparing to work in adult basic education programs (staff development). Emphasis on staff development will be on the following:
1. Training for full-time professional adult educators;
2. Training for minority educators;
3. Training for educators of adults with limited English proficiency; and
4. Training teachers to recognize and more effectively serve illiterate individuals with learning disabilities and individuals who have a reading ability below the 5th grade level.
II. Section 353 Priorities for 1997-98
The following section 353 priorities for 1997-98 have been developed as a result of suggestions/recommendations by adult education providers throughout the State, by section 353 Task Force members, and by DOE Bureau of Adult Basic and Literacy Education staff. Priorities fall in three general categories as follows: A. Special experimental demonstration projects for Statewide or regional impact; B. Staff development projects designed for Statewide or regional impact; C. Mini-grant projects of up to $5,000 designed to assist programs with the adoption or adaptation of exemplary projects; with the development of an experimental demonstration project designed for local impact; or to address individual program needs in staff development.
Fiscal Year 1997-98 Priorities 353
A. Special Demonstration
1. Adult Learning Competencies: Identify curriculum that supports adult learning competencies as identified in the 1995-1996 Adult Learner Competencies Project. Project should conduct an environmental scan to determine what is available from both commercially developed sources and exemplary State and National 353 projects. The project should also provide a competency-based resource guide that describes the resources for the instruction of ABE, GED, ESL and literacy adult learners correlating to the list of competencies for adult learners as workers, family members and citizens. The project should also develop and implement a training program linking curriculum, assessment and instruction to the competencies.
2. Alternate High School Diploma: This project will provide direction for the establishment of alternate high school diploma programs for adults in the Commonwealth. Applicant will provide leadership and provide technical assistance to school districts that wish to institute an external degree program.
3. Alternate High School Diploma Program: Building on models designed in FY 1996-1997, the project will implement an alternative high school diploma program. Project providers must collaborate with local school districts in developing curriculum and supporting policy.
4. Community Planning: Increase the number of Building Communities for Learning (BCL) community-based planning sites through expansion of field-driven mentoring outreach, training and technical assistance. Applicants must be a Statewide organization with broad-based membership and collaborate with the Professional Development Centers to encourage and support the growth and development of existing community-based planning sites.
5. School-to-Work: Project will develop a model that incorporates the common features of school-based and work-based learning of the School-to-Work Opportunities Act for the adult learners. The model must be incorporated with an identified School-to-Work Local Partnership and applicant must be signed on to the Local Partnership Compact and tied to training for the incumbent workforce and/or partner with Job Center/Office of Public Assistance to increase School-to-Work opportunities for adults. Preference will be given to applicants that are involved in or have been involved in School-to-Work planning grants.
6. Student Recognition: Manage an event that includes the technical editing of field-submitted student success stories focusing on the role of adult education in the lives of the nominated students; the interviewing and photographing of ten finalists; and the preparation, publication and dissemination of a Success Stories booklet including suggested adaptations for local use. Applicant will collaborate with an identified staff person in the Bureau of Adult Basic and Literacy Education in the development of the project. Applicant must plan for a circulation of approximately 2,000 copies across the Commonwealth with distribution as requested by the Department of Education.
7. Recognition of Excellent Educators and Instructors: A project to research, develop and implement a recognition activity for excellent adult educators. A panel will establish criteria for selection, develop a nominating process and suggest recognition activities. Applicant should develop a guide for honoring excellent practitioners to assist local programs in sponsoring outstanding practitioners and honoring their candidates. Ten excellent tutors/teachers will be chosen Statewide and honored at PAACE Midwinter Conference. A description of these outstanding practitioners will be published in a 1998 ABLE Practitioners' Yearbook. Applicant must plan for a circulation of approximately 2,000 copies across the Commonwealth with distribution as requested by the Department of Education.
8. Performance Standards in Volunteer Programs: Import and adapt volunteer-based competency checklist and assessment system developed in the Oregon Project, the project will support the assessment of adult learning competencies in volunteer based agencies by piloting the volunteer assessment process in a number of literacy councils. The final product of the project will be recommendations to the Bureau on performance standards that can be used to evaluate volunteer programs.
9. PDE Student/Staff/Tutor Database: This project will continue the development of a student/staff information system which incorporates the needs and requirements of the local adult education agency and ABLE. Through a survey of the participants in the PC Database project, the applicant will evaluate the problems to be corrected in the revised database system and incorporate the programming already developed in prior data collection projects.
10. Evaluation of the Impact of Professional Development Offerings: Conduct an inquiry project with professional developers to determine how to evaluate the impact of professional development activities on changing practitioner practices and ultimately improving learner outcomes. The project must culminate in a set of recommendations to the Bureau on how effectively to evaluate the impact of professional development activities at the practitioner, learner and program levels.
B. Professional Development
1. Institutes: Administrative, fiscal management and support for Statewide adult basic education Institutes for administrators, practitioners, counselors and volunteers. Institutes will include follow up training and evaluation of the effectiveness of the training through the Professional Development Centers. Applicants should state for which institute the application is made in the Letter of Intent. The Bureau will provide interested applicants with specific instructions to be followed in developing the application for the selected institute.
English as a Second Language
New Teacher (should address the training issue for the time when new teachers are hired)
Volunteer strand
Paid full and part time staff strand2. Dissemination of 353 projects: A review of current and/or past section 353 special demonstration and staff development projects to include a design for identification, packaging and delivery of exemplary projects from PA and other states and the dissemination of these significant packaged projects through a Statewide publication to be published a minimum of six times a year. Applicant must plan for a circulation of approximately 2,500 copies across the Commonwealth with distribution as requested by the Department of Education.
3. Training Development: Building on the project begun in 1996-1997, coordinate the review and selection of training materials for professional development in designated content areas. The project must collect existing training modules, review for applicability and adapt the materials for use in Pennsylvania. Identified content area specialists should be used in a committee process for development of the training modules and procedures. The training modules should be provided to the field through the regional professional development centers.
4. Train the Trainers: A project to identify trainers Statewide who will provide training identified for practitioners in adult education funded programs. The project will determine the responsibilities, duties and qualifications for trainers in specified content areas, determine a process for selecting trainers and determine and deliver the training for the trainers. The project will establish the effective means by which the identified trainers are made available to programs in the Commonwealth through administrative and fiscal support and the standardization of a deployment system.
5. Communications for Professional Development: The project will direct and provide systematic communication and coordination between professional development service providers and adult basic and literacy education practitioners. The activities will include direction for technology operations such as on line and world wide web communications. The project must also provide for the design and/or publication of newsletters, handbooks and brochures as needed by adult education providers in the Commonwealth.
6. Administration, Fiscal Management and Support: Project will provide Statewide adult basic education staff development activities and other Department of Education activities that include: 1) provision for a series of meetings of the State Plan Task Force; 2) provision for a series of hearings on the revised State Plan; 3) provision for support of special demonstration and staff development activities that include honoraria for presenters at State-sponsored activities; 4) provision for section 353 special projects and staff development presentations at Statewide conferences.
7. Adult Education Newsletter: A general adult basic education newsletter to be published a minimum of 5 times a year at a length of eight pages or longer in order to disseminate 353 information, in-service techniques, and other areas and items of interest to adult basic education practitioners and program supporters in Pennsylvania. Applicants must plan for a circulation of approximately 2,500 copies across the Commonwealth with distribution as requested by the Department of Education for the duration of the project.
8. Learning Differences: Deliver Statewide training and technical assistance on learning differences through the Professional Development Centers. The project application must address how the training and technical assistance will incorporate work being done Nationally through such projects as the National Adult Literacy and Learning Disabilities Center and the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning. The application must also address how the training will be delivered in relationship to ABLE's Guiding Principles for Professional Development.
9. Learning from Practice: Continue to develop and implement learning from practice activities into established adult basic and literacy education agencies. While the project may continue to support a variety of inquiry groups (program-based, cross program regional, institutes, online, and the like), it should also strengthen the capacity of local leaders (PDC staff, area teachers and other practitioners) throughout the State to integrate learning from practice approaches into a wide variety of professional development activities at the program, regional and State levels. This project should build on the models currently implemented within the State as well as Nationally. Desired components include a networking system for participants, leadership development, evaluation and publication of practitioner findings and training materials.
C. Mini-Grants--Applications of up to $5,000 designed to address either special demonstration/experimental or staff development projects of local impact.
The Department will also entertain grants that address the following topics:
1. Those agencies developing new models that integrate basic skills instruction with the requirements of welfare reform initiatives should document and evaluate the effectiveness of their program of instruction through the collection of data on the delivery of the instruction in light of welfare reform requirements.
2. Applicant should research and document the educational delivery system as related to learner outcomes in the agency by examining the intensity of its services, its model of delivery--whether open-entry/open-exit versus required number of hours, small group/one-on-one/large group-against learner outcomes, accomplishment of individual learner and program goals.
III. General Instructions
A. This is a competitive grant process. Eligible applicants include State educational agencies, local educational agencies and public and private nonprofit agencies, organizations and institutions. Funding will be for programs accomplished during the period July 1, 1997, through June 30, 1998.
B. A minimum of 25% non-Federal/non-State funds is required as a local match for the grant. This local match may be cash or in-kind.
C. Applications within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for grants under section 353 of the Adult Education Act are screened and evaluated at the Department of Education by a section 353 Task Force made up of experts in the adult education field. Proposals with merit which have the most potential of achieving high priority objectives of the Adult Education Act and the Pennsylvania Adult Education Plan at the most reasonable cost will be funded, subject to the availability of funds.
D. Applications must address only one of the priorities listed in the priorities in Section II. Any application which addresses more than one priority will not be considered for funding.
E. Prior to submitting an application for a Special Demonstration Project applicants should review the literature that relates to a potential project using the appropriate State Literacy Resource Center (AdvancE or Western Pennsylvania State Literacy Resource Center) to ensure the uniqueness or applicability of the proposed project. The results of this review must be addressed in the application.
F. Section 353 proposals also should be reflective, as much as possible, of the goals, objectives and activities of the Pennsylvania--Adult Education State Plan: Fiscal Years 1990-94. Applicants should consult this plan as they prepare proposals. Copies of the plan are available at the State Literacy Resource Centers.
G. For the purposes of these section 353 Funds, an adult is defined as an out-of-school youth who is 16 years of age or older. Adult Basic Education (ABE) encompasses instruction at the 0-8 grade level; General Education Development (GED) encompasses instruction to enable undereducated adults to successfully pass the GED test; (9-12 grade level) and English As a Second Language (ESL) encompasses instruction of English to adults whose primary language is not English.
H. Prospective applicants who desire application forms, and application guidelines, should request those materials by submitting a letter of intent to apply for a grant to Chief, Special Programs and Projects Division, Bureau of Adult Basic and Literacy Education, Department of Education, 333 Market Street, 12th Floor, Harrisburg, PA 17126-0333 by January 31, 1997 (proposal will be due March 14, 1997). The letter of intent should state which priority in Section II and the particular topic the applicant intends to address in the proposal and include a one sentence description of the purposes of the project. A letter of intent must be submitted for each separately proposed project application. These letters of intent may not be faxed to the Bureau. Upon receipt of the letter of intent at the Bureau, the potential applicant will be provided a copy of the guidelines to use in the preparation of the application.
EUGENE W. HICKOK, Jr.,
Secretary
[Pa.B. Doc. No. 97-10. Filed for public inspection January 3, 1997, 9:00 a.m.]
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