Glossary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
A
Ability to benefit:The point at which an adult qualifies for selected programs or services based on achievement results. Assessments approved by OAEL may be used to establish an “ability to benefit” and may result in an individual’s acceptance or rejection for programs or services based on assessment scores.
Address: The physical or mailing address of a learner or staff, include street number and name or post office box.
Adult Basic Education (ABE): Programs and services that target adults functioning below the ninth grade level based on an approved assessment.
Adult High School Diploma: An option that enables an adult no longer enrolled in public education to complete the required courses/activities to earn an Adult High School diploma, with the local high school scheduling classes and determining course requirements in accordance with standards established by the state.
Adult Secondary Education (ASE): Programs and services that target adults functioning at or above the ninth grade level based on an approved assessment
Advancement: A learner advances from one educational functioning level to the next, based on the scale score change of the assessment administered.
Age: The learner is identified by a range of age groups that include: 16-18 years, 19-24 years, 25-44 years, 45-59 years, and 60 years and older.
Aggregation of data: The process of combining local level data into a single measure at the state level.
Apartment Number: The apartment number of the learner or staff.
Assessment: Methods of measuring learner progress, including state approved assessments, non-approved testing, staff evaluation, and self-reporting of learners.
C
Certified assessor:An individual who has completed state-approved training (locally or with state staff) to manage the local assessment program, including the following areas: test security, administering and scoring specific tests, and interpreting test results.
City or County: The city or county where the learner or staff reside.
Community Correction Program.
Completed a level: A learner advances from one educational functioning level to the next, based on a comparison of the learner’s pre-test and posttest score (completion of GED or equivalent is a substitute for a posttest) and comparisons of consecutive posttests.
Completed a level and advance one or more levels: Includes the definition of ‘completing a level’ and further means the learner’s posttest score enables him/her to advance one or more educational functioning levels.
Contact hours: Those hours of instruction or instructional activity the learner receives from the program. Instructional activity includes any program-sponsored activity designed to promote student learning. Specific policy guidelines identify what may or may not be counted.
Country of Origin: The native country identified by foreign-born learners.
D
Date of Birth: The official date a learner was born.
Disability status: The learner has a record of, or is regarded as having, any type of physical or mental impairment, including a learning disability, that substantially limits or restricts one or more major life activities, including walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, learning, and working.
Distance Learning: The learner has been matched with a teacher, tutor, or volunteer with whom he/she has regular interaction with regard to the content of the distance learning curriculum, and who provides support throughout the distance learning experience. Distance learning is characterized by all of the following:
- A separation of place and/or time between the learner(s) and the instructor.
- The use of standardized curriculum.
- The delivery of education or training that employs technology in at least one of the following four categories:
- Computer Technology, such as the Internet or CD-ROM.
- Video Technology, such as videoconferencing, cable, satellite linkage, and videotapes.
- Audio graphic Technology, such as radio and audiotapes.
- Telephone Technology, such as teleconferencing.
- Support by a tutor, including help with content and assistance with technology, on line, on the telephone, or in person.
E
Educational functioning level per NRS guidelines: A measure of learner acquisition of literacy skills within three educational functioning level descriptors: Basic Reading and Writing Skills, Numeracy Skills, and Functional and Workplace Skills. The educational functioning level descriptors provide a range of skills a learner may possess at the respective level. The twelve educational functioning levels are organized in three categories:
- Adult Basic Education(ABE)
- ABE Beginning Literacy
- ABE Beginning Basic Education
- ABE Intermediate Low
- ABE Intermediate High
- Adult Secondary Education (ASE)
- ASE Low
- ASE High
- English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL)
- ESOL Beginning Literacy
- ESOL Low Beginning
- ESOL High Beginning
- ESOL Intermediate Low
- ESOL Intermediate High
- ESOL Advanced
e-mail Address: Unique address established with an Internet provider to send correspondence electronically to a learner or staff.
Employed: Learners who work as paid employees, who work in their own business or farm, or who work 15 hours or more per week as unpaid workers on a farm or in a business operated by a member of the family. Also included are learners who are not currently working, but who have jobs or businesses from which they are temporarily absent, such as those on furlough, maternity leave, or short-term disability leave.
English as a Second Language (ESOL):Programs and services that target those limited English proficient learners who have a focus on improving English communication skills in the instructional areas of speaking, reading, writing, and listening.
Enrolled: The learner has completed the intake process, has a goal entered, and has completed a pre-test for entry into the program. The learner may or may not have 12 or more instructional hours.
Enter employment: The learner obtains full- or part-time paid employment before the end of the reporting year in which the learner exits the program.
Ethnicity: Self-identified by the learner (observer identified if self-identification is not practicable or feasible) applying the following categories according to the federal definitions:
- American Native or Alaskan Native – A person who has origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America) and who maintains cultural identification through tribal affiliation or community attachment.
- Asian – A person who has origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent (e.g. Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam)
- Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander – A person who has origins as a native of the Hawaiian Islands or the other islands of the Pacific, such as Hawaii, Guam, or Samoa.
- Black or African American (non-Hispanic) – A person who has origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa but not of Hispanic culture or origin.
- Hispanic or Latino – A person of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, or other Spanish culture of origin, regardless of race.
- White (non-Hispanic) – A person who has origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, North Africa, or the Middle East but not of Hispanic culture or origin.
Exit Date: The official data assigned to a learner that is no longer attending the program.
Exit quarter: The quarter of the year in which the learner finishes and/or leaves the program.
Exiting the program: When the learner finishes and/or leaves the program. Exiting the program is a primary component of establishing follow-up goals.
External Diploma Program (EDP): A program developed for adults, 21 and above, who have not had recent schooling or test taking experience but now have acquired high school level academic skills in other than curriculum-based programs. It is an adult applied-performance, competency-based assessment program that awards an adult high school diploma to skilled adults who have acquired many of their high school level abilities in a series of simulations that parallel job and life situations.
F
Family literacy: A program with a literacy component for parents and children or other inter-generational literacy components.
Finishes the program: The learner met his/her goal established at enrollment and no longer receives instruction or services.
First Name: The first name of a learner or staff.
Follow-up goals: Four learner goals that may be established during the reporting year in which the learner exits the program. Follow-up goals are as follows:
- Obtain employment,
- Retain employment,
- Achieve GED, EDP, or high school diploma,
- Enter post-secondary education or training.
G
Gain: The learner completes or advances one or more educational functioning levels from the starting level measured by an approved assessment.
Gender: The learner identifies as male or female.
General Educational Development (GED): A battery of five tests that measure the skills considered to be the major outcomes of a high school education. The tests focus on the major use of skills and concepts rather than upon recall of specific facts. The questions focus on the general abilities to analyze, evaluate, and draw conclusions. Certificates are awarded to learners who attain passing scores on each subject test and a total passing score. The subject areas of the test are as follow:
- Test 1: Language Arts - Writing
- Test 2: Language Arts - Reading
- Test 3: Science
- Test 4: Social Studies
- Test 5: Mathematics
Goals: Information collected at intake describing the main reasons that a learner enrolled in the adult education program. There are two types of goals: NRS and personal.
H
Highest Grade Completed: The highest grade a learner has officially completed. The value for foreign-born learners may differ from native-born learners.
I
Instruction: A program-sponsored activity that generates contact hours and is designed to advance adult learners in educational functioning level.
Intake form: A form used by programs to collect learner information including demographics, assessment information, goals, and other related data for federal reporting.
L
Last Name: The last name of a learner or staff.
Leaves the program: The learner exits the program or receives no services for 90 consecutive days and has no scheduled services.
Learner: An adult who has an ability to benefit.
M
Manipulative: An item that may be used or referenced to complete an assessment.
Middle Name: The middle name or initial of a learner or staff.
N
Not in the labor force: A learner is not employed and is not seeking employment.
O
Outcome measures: Those outcomes of adult education that include learning gains:
- Advancement to further education and training
- Credentials obtained
- Employment, family, and community measures
P
Post-secondary education or training: The learner enters another education or training program, such as a community college, trade school, a four-year college, or university. The education or training program must not duplicate other services or training received regardless if those services or training were completed.
Post-test: A state approved assessment administered to a learner at regular intervals during a program to measure learner progress and advancement.
Pre-test: A state approved assessment administered to a learner upon entry into the program to initially place the learner at an educational functioning level.
Program: An adult education program that provides instruction for a set of classes in areas such as ABE, GED, ESOL, workplace literacy, or family literacy. Programs are funded by a WIA grant and/or matching state funds.
Program enrollment type: Describes the main emphasis of instruction for a set of classes. Examples are workplace literacy and family literacy.
Public assistance status: A learner is receiving financial assistance from federal, state, or local government agencies, including Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or equivalent general assistance, food stamps, refugee cash assistance, old age assistance, and aid to the blind or totally disabled. Social Security benefits, unemployment insurance, and employment-funded disability are not included under this definition.
Q
Quarter:Time intervals for measuring and tracking program information. The quarters are distributed as follows:
- First: July 1 – September 30
- Second: October 1 – December 30
- Third: January 1 – March 31
- Fourth: April 1 – June 30
R
Raw score: The total number of correct responses by a learner on a state approved assessment.
Receipt of Secondary School Diploma or GED: The learner obtains certification of attaining passing scores on the GED tests, obtains a diploma, or state recognized equivalent, documenting satisfactory completion of secondary studies (high school or adult high school diploma).
Registration Date: The official date the student completes the registration form to join a program.
Release from Compulsory Attendance: Official documentation signed by a local school system identifying a learner as being released from attending school.
Remaining within a level: The post-test score represents no advancement in educational functioning level.
Retain employment: The learner remains employed in the third quarter after the exit quarter.
Rural (residency status): A learner resides in a place with a population of less than 2,500 that is not near any metropolitan area with a population greater than 50,000 or in a city with adjacent areas of high density.
S
Scale Score: The converted raw score of an approved assessment used for placing learners in educational functioning levels.
Separated before completion: The learner receives no services for 90 consecutive days, exits the program, and has no services scheduled.
Social Security Number: Nine-digit personal identification number issued by the federal government
State: Virginia Department of Education, Office of Adult Education and Literacy.
State (address): The state where the learner or staff reside.
Student Number: The official number assigned to a learner by the program or a uniquely identifying number assigned by a data system.
T
Targets: The performance levels negotiated with the U.S. Department of Education (USED) for demonstrating annual program performance. Local level programs are expected to meet or exceed all performance targets annually.
Telephone: Eight digit number plus area code that may be used to contact the learner or staff. Three numbers are available to identify home, work, and other.
U
Unemployed (in Labor Force):A learner who is not working, but is seeking employment, and who has made specific efforts to find a job and is available for work.
Unemployed (Not in Labor Force): A learner who is not employed and is not seeking employment.
Urban (residency status):A learner resides in a place with a population of 50,000 or more, or in a city with adjacent areas of high density.
W
Web-based data system: An on-line data management application developed by the Virginia Department of Education to report local program data (staffing, classes, learner demographics, learner attendance, learner assessment results, and learner goals) for reporting purposes.
Workplace literacy programs: A program designed to improve the literacy skills needed to perform a job and it is at least partly under the auspices of an employer.
Z
Zip code: The five-digit or nine-digit identifying number of the learner or staff residence.