adult basic education direct service grant competition · adult education to provide adult basic...

Adult Basic Education Direct Service 064 Grant Competition

February 26, 2018

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~ pennsylvania u DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

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Welcome to the Adult Basic Education Direct Service 064 Grant Competition webinar. The contents of this webinar complement but do not replace the Request for Grant Application Guidelines. Interested applicants should also carefully read the Adult Education and Family Literacy Guidelines and Division of Adult Education policies on the Division of Adult Education Grant Competitions webpage before deciding to submit an application.

We will not be answering questions during this webinar. We will provide information at the end on how to submit questions.

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Agenda

• Grant timeline

• Funding sources

• Grant

• Eligible applicants

• Required activities and services

• Supplemental distance learning

• Additional allowable activities

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This webinar will provide information on the grant application, review and award processes. We will provide a general overview of the required and allowable activities and other requirements for grantee. Finally, we will provide suggested resources and grant tips.

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Agenda (2)

• Optional tutoring program

• Eligible participants

• Priorities

• Staffing requirements

• Funding requests

• Grant application process

• Application review process

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Agenda (3)

• Award selection progress

• Grant terms and conditions

• Resources

• Tips for grants

• Questions

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Grant timeline

• Feb. 17: Pennsylvania Bulletin announcement

• Feb. 21: Webinar information posted

• Feb. 23: RGAs posted

• Feb. 26: Grant webinar

• Feb. 28: eGrants opens

• April 3, 2:00 PM: Grants due

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Here are some key dates related to this grant.

On February 17, 2018, a Notice of Availability of Grant Funds was posted in the Pennsylvania Bulletin. Posting in the bulletin allows us to reach the greatest number of potential applicants. PDE posted the Request for Grant Application Guidelines for the Adult Basic Education Direct Service grant to the Division of Adult Education Grant Competitions webpage this past Friday, February 23. The grants competition webpage also contains several resource documents and links to the Pennsylvania WIOA Combined State Plan and regional and local workforce plans. We are now holding the webinar. The grant applications will be available in eGrants on Wednesday, February 28. If you log in to eGrants before that date, you will not see the grant listed. We have posted PDFs of the grant content on the grant competitions webpage for your reference. However, the grant applications will be submitted via the eGrants system. The deadline for applicants to complete the grant application is April 3, 2018 at 2:00 PM. Please note the 2:00 PM deadline.

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Funding sources

• Federal Adult Education and Family Literacy Act, Title II, Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) -Approximately $13 million

• Pennsylvania Act 143 of 1986, Adult and Family Literacy Education Act - Approximately $8.3 million

• Subject to change

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The Federal Adult Education and Family Literacy Act Title II, Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) provides funds to be awarded through the Pennsylvania Department of Education, Bureau of Postsecondary and Higher Education, Division of Adult Education to provide adult basic education services throughout the state. The federal funding available for awards to provide adult basic education direct service programing through this competition is approximately $13 million.

Pennsylvania Act 143 of 1986, Adult and Family Literacy Education Act provides funds to be awarded through the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE), Bureau of Postsecondary and Higher Education, Division of Adult Education to provide adult basic education and family literacy services throughout the state. The total state funding available for awards to provide adult basic education programing through this competition is $8,384,288.

Both the federal and state dollar amounts are estimates and are subject to change based on actual federal and state budgets.

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Grant

• One narrative with multiple budgets - Federal Adult Education 064 - State Adult Education 064 - State Optional Tutoring Program 064

• 15 percent of state funds reserved for optional tutoring program

• Remaining state funds and federal adult education funds allocated to 22 local workforce areas using a needs-based funding formula

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The Adult Basic Education Direct Service grant has a single narrative to describe the overall programs. There are three possible budgets. Most applicants with have federal and state. Some of those may also choose to apply for the state optional tutoring program funds. Those will have three budgets. Applicants that are only eligible applicants under the federal law will only have the federal adult education budget.

Fifteen percent of the available state funding ($1,257,643) will be reserved for the optional tutor training competition portion of the grant application.

Both federal and state funds (excluding the 15 percent reserve for tutor training) will be allocated among the 22 local workforce development areas using a needs based funding formula. Formula Details are provided in Appendix B of this Request for Grant Application Guidelines (RGA).

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Eligible applicants: criteria

• Applicants provide evidence of demonstrated effectiveness - Quantitative data for preceding 3 program years - Applicant's success in helping students:

• Improve skills in math, reading, writing , English language proficiency

• Earn a high school equivalency credential • Get a job • Retain a job and • Enter postsecondary education or training

- Narrative: how data collected and outcomes determined • Entities unable to provide the required data are not

eligible providers

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An eligible applicant must have demonstrated effectiveness in providing adult basic and literacy activities and helping students achieve the listed outcomes. Adult basic and literacy activities are academic instruction below the postsecondary level that increase students’ ability to read, write, and speak in English and perform mathematics.

Applicants must provide quantitative data related to their provision of adult basic and literacy activities and student outcomes for the immediate preceding three program years. In other words, applicants must have provides adult basic education services for at least the last three years. The services do not have to be provided with division funds, however.

Applicants must provide data that demonstrate the applicant’s success in helping students achieve the following outcomes:

1. Improve skills in mathematics, reading, writing, and/or English language proficiency;

2. Earn a high school equivalency credential; 3. Get a job; 4. Retain a job; and 5. Enter postsecondary education or training.

The data must include the numbers of individuals in each cohort, the number of those

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individuals who successfully achieved the outcome, and the resulting outcome. Applicants will also have to provide an explanation of the criteria used to assign individuals to each cohort and to determine achievement of the outcome and how the data were collected.

Entities that are not able to provide the data needed for demonstrated effectiveness are not eligible providers and will not be able to receive grant funds. So, if your agency has not provided adult basic education services during the last three years under any funding, you are not an eligible provider.

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Eligible applicants: types of entities

• WIOA and Act 143 have slight differences - Refer to RGA for lists - If not eligible for state, may only apply for federal

funds ; otherwise must apply for both

• Consortium/coalition of providers - Main grantee w/one or more subgrantees - Main grantee: fiscal agent and provider - Program guidelines 205.4

• Agencies can only be a main grantee or a subgrantee for an 064 adult educc on grant .

pennsylvama DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

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The federal law, WIOA, and the state law, Pennsylvania Act 143 of 1986, have slightly different lists of the types of entities that are eligible to apply for funds. Refer to the section on eligible applicants in the RGA for the specific lists. In some cases, entities that are eligible under WIOA are not eligible under Act 143. Those entities may only apply for federal funds. All entities that are eligible under both WIOA and Act 143 must apply for both federal and state adult education funds.

A consortium or coalition of eligible applicants may apply for a grant. For the purposes of this competition for both federal and state funds, a consortium or coalition of agencies is defined as a main grantee with one or more subgrantees. The main grantee will serve as both the fiscal agent for the grant and as a provider of some of the services proposed in the grant application. The main grantee is responsible for ensuring that all activities provided are completed as proposed and is responsible for monitoring and compliance of the subgrantees. Answers in the grant application should reflect the work the consortium/coalition as a whole rather than treat each entity separately. Refer to section 205.4 of the program guidelines for more information about the responsibilities of the main grantee in a consortium.

Agencies can only be a main grantee or a subgrantee. No agency can have an Adult Basic Education Direct Service Grant with the Division of Adult Education and also be a subgrantee on another Adult Basic Education Direct Service grant.

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Required activities and services

• Year-round classroom instruction and support service

• Adult education and literacy activities and instruction for all ABE/ASE EFLs

• Supplemental computer-based distance learning opportunities for students in faceto-face instruction

• Barrier support services

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Full details regarding all minimum requirements for adult basic education and family literacy programs are available in the Adult Education and Family Literacy Guidelines, which is posted on the Division of Adult Education grant competitions webpage.

Successful applicants for Adult Basic Education Direct Service 064 grant funds must demonstrate the capacity to provide a full range of services throughout the course of a program year. Programs must provide the following to be considered full service:

1. Year-round classroom instruction and support services, including during the summer. Programs may have a reduced schedule over the summer but must ensure access to instruction and support services. Funded programs may not shut down over the summer or for an extended winter break.

2. Adult education and literacy activities and instruction for adult basic education students at all educational functioning levels from Beginning Literacy Adult Basic Education (ABE) to High Adult Secondary Education (ASE), including high school equivalency test preparation as needed. In other words, an applicant cannot propose to provide a limited range of services, such as serving only individuals at Beginning Literacy ABE or only students who are at the adult secondary levels. Funded programs must have services that allow a student to enter at any educational level and progress through programming in the program.

3. Supplemental computer-based distance learning opportunities to students participating in face-to-face instruction who are interested in such services. We will

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provide more information about this requirement on a later slide. 4. Support services to help students address barriers to participation.

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Required activities and services (2)

• Transition support services

• Workforce preparation activities integrated into instruction and services

• Volunteer classroom aides

• Program administrator who is a full-time employee of the agency

• Partner in local PA Careerlink®

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1. Support services to help students identify education and career goals, develop employability skills, and successfully transition to postsecondary education/training and/or employment, as appropriate.

2. Integration of workforce preparation activities into instruction and support services. Workforce preparation activities are designed to help students develop critical thinking skills, problem solving skills, digital literacy skills, and self-management skills, including competencies in using information and resources, working with others, and understanding systems.

3. A cadre of volunteer classroom aides to provide additional instructional support to students participating in classroom instruction. All grant recipients must use at least 5 percent of the state grant funds to support a tutoring program that recruits, trains, and supports volunteer classroom aides. Section AA3 of the Adult Education and Family Literacy Guidelines provides details about this activity.

4. A program administrator who is a full-time employee of the grantee agency. The person does NOT have to be full time on Division of Adult Education grant activities. If the program administrator is not working 100 percent on division-funded activities, the agency must provide evidence that this individual has sufficient time allocated to division-funded activities to meet all of the requirements of the program administrator position. (Note: The program administrator does not have to be paid from grant funds; however, the person must have sufficient time allocated to activities supported by the grant.)

5. All Adult Basic Education Direct Service grantees are required to be partners at a

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local PA CareerLink site and fulfill all the roles and responsibilities of a one-stop partner. The roles and responsibilities include entering into a Memorandum of Understanding with the local workforce board, contributing to infrastructure costs of the PA CareerLink site, providing access to adult basic education services through the PA CareerLink site, and proving career services to eligible one-stop participants. Section AA1.3 of the Adult Education and Family Literacy Guidelines provides more information. In addition, we will post a draft updated Policy G.100 Adult Education and the Workforce Development System to the Division of Adult Education Grant Competitions webpage.

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Required activities and services (3)

• English language acquisition activities and instruction for English language learners - Includes transition to ABE/ASE and HSE

- Required in 18 counties (Appendix C)

- Allowable as needed in other counties

• Referral and support of students to the statewide distance learning project, as appropriate

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1. English language acquisition activities and instruction for English-as-a-Second Language (ESL) students based on area needs. Such instruction must include supporting ESL students to transition successfully to ABE/ASE instruction within the programing funded by the grant and to earn a high school equivalency credential, if needed. PDE has identified 18 counties in which successful applicants must provide these services. See Appendix C.

2. Programs must referral appropriate students to the statewide distance learning project and support them as appropriate. This activity is different from the requirement to provide supplemental computer-based distance learning opportunities to students in face-to-face classes, which we will discuss on the next slide.

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Supplemental distance learning

• Definition of distance learning • Blended instruction

- Students must attend a class at program - DL as additional instruction; not allowed in lieu of

attending class - List of approved computer-based distance

learning curricula - Not mandatory for all students but all programs

must make it available • Distance Learning Project for students who

want to do mostly or only distance learning ~ pennsylvania u DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

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Distance learning is defined in the Technical Assistance Guide for Performance Accountability under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act: National Reporting System for Adult Education as a formal learning activity in which the students and instructors are separated by geography, time, or both. The use of computer-based curricula or other computer-based learning activities that take place during classroom instruction are not distance learning activities. Homework assignments are not distance learning activities, either.

Adult basic education programs funded by the Division of Adult Education will provide blended learning to interested students. In blended learning, students participate in both face-to-face instruction and distance learning activities. The distance learning activities are additional instruction to provide students with a greater intensity of instruction focused on their specific needs and interests to help them achieve their goals and outcomes more quickly.

Students participating in distance learning opportunities with a local program must also be attending face-to-face classes. Distance learning may not be provided in lieu of class attendance. Eligible participants that are not able to attend face-to-face instruction at a local program may be referred to the Statewide Distance Learning Project for services.

Participation in supplemental distance learning opportunities is not required for all students but all funded programs must provide such services to students who are

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interested. Programs are expected to tell students about these opportunities as part of orientation to the adult education program.

Draft of updated Policy D. 130 Distance Learning, which includes to computer-based distance learning curricula that are currently approved for local programs to begin using in PY 2018-19, will be posted to DAE Grant Competitions webpage.

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Additional allowable activities

• Corrections education - Applicants may not budget or expend more than

20 of the grant amounts for corrections education - Section AA2 of program guidelines

• Integrated English literacy and civics education activities (not the Section 243 program)

• Integrated education and training (IET) activities (federal funds only)

• Workplace literacy activities

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In addition to the required services identified in the previous slides, applicants may propose to provide one or more of the following activities:

1. Corrections education, which includes adult education and literacy services for adults who are in correctional facilities. To ensure that Pennsylvania does not exceed the federal and state ceilings for corrections education, applicants may not budget or expend more than 20 percent of the grant amounts for corrections education. There are some additional requirements for corrections education in section AA2 of the Adult Education and Family Literacy Guidelines.

2. Integrated English literacy and civics education activities: This is referring to the activity not the Section 243 program, which is conducted through the 061 grant. These are education services that combine literacy instruction, English language acquisition instruction, and instruction on the rights and responsibilities of citizenship and civic participation.

3. Integrated education and training activities: IET activities are allowable with federal funds only. Any IET activities proposed in the grant application will have to be approved by the Division of Adult Education before the class starts.

4. Workplace literacy activities: Workplace literacy activities are adult basic education services offered in collaboration with an employer at a workplace for incumbent

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workers. They should not be confused with workforce preparation activities described earlier.

Applicants should refer to the Adult Education and Family Literacy Guidelines for more information on these activities to ensure that proposed activities are compliant.

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Optional Tutoring Program

• 15 percent of state adult education funding - $1 ,257,643

• Recruit, train, and support volunteer tutors to provide one-on-one and small group tutoring

• Optional under main grant; not available separately

• Scored separately but applicant must also be awarded main grant

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Pennsylvania Act 143 requires that 20 percent of the state funds allocated for adult basic education be used for programs that recruit, train, and support volunteer adult literacy education instructors, also known as volunteer tutors. These individuals provide one-on-one and small group tutoring. The Division of Adult Education recognizes that not all eligible providers of adult basic education have the capacity to use 20 percent of the state grant funds to support a tutoring program. Therefore, the division is reserving 15 percent of the state allocation for a sub-competition for optional tutoring program funds within the main Adult Basic Education Direct Service 064 competition. The remaining 5 percent of the mandated 20 percent must be used by successful 064 applicants to support volunteer classroom aides as described earlier.

Applicants for the Adult Basic Education Direct Service 064 grant that are eligible applicants for state funds may choose to also apply for additional funds under the State Optional Tutoring Program subproject, for the sole purpose of supporting a program to recruit, train, and support volunteer tutors to provide one-on-one and/or small group instruction. Details regarding the requirements for tutoring programs are in Appendix A of the Adult Education and Family Literacy Program Guidelines.

The optional tutoring program funds are only available as part of the larger Adult Basic Education Direct Service 064 grant. Applicants may not apply for only optional tutoring program funds. However, review of the optional tutoring program proposal will be independent of the review of the main grant. Therefore, it is possible that applicants for

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federal and state funds that also apply for tutoring program funds will receive the main funds but not the tutoring program funds.

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Optional Tutoring Program (2)

• Funds only cover costs directly associated with recruiting, training, and supporting tutors - Costs of services to the students served by tutors

allocated to the main 064 grant - No administrative costs may be charged to the

tutor subproject budget

• Tutoring programs must be established and providing services as proposed during PY 2018-19 - Failure will lead to termination of the funding

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Funds awarded under the optional tutoring program subproject may only be used to cover costs directly associated with recruiting, training, and supporting tutors. All costs associated with the provision of services to the students served by tutors must be allocated to the main 064 grant. No administrative costs may be charged to the tutoring program subproject budget.

Programs that are awarded optional tutoring program funds must have tutoring programs established and providing services as proposed during PY 2018-19. Programs that do not meet this requirement will not have the additional tutoring program portion of the grant renewed in the following program years.

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Optional Tutoring Program (3)

• Community-based tutoring program - Tutor coordinator minimum 20 hours/week - Tutors: 4-year degree; minimum 3 hours/week

• Prison-based peer tutoring program - Peer tutoring program coordinator

• Full-time, dedicated position • 4 year degree, experience as educator

- Peer tutor: high school diploma/equivalent

• Section AA3 of program guidelines ~ pennsylvania u DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

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There are two types of tutoring programs that applicants may propose under the Optional Tutoring Program: a community-based tutoring program and a prison-based peer tutoring program. Applicants may provide one or both. The Division of Adult Education no longer allows the Literacy Corps model.

Requirements for each type of program are explained in section AA3 of the Adult Education and Family Literacy Program Guidelines. We are providing some key information here.

Community-based tutoring program 1. Programs receiving additional state 064 funds for a community-based tutoring

program must have at least one tutor coordinator who works at least 20 hours per week on tutoring program activities. The division strongly recommends that the tutor coordinator be a dedicated full-time position.

2. Volunteer tutors must provide one-on-one or small group instruction to students for a minimum of three hours per week. They must have a bachelor’s degree or be participating in an Americorps program. Volunteer tutors are required to have written lesson plans for all tutoring/small group sessions and should work with tutor coordinators to review goals and adjust student placement, as needed. Volunteer tutors may not administer the standardized assessments used by the agency for reporting purposes unless they have completed the mandatory assessment training. Volunteer tutors are required to participate in initial tutor

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training and additional professional learning opportunities while at the program.

Prison-based peer tutoring program: Peer tutoring is an instructional model that uses one institutionalized individual to assist in providing or enhancing learning opportunities for other institutionalized individuals. A peer tutoring program must be structured and overseen by educators who assist with training and supervising tutors, setting educational goals, establishing an individual plan of instruction, and monitoring progress. This is in accordance with WIOA regulations 463.3.

A prison-based peer tutoring program must have a full-time dedicated peer tutoring program coordinator. The coordinator is responsible for structuring, coordinating, and overseeing the peer tutoring program. This person is responsible for recruiting, training, and supervising tutors, setting educational goals, establishing the individual plan of instruction for each student in the program, developing lesson plans for the peer tutors to use and/or assisting peer tutors to develop lesson plans, and monitoring progress. The peer tutoring coordinator should be trained to administer the standardized assessments used by the program for reporting purposes. The minimum qualifications for the peer tutoring program coordinator are a bachelor’s degree and previous experience as an educator, preferably with adults, and as an instructional leader.

A peer tutor is an institutionalized individual who assists in providing or enhancing learning opportunities for other institutionalized individuals. Peer tutors must have a high school diploma or equivalent.

A peer tutoring program is corrections education. Therefore, funds used for the peer tutoring program count towards the 20 percent cap on state grant funds for corrections education.

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Eligible participants

• Not enrolled or required to be enrolled in secondary school

• Basic skills need based on standardized assessment

• Minimum age: - WIOA(federal): 16 years of age - Act 143 (state): 17 years of age

• Additional Act 143 requirements - Resident of Pennsylvania - Not enrolled in postsecondary school

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Participants served by division-funded adult basic education programs cannot be enrolled or be required to be enrolled in secondary education. All participants must demonstrate a need for basic skills development based on the results of one of the approved standardized assessments administered before instruction starts. Participants served in classes paid with federal funds must be at least 16 years old. Please note that, in Pennsylvania, the compulsory school age is 17. Therefore, 16 year olds are generally required to be enrolled in school. Programs must have evidence that any 16 year olds in the programs are not required to be enrolled.

Participants receiving services under state funds must be at least 17 years old, must be Pennsylvania residents, and, in addition to not being enrolled in secondary school, they cannot be enrolled in postsecondary school.

As a result of this last requirement, programs cannot offer integrated education and training programs with state funds.

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Priorities

• Past effectiveness

• Thorough and detailed plan for services

• Organizational capacity

• Variety of instructional options

• High-quality instruction based on CCRS

• Services aligned with local workforce plan

• High-quality student support services

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In awarding funds, PDE will prioritize funding, through the review and rating process, to grant applications from eligible providers with past effectiveness in providing high-quality services that improve the skills of eligible participants and help those participants to earn high school equivalency credentials, gain and retain employment, and/or transition to postsecondary education/training.

PDE will prioritize funding for those applications that demonstrate a thorough and detailed plan for a full service adult basic education program aligned with local needs that meets all of the minimum requirements described earlier in the webinar and provides: • Evidence of the applicant’s organizational capacity to meet all of the programmatic,

reporting, administrative, and fiscal requirements of the grant. • A variety of instructional options, including instructional models, times and

locations, to meet the scheduling needs of students. • High-quality instruction that is based on best practices and the College and Career

Readiness Standards for Adult Education and is of sufficient intensity to lead to student outcomes.

• Services that align with the strategies and goals of the local workforce area as defined in the local plan and with the activities and services of the PA CareerLink® site partners.

• High-quality student support services that help students to persist and succeed in adult basic education services and meet their personal, educational, and career

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goals.

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Staffing requirements

• Program guidelines 204-204. 7 • Staff must be properly qualified • Minimum bachelor's degree

- Program administrators; coordinators ; tutor trainers; instructional staff, student support staff

• Data quality specialist: not a clerical position - Bachelor's degree OR - Postsecondary credential in data management

• Data entry staff may be clerical - New: all data must be entered within 14 days of

being collected once eData is ope~ l . pennsy vama DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

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Applicants must demonstrate that they have the required staffing and that the staff members of the adult basic education program are well trained and meet the minimum requirements established by PDE. Refer to program guidelines section 204 and subsections 204.1-204.7 for details.

Program administrator, coordinators, tutor trainers, instructional staff, and student support staff must have at least a bachelor’s degree.

All programs are required to have a data quality specialist. The data quality specialist is not simply a clerical position doing data entry. This person is responsible for the accuracy and quality of the data reported to the Division of Adult Education. As a result, the division has established minimum requirements for this role. The person serving as the data quality specialist must have a bachelor’s degree Or a postsecondary credential in data management. Any additional data entry staff who are overseen by the data quality specialist may be clerical staff. The Division recommends that programs have additional data entry staff, if possible. Beginning in Program Year 2018-19, programs will be required to enter all data within 14 days of the data being collected once eData is open for the year.

Current staff members without the required credentials who are currently in these positions may be grandfathered for the same position for Program Year 2018-19.

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Staffing requirements (2)

• Teacher of high school level math (CCRS LevelE) - Secondary math teaching certification OR

- Bachelor's or higher that ensures specific math knowledge

- Refer to program guidelines Section 204

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• Link to Subject Specific Program Guidelines for PA Mathematics 7-12 Certification


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The Division of Adult Education is imposing additional requirements for teachers of mathematics at the College and Career Readiness Standards Level E. These individuals must have secondary math teaching certification or a bachelor’s degree or higher that ensures knowledge of mathematics required of certified math teachers. Refer to Section 204 of the Adult Education and Family Literacy Guidelines for a link to a document listing the required knowledge.

To support local programs in helping students access math instruction at the CCRS Level E, the Division of Adult Education is requiring the successful applicant for the Statewide Distance Learning Project to provide distance learning classes in this content area.

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Funding requests

• Appendix B of RGA: results of funding formula - Local workforce areas and then counties - Federal and state amounts

• Applicant may apply for funds from multiple workforce areas in one application

• If applicant requests funds for a county, it must ensure services are available to residents of that county

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As stated earlier in the webinar, both federal and state funds have been allocated to local workforce areas using a needs-based funding formula. The resulting allocations are listed in Appendix B of the RGA. The amounts have been further broken out by the counties within each local workforce area consisting of multiple counties.

Applicants are not required to apply for all of the funds allocated to a workforce area. Furthermore, applicants are allowed to apply for funds from multiple workforce areas in their applications. If an applicant request funds for a county, it must ensure that it provides services that are accessible to residents of that county.

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Funding requests (2)

• Minimum amounts - Federal Adult Education: $125,000

- State Adult Education: $75,000 (excluding optional tutoring program funds)

- Optional tutoring: no minimum or maximum

• Maximum: amount allocated to proposed service area

• Maximum cost per student: $1,750

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Because the division is requiring grantees to be full service programs, we have established minimum funding requests for the federal adult education and state adult education budgets. They are $125,000 and $75,000 respectively. The state adult education amount excludes any funds requested under the optional tutoring program budget, which has no maximum or minimum request amount.

Applicants should not request more funding than has been allocated to the proposed service area. Please note that, while the allocations to the local workforce areas all exceed the minimum amounts, may county allocations do not.

When determining proposed contracted enrollment, applicants should not exceed a cost per students of $1,750.

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Grant application process

• Submission via eGrants

• See RGA section 3 Grant Requirements for details on access to eGrants

• Timeline - Grants open: February 28, 2018

- Deadline: April 3, 2018, 2:00 PM

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• System records time Complete button is clicked

• Status will be Submitted for Peer Review


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Grant applications will be submitted through PDE’s eGrants system. Section 3 of the Request for Grant Applications guidelines provides details on getting access to the Adult Basic Education Direct Service 064 grant application in eGrants. In the meantime, to allow applicants to review the content of the grant applications, we have posted PDFs of the grant content to the Division of Adult Education Grant Competitions webpage. Please note that these documents are for reference only, as the applications will be submitted through eGrants.

The eGrants system home page has several user guides. In addition, we will post some grant-specific tips to the Division of Adult Education Grant Competitions webpage.

The Adult Basic Education Direct Service 064 grant applications will open on Wednesday, February 28, 2018. The grant application deadline is April 3, 2018 at 2:00 PM. At that point, the eGrants system will close the grant. In order to complete the grant, all sections must be marked complete. Once all sections are marked complete, the applicant will click the Complete STEP button. The eGrants system records the exact time that the applicant clicks the button. Once the grant has been successfully completed, the status will be Submitted for Peer Review.

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Application review process

• Disqualification prior to review - Not an eligible applicant - Application is incomplete - Application not completed by deadline

• Review teams of three people - Scoring rubric; summary of scoring in Appendix A - All three sections will be scored

• Local workforce board review - PDE must take results of review into

consideration when awarding gran~ l . pennsy vama DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

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After the grant deadline, grants will be reviewed and scored. All applications will be reviewed and scored except those that are disqualified for one or more of the following reasons: 1. The applicant does not meet the criteria for eligible applicant. 2. The application is incomplete. 3. The application was not completed by the deadline.

Review teams of three people will review the grant applications using a scoring rubric. A summary of the scoring is in Appendix A of the Request for grant application guidelines. All three sections of the grant application, the narrative, the applicant information section, and the budgets will be reviewed and scored.

In addition, local workforce boards will review adult basic education applications to provide services in the local area for consistency with the local plan. The Division of Adult Education will provide the appropriate applications and review tools to each local board after grants are submitted to the division via eGrants. Applicants should not give their applications to the local boards directly for review. PDE will take the results of the review by local boards and any related recommendations to improve alignment into consideration when making grant awards.

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Award selection process

• Ranked highest to lowest by score - Highest scoring in each workforce area

- Continue until all funds in local area are awarded or no more applications for the area

• Score <100 of 147 will not be awarded funds - Excluding optional tutoring program score

• Optional tutoring program - Minimum score of 18/24

- To successful 064 applicants from highest tutoring

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program score to lowest until funds are no longer available


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Once the applications have been reviewed and scored, they will be ranked from highest to lowest scoring. PDE will award grants to the highest scoring applicant in each of the local workforce development areas and will continue to award funds until the amount allocated to the area under the needs-based formula is reached or until all applications for service in the local area with a sufficient score have been funded. Applications with a score of less than 100 out of 147 will not be funded regardless of availability of funds. Note that the minimum score of 100 is for the main application. The optional tutoring program score is not added to the main application score.

Applications for the optional tutor training funds will be awarded from highest scoring to lowest scoring until funds are no longer available. Applications for tutor training funds with a score of less than 18 of 24 on the tutor training portion of the narrative will not be funded regardless of availability of funds. Unsuccessful applications for the optional tutor training funds will not play a role in awarding of funds under the main grant competition. However, applicants that are not awarded funds under the main grant competition will not be awarded tutor training funds regardless of the score on the tutor training portion of the application.

Successful applications meeting the above criteria and under consideration for acceptance may require revisions or submission of additional information prior to approval.

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Grant terms and conditions

• Four-year grant contract with annual notifications of funding contingent on availability of funds - Annual submission of applicant information and

budget

• Renewal option based on - Contract compliance

- Evidence of progress in meeting performance measures

- Evidence of program improvement

- Fiscal and programmatic compliance ~ pennsylvania u DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

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Successful grant applications will be approved for a four-year grant cycle. Grant funds will be awarded through annual one year notifications of funding contingent on the availability of funds. Each year, grantees will be required to submit budgets and program year specific information via the eGrants system in order to receive funding.

Each year’s renewal option and grant amounts will be based on the following criteria:

1. Contract compliance, including success in meeting contracted enrollment and providing the contracted services;

2. Evidence of sufficient progress in meeting the state imposed performance standards;

3. Evidence of continuous program improvement; 4. Compliance with fiscal and programmatic policies and guidelines; and 5. The amount of the state and federal appropriation.

Programs that fail to sufficiently address the above criteria may be terminated prior to the end of the grant cycle.

PDE reserves the right to shorten or extend the four-year grant cycle as the situation warrants.

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Resources

• www.education.pa.gov>I nstruction>Adult Basic Education>Division of Adult Education Grant Competitions

• Request for Grant Application Guidelines Adult Basic Education Direct Service 064

• Adult Education and Family Literacy Guidelines

• Division of Adult Education policies ~ pennsylvania u DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

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The Division of Adult Education is providing many resources to applicants. Links to the resources are on the Division of Adult Education Grant Competitions webpage which can be accessed by going to PDE’s website at www.education.pa. gov. Select Instruction, then, Adult Basic Education to get to the division’s home page. From the home page, click on Division of Adult Education Grant Competitions link.

Applicants should review the resources both before and during the grant writing process.

The resources include the Request for Grant Application Guidelines, the Adult Education and Family Literacy Guidelines, and relevant division policies.

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www.education.pa

Resources (2)

• Pennsylvania WIOA Combined State Plan

• Regional and local workforce plans

• Memoranda of Understanding for the onestop/PA Careerlink partners

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We also provide links to the Pennsylvania WIOA Combined State Plan and the regional and local workforce plans.

We do not have links to the Memoranda of Understanding for the local PA CareerLinks in the local areas. We recommend that applicants check the local board’s website or contact the local board for copies of the MOUs.

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Tips for grants: general

• Read the RGA and Adult Education and Family Literacy Guidelines first

• Read help buttons - Lists maximum characters - Lists required information

• Make sure charts and tables are complete • Answer the question

- Avoid extra information - Clear and concise - Do not assume the reviewers know~ ur program.

pennsylvama DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

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We strongly recommend that all agencies that are considering applying for an Adult Basic Education Direct Service grant carefully read the Request for Grant Application Guidelines and the Adult Education and Family Literacy Guidelines for Program Year 2018-19 before starting the grant application. For all applicants, these documents will give you a good idea of what is expected of grantees. For currently funded programs, there are some significant changes and new requirements to consider.

Once you begin working on the grants in eGrants, be sure to read all of the Help buttons. They are blue circles with a question mark in them next to the question. You click on the blue circle and it will bring up a box with the help information. The help buttons provide the maximum characters allowable for the answer and lists information that must be addressed in the answer. Note that the maximum characters includes spaces.

Make sure that all charts and tables are complete.

When composing the responses for each item in the grant application, make sure the answers address the information that is being requested. Avoid including information that is not relevant to the item. Make sure the responses are clear and concise, and do not assume that the reviewers know your program. Reviewers should not have to search the answer for the necessary information or try to interpret agency-specific terminology.

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Tips for grants: general (2)

• eGrants does not allow for any formatting - Text answers will be written as single long

paragraphs - No bulleted or numbered lists - Cannot create paragraphs

• If applicant writes grant answers in a Word document (or Pages), make sure it is plain text before pasting into eGrants

• Save often

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Unfortunately, eGrants does not allow for any formatting, bulleted or numbered lists or paragraphs. The system also has problems recognizing special characters.

Some applicants write the content of their grant applications in a Word or Pages document and then copy and paste the information into eGrants. If you choose to do this, make sure the text is plain text without any formatting before copying and pasting. This will prevent issues such as apostrophes showing up as question marks and other format conversion issues.

Save often. At the bottom of each section is a Save and Continue button, which allows you to save the information that has been entered and keeps you on the same page. The Save button will save the information and take you back to the Grant Application Detail page.

The eGrants system times out after 20 minutes of inactivity. However, it occasionally times out before that and while you are working on the grant. It is important to save regularly.

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Tips for grants: narrative

• Effectiveness - All applicants provide data for themselves

- Narrative explanation of data

• Alignment with workforce - Questions listed 3 times

- All applicants must complete first section

- Other two are available for applicants proposing to provide services in multiple workforce areas

- Scoring: multiple areas will be averi ed pennsylvania DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

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Applicants have to provide evidence of effectiveness in two sections of the narrative. All applicants must provide the data themselves. The Division will not do calculations on behalf of any applicants. In addition to providing quantitative data, applicants will provide a narrative explanation of the data.

There is a section in the narrative called Alignment with Workforce with six questions relating proposed activities to the local workforce plan. The six questions are listed three times. This is to allow applicants providing services in multiple local workforce areas to address each area (up to three) individually. So, all applicants must complete the six questions for workforce area 1. Only applicants applying to serve two or three local areas have to complete the questions under workforce area sections 2 and 3.

The maximum total score in the Alignment with Workforce section is 12 points regardless of how many workforce areas are addressed. Scores for multiple areas will be averaged to get the total score.

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Tips for grants: narrative (2)

• Corrections education section - If not planning to do corrections education,

select No and enter N/A in text box to mark the section complete

• Optional tutoring program - If not planning to do corrections education,

select No and enter N/A in text box to mark the section complete


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If applicants choose not to propose corrections education services or to apply for additional optional tutoring program funds, they have to open the sections, answer No to the first question in each, and then enter NA for each of the questions. This will allow the section to be marked complete, which is necessary in order to submit the grant for review.

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Tips for grants: applicant information

• Class schedule: required • Supplemental class schedule: only if

applicant proposes to provide face-to-face supplemental classes - Do not list supplemental distance learning

activities in schedule

• Tutoring schedule: only for applicants requesting additional tutoring program funds

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In the Program Sites and Class Schedule section under Applicant Information, applicants first create a list of class locations. After adding all of the class locations, you must click the Save and Continue button at the bottom of the screen. This will create a dropdown list of Class locations in the first column of the Class schedule and the first column of the Supplemental class schedule sections.

All applicants must complete the class schedule section. Applicants should use the Supplemental Class Schedule only if they are planning to provide supplemental face-to-face classes as defined in section 403.3 of the Adult education and family literacy guidelines. Do not list supplemental distance learning opportunities in the schedule.

The tutoring schedule should only be completed by agencies that are applying for the additional optional tutoring program funds.

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Tips for grants: applicant information (2)

• Agency Activity Summary - Numbers should reflect the distribution of

services as the applicant actually proposes to provide them

- ABE: includes Beginning Literacy ABE through High Intermediate ABE plus all ESL levels

- ASE/GED: includes only Low and High ASE - Institutional: classes in a correctional facility

or other institution not open to thi ublic pennsylvania DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

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The information in the agency activity summary should reflect the activities that the agency proposes to provide. The table requires you to propose the number of students the program will enroll in four different components and the dollar amount requested for each: ABE institutional, ASE/GED Institutional, ABE community based and ASE/GED community-based. Institutional refers to services in correctional or other residential facilities that are not open to the public. ABE includes adult basic education services from beginning literacy ABE through high intermediate ABE plus all of the ESL educational levels. ASE/GED includes services only at low and high adult secondary education levels.

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Tips for grants: budgets

• In eGrants, budgets are "Sub Grant Applications" - Applicants must add sub grant applications to

main grant after creating the main grant

- Most applicants: add Federal Adult Education AND State Adult Education sub grants

- Applicants for Optional Tutoring Program must also add State Optional Tutoring Program sub grant

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In the Adult Basic Education Direct Service grant application, applicants must add the federal and state adult education budgets and optional tutoring program budget if applicable after creating the main application. In eGrants they are referred to as Sub Grants or Sub projects.

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Tips for grants: budgets (2)

• Review the sections 600-609 of the Adult Education and Family Literacy Guidelines before completing the budgets

• Federal Adult Education 064 requires 25 percent local match

• Budget for new assessments

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Before completing the budgets, review sections 600-609 of the Adult Education and Family Literacy Guidelines. This covers allowable uses of funds, how to allocate allowable costs to the budget, and other fiscal requirements. Please note that in some cases, the Division of Adult Education uses the function and object codes differently than PDE’s Division of Federal Programs. Applicants must refer to our AEFL guidelines when completing the budgets.

The federal adult education sub grant requires a 25 percent local match. The guidelines provide information on how to correctly calculate your required local match and related requirements.

Applicants should plan for the purchase of approved standardized assessments in their budgets. The Division of Adult Education is implementing the use of TABE 11/12 in Program Year 2018-19. Furthermore, the division anticipates changes to other approved assessments based on decisions at the federal level.

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Tips for grants: budgets (3)

• FC 2300 in federal budget - Enter expected costs, including PA

Careerlink® infrastructure costs - Required under 2300

• Planning • Costs of contracted professional development • Costs associated with working with workforce

system partners

- Waivers to the 5% cap will be addressed

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when successful applications are processed ~ pennsylvania u DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

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WIOA has specific requirements regarding administrative costs of federally-funded adult basic education funding. The Division of Adult Education uses function code 2300 for these administrative costs.

Under WIOA, administrative costs are capped at 5% of the grant amount. The following costs are considered administrative costs, which means they must be charged to Function Code 2300:

1. Planning costs, including the costs associated with planning and coordination with workforce system partners;

2. The PA CareerLink infrastructure costs paid from the grant; and 3. Costs of contracted professional development.

The cost of contracted professional development refers to funds paid to the larger agency to cover the cost of mandated agency professional development or training and the fees paid to outside professional development providers. It does not refer to adult education staff time participating in professional development activities. It also does not refer to the work of the in-house professional development specialist and program administrators and coordinators supporting and leading staff professional development activities.

Any restricted indirect costs charged to the grant are also considered administrative

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costs and are included in the 5% cap.

WIOA allows the division to agree to, through negotiations with the local program, a higher amount when the 5 percent cap is too restrictive to allow for adequate planning and administration. Applicants that believe that they have a strong case for a waiver to the 5% cap should budget the expected administrative costs. The division will consider the request when successful applications are being processed. Please note that priority for waivers will be given to allow successful applicants to meet the requirements to contribute to PA CareerLink infrastructure costs.

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Questions

• Submit questions to [email protected]

• Subject line: Adult Basic Education Direct Service 064

• Division staff will post responses to submitted questions in FAQ document

• Do not send questions to division staff directly

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This concludes the Adult Basic Education Direct Service grant application webinar. If you have any questions, please submit them to our resource email address at [email protected]. Put Adult Basic Education Direct Service 064 in the subject line. Division of Adult Education staff will periodically post responses to submitted questions on the Division of Adult Education Grant Competitions webpage for all applicants to review. Do not send questions directly to division staff.

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mailto:[email protected]

Contact/Mission

For more information on the Division of Adult Education's grant competitions, please visit PDE's website at www.education.pa .gov

The mission of the deportment is to ocodemicol/y prepore children ond adults to succeed as productive citizens. The department seeks to ensure that the technical support, resources and opportunities are in place for all students, whether children or adults, to receive a high quality

education.

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