The West Virginia Adult Education (WVAdultEd) Program is funded by the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act, enacted August 7, 1998 as Title II of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998.

WVAdultEd is administered through the West Virginia Department of Education Office of Adult Education and Workforce Development, Building 6, Room 230, 1900 Kanawha Boulevard, East, Charleston, West Virginia 25305-0330.

The WVAdultEd Instructor Handbook is produced by the WVAdultEd Professional Development Program, whose fiscal agent is the Regional Education Service Agency (RESA) 3, 501 22nd Street, Dunbar, West Virginia 25064-1711.

For questions or concerns related to the content of the WVAdultEd Instructor Handbook, contact Cathy Shank at the WV Adult Education Hotline, 1-800-642-2670, or via email at .

RESA 3 does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or any other characteristic protected by law in access to, employment in, or provision of any of RESA 3’s programs, benefits, or activities.

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Program Enrollment and Entry

WVAdultEd PROGRAM MODELS

Scheduling Models

On-going/Continuous Enrollment Classes

Short-term and Special Topic Classes with Managed Enrollment

Intake (Registration and Entry) Structures

Managed Intake/Entry – regularly scheduled, set registration time

Open Intake/Entry – no set registration time

Delivery Models

Leveled Class Delivery – organized by educational level

Structured Multi-level Delivery – all educational levels in the same class

ELIGIBILITY FOR WVAdultEd PROGRAM ENROLLMENT

General Eligibility for Enrollment

Eligibility of Students Currently Enrolled in Post-Secondary Education or Job-Training Programs

Eligibility of Foreign Students

Eligibility of Adults with Disabilities

Public Non-discrimination Notice

Eligibility of Young Adults (16 to 18 Years Old)

Required Paperwork for 16 to 18 Year Olds

No Enrollment Caps for Young Adults

Attendance Guidelines for Students under Age 18 Enrolled to Maintain WV Driver’s License

Guidelines for Students under Age 18 Preparing for the High School Equivalency Assessment

Eligibility of Students Assigned to WVAdultEd by a Court Order

STUDENT ORIENTATION AND INTAKE PROCESS

Checklist for Student Orientation and Intake

General Student Orientation and Intake Procedures

Welcoming Activity

Program Overview

Conduct Needs Assessment and Goal Exploration

Registration Forms

Learning Needs/Barriers Screening

Strengths Identification

Standardized Pre-tests

Career Exploration

Private Student Interview to Discuss Results and Set Up a Plan of Study

Orientation for Specific Types of Students

Orientation for HS Equivalency Diploma Candidates (HSE Registrant Only)

Orientation for Distance Education (DE) Students

Orientation for English Language Learners (ELLs)

Orientation for SPOKES Students

Orientation for Low-Level Literacy Students

Orientation for Students with Disabilities

Orientation for Young Adult Students (16 to 18 Years Olds)

WVAdultEd PROGRAM STUDENT INTAKE/PROGRESS FILES

Program Files Checklist

Permanent Program-Intake/Progress File for Each Student (maintained by the instructor/aide; not accessible to students)

Strictly Confidential Files on Specific Students

Student Working File/Folder

WVAdultEd REPORTS

STUDENT CONFIDENTIALITY

WVAdultEd Personnel Confidentiality Agreement

What responsibility do I have for reporting child abuse?

Release of Information

Directory Information

Educational Record Information

Strictly Confidential Information

Audio-Visual (Media) Information

Requesting Confidential Information from Other Agencies

REFERRALS

Keeping Track of Students Referred to Your Program from Other Agencies

Release Forms for Students Referred by External Agencies

Referring Students from Your Program to Other Agencies

Appendix

Sample Public Non-Discrimination Notice

Sample Intake Paperwork

Rights and Responsibilities of Students in WVAdultEd programs

Sample Student Commitment Contracts

WVAdultEd Student Commitment Contract A

WVAdult Ed Student Commitment Contract B

WVAdultEd Registration/ Report Forms

New Class Information Form

Student profile/400A

Student Profile/400B

Confidentiality and Referral Forms

WVAdultEd Program General Release of Information

WVAdultEd Personnel Confidentiality Agreement

Authorization For Release of Strictly Confidential Information to Local Staff or Volunteers

Authorization for Release of Information to External Agencies or Individuals

WVAdultEd SPOKES Authorization For Release of Information

Student Confidential Records Log

Sample Media Release Form

WorkForce West Virginia Partner Referral Form

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WVAdultEdPROGRAM MODELS

Encouraging students to enter and remain in your class is one role you play as a WVAdultEd instructor. Throughout the state, programs have adopted various scheduling, intake, and delivery models for their classes. Some models are more effective than others for attracting and retaining students.

If you are an instructor in a SPOKES program, your class has a very particular model that you are required to use (see Section 16 for details). Other WVAdultEd programs vary considerably. Ask your local program coordinator about how classes for your program are organized. As a new instructor, you need to understand how your local classes have been set up in the past (and whether the model was successful in the past), but you also need to think about changing the structure if it does not work for you and your students.

Scheduling Models

How your class is scheduled is an important variable. Several scheduling features affect the success of your program:

  • Duration(how many weeks/months per program year the class is open)
  • Intensity (how many hours/week of instruction are available)
  • Character of the enrollment schedule (whether students begin and end the classat the same time or enter and exit constantly)

In order for students to make progress toward their goals, programs of sufficient duration and intensity must be established. To demonstrate academic progress, 50 to 100 hours of instruction is usually recommended. So then, if a student is only able to attend a class three or four hours per week over the course of 12 weeks, then even under the best conditions the students may not study long enough to demonstrate progress.
Note: Part-time programs operating less than 12 hours per week will not be considered to be of sufficient intensity.

Your program’s enrollment schedule also affects the way you organize and deliver instruction. Local WVAdultEd programs are encouraged to provide a balanced combination of On-going/Continuous Enrollment classesand Short-term/Special Topic classeswith Managed Enrollment.

On-going/ContinuousEnrollmentClasses

Many WVAdultEd classes are organized as On-going/Continuous Enrollment classes. They are in operation year round or else throughout the school year. While some students do begin in the summer or early fall and continue through May or June, many students enroll, exit the class, and even re-enroll at various times throughout the program year. Thus, even though the class may have a sufficient duration, students may not stay long enough or consistently enough to make progress.

In these On-going/Continuous Enrollment classes (sometimes referred to as Open Entry/Open Exit) there are no set beginnings and endings of study terms, no mandatory start/finish times, and no set testing periods. Students enroll or exit at their convenience and take post-tests when they have completed the recommended number of hours between assessments.

Students may study for many months or for just a few weeks. They may start off with regular attendance and then stop coming because of holiday activities or inconvenient weather, or exit if other responsibilities interfere with study and then resume again when they are able—stopping in and out several times over the course of a program year.

  • Advantages:
  • Students can enter classes any time during the program year without having to wait.
  • Students may be able to establish a schedule within the class hours that is convenient for them.
  • Disadvantages:
  • The instructor often feels fragmented by so many different needs.
  • The members of the class and their needs are constantly changing as different students leave and arrive for class at different days/times and may stop in or out of the program at any time.
  • The instructor often feels limited to offering only independent study because of the difficulty of organizing effective small and large group activities for constantly changing audiences.
  • The instructor may find it difficult to make plans or have on-going lessons because of not knowing which students may or may not come to class on a given day/time.
  • New students may not feel connected to the rest of the class because they did not start at the same time as others.
  • It may be difficult to know when to post-test students because everyone is on a different schedule.
  • Students may drop out because they see no end in sight and no one misses them.
  • Students may make no real commitment to attending because they know they could come back at any time.

Instructors often try to manage the comings and goings in a continuous enrollment class by establishing a learning lab setting. In such a setting, it is easy to fall into a pattern of testing, prescribing materials, and simply pointing students towards textbooks or computers. The instructor flits from person to person helping those in need (or rather those who express their needs). However, not all students are self-disciplined enough to work independently. Some demand a lot of attention and cannot seem to stay on track. Othersare uncomfortable asking for assistance and get lost in the shuffle. It is easy for the instructor to stay busy testing, answering questions, helping the neediest, and handling the paperwork but forget to plan lessons and teach group work. Students find it easy to drop out of this type of class because no one really misses them or expects anything of them.

In order to effectively meet the needs of all the students inOn-going/Continuous Enrollment classes and keep everyone motivated to continue attending, the instructor must build a community of learners byprovidingboth whole group and small group work in addition to individualized instruction and independent study.

Short-term and Special Topic Classes with Managed Enrollment

Classeswith Managed Enrollment havescheduled beginning and ending dates and have specific class hours when all students are expected to attend. Short-termclasses often run for 6to 10weeks. Testing usually occurs at the beginning and the end of the course (unless an individual has to drop out before the class ends).

Some part-time classes are organized as short-term classes because they are scheduled only in the fall and spring and closed during the summer and/or winter months. Some programs that employ multiple instructors organize short-term classes within a larger learning center framework. In those programs, one instructor may manage the continuous enrollment learning center while the other teaches a short-term class.

Short-term classes work most effectively when they are established around a particular level (such as Beginning Literacy, Advanced ESL, High Adult Secondary) or around a special topic (such as College Readiness, Work Readiness, Financial Planning, Citizenship, Essay Writing, Phonics, Computer Literacy, preparation for one area of the high school equivalency test, preparation for LPN entrance, Parenting Skills, etc.).

A Special Topic class is a short-term class that allows the instructor to focus instruction on narrow objectives and provide the student with an opportunity to gain specialized knowledge and skills in a limited amount of time. Local programs are encouraged to utilize a needs assessment to determine the particular interests of a community, a specific target population, or a referring agency employer in order to launch such special topic classes.

  • Advantages
  • All the students begin at the same time and can establish group rapport.
  • The instructor can establish the goal/purpose of the class and students can see clearly their progress toward that goal.
  • Students can be grouped according to level and/or interest so that teaching activities can be more focused.
  • Students can interact with one another as they learn similar material instead of always working independently on different skills or topics.
  • Students can be given a certificate of completion and can see tangible results of their study.
  • Students may be more willing to make a short-term commitment than choose a long-term program that has no end in sight.
  • Disadvantages
  • Some students may not be able to attend because they cannot begin at the appointed time.
  • Only the needs of a specific group are served in a special topic class; others may be excluded because of their level or their interests.
  • If the class is not well publicized or if there is not a great interest, it cannot run. This may make planning somewhat uncertain.
  • If a program only offers short-term classes, instructors may not be employed continuously throughout the year.

Because of their limited duration, short-term classes need to be of sufficient intensity (offering enough hours/week) in order for students to show progress. It is important to build in sufficient contact hours to meet recommended post-testing guidelines. For example, the TABE assessment recommends 50 to 60 hours of instruction (with a minimum of 40 hours) prior to post-testing for students in FFL #1 to #4. Thus, a class that meets twice a week for three hours each night would need to run at least 10-12 weeks in order for students to accrue sufficient contact hours to demonstrate progress (allowing for a few absences or class cancellations), while a class that metfour nights a week might only run for six weeks.

Each class startup must be well-advertised because the registration period occurs in the two or three weeks preceding the first class and a minimum of 10-12 participants should register in order for the class to run successfully (given absences and drop-outs).

Students decide to attend based on the topic and the time schedule of the short-term class. Students are pre-tested at the beginning of class and post-tested at the end. Expectations for regular class attendance are strongly emphasized using student contracts to encourage commitment. These classes require a thorough intake process that includes careful identification and resolution of participation barriers. Classes that offer a particular certificate or the chance to test for a credential at the end are most successful because the student has a particular goal and deadline in mind from the outset.

A Work-Based Project class is a particular type of special topic class that is designed to teach work-based skills and includes 12 to 30 hours of instruction. Students in these classes are not tested in the same way as others. Often they are not tested with TABE or assigned a Federal Functioning Level (FFL). For more information on assessment of these learners, see Guidance on Specific Types of Students, Section 6.

Intake (Registration and Entry) Structures

In addition to how your classes are scheduled, it is important to also pay attention to the Intake Structure. This refers to whether your structure includes specific set times (Managed Intake) for new students to register and enter the class or whether you allow students to begin on any day, at any time (Open Intake).

Short-term classes with Managed Enrollment by their nature require a Managed Intake structure. In order to offer a short-term class, you must register sufficient students at the outset.

Even if your program has an On-going/Continuous Enrollment class, you can establish a Managed Intake structure. Open Enrollment—with students entering throughout the year does not have to mean Open Intake—with students registering any day or hour the class is in session. Regardless of the enrollment schedule, most programs should use a Managed Intakestructure, unless classes are desperate to increase enrollment.

Managed Intake/Entry – regularly scheduled,set registration time

Classes that utilize the Managed Intake structure offer scheduled, well-advertised registration and assessment days and times at regular intervals. New applicants are asked to comefor registration onlyat those appointed times. Program orientation, expectations and entry assessments (locator pretests, learning styles inventories, etc.) may be offered in a small group intake setting. Individual follow-up appointments are scheduled to discuss individual learning goals, barriers to participation, assessment results and to set short-term and long-term educational plans. Programs can also set up special times for students who only need to take an approved practice test for the state-approved high school equivalency assessment.

  • Advantages:
  • Time is saved by administering group orientation and pre-testing.
  • New students start with an established peer group of others entering at the same time.
  • The instructor is focused on intake and can provide a clear description of the program and its expectations.
  • Group lessons are not interrupted by the arrival of new students at odd times.
  • Students who only want to take a practice test for the state-approved high school equivalency assessment can be managed more efficiently by scheduling testing on particular days/times.
  • Once the program has established times, students learn by word of mouth when to arrive and referral agencies know when to send them.
  • Disadvantages:
  • New applicants may be unable to come on the scheduled day and time.
  • Group intake that is not well-managed, may seem impersonal to students or resemble previous unpleasant school experiences.
  • The instructor may feel bad about turning away students who arrive on the wrong day/time and worry that the students may not return.

Open Intake/Entry– no set registration time

With Open Intake, students arrive whenever a class is in session and receive information about the program, register, begin the assessment process, and start studying immediately.