[INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC] SPEAKER: OTAN Outreach and Technical Assistance Network. 

DR. CAROLYN ZACHRY: So 231. As we saw in the earlier slides that this is the largest amount of funding that California receives that is WIOA funded, that is WIOA funding. So we're going to start out first with a poll, and that is how many program areas does the Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act Section 231 cover? So let me launch that. Someone already did. Thank you. So your choices are three, four, five, or I forgot my coffee. 

Oh, we have several people that forgot their coffee. I appreciate, so many people participating. OK. We're almost to 60%. Give a couple more seconds to see if we can get everyone to answer. Some people might not be back from break. Some people might be getting their coffee. 

All right. We're going to end that poll. Remember what your answer was. I'm going to share the results. We do have sort of a tie between three and four, not quite a tie, but statistically, they're pretty close. So let's see what the answer is. Stop sharing. Let me close that, and on to our next slide. Let's count them. English Language Acquisition. English Literacy and Civics Education. Note that there's no I in there. Adult Basic Education and Adult Secondary Education. 

So if you said four, that is correct. We'll be talking about each one of these areas throughout my presentation here for the next little bit. So I just wanted to remind you of what the definition of-- in WIOA-- the definition of English Language Acquisition happens to be. And that is instruction for English language learners, so that they can achieve competency in reading, writing, speaking, and the comprehension of the English language. 

And-- and I think that "and" is an important piece-- that leads to attainment of a secondary school diploma or its recognized equivalent, and transition to post-secondary education and training or employment. So that it's leading to something. They were helping individuals to gain English that will help them further what they're trying to do with their goals. 

So some key objectives that are related to ELA is that we want to make sure that, in your program, you are providing students the opportunity to learn English that's accurate and appropriate in, not just academic settings, but also providing them the English to interact in social settings, that you are integrating as much language as possible into those relevant life experiences, stressing that importance of critical thinking, problem solving, and self-sufficiency, and that you're also not just working on speaking but also listening and reading comprehension when it comes to English Language Acquisition. 

We want to make sure that students are productive in their English language skills for speaking and writing. So again, not just reading, it's really all three areas speaking, reading, and writing, and that we do encourage you to be supporting students with citizenship instruction as it's appropriate for those individuals, especially those students that are ready to go through the application. In the interview process, you want to make sure that they're speaking English skills are ready for that type of an interview. 

Now the other piece that we talk about as 231 is English Literacy and Civics Education. And this has been something that, if you remember back to what I said in our introduction, that California has been doing adult education since 1856. And the focus was on immigrant integration, learning English, having vocational skills. So EL Civics in California is really something that we have clung to and hold on to and value highly, and so much so that we have these field developed civic objective and additional assessment plans called COAAPs, and that is really where students have an activity that they're doing related to an integration program. 

So perhaps it has to do with health care. And their activity is how do you make an appointment at a doctor's office, and what do you need to do to get insurance. So this COAAPs have activities associated with them. All right. Poll number two. Let me get back to that poll. Relaunch that one. 

So which one of these from this list is not an ELCE activity? It's like a horse race watching this. All right. Let's see. We're getting up there almost, everyone. A couple more people need to respond. Of course, some of you that are thinking ahead have looked at the next slide, probably. All right. So let me share this, share the results. You can see that an overwhelming number have said workforce preparation, and that is correct. 

Workforce preparation is part of IELC, and that's that integrated piece that's part of 243 funding. And Corey will be talking about that tomorrow afternoon, I believe. And so if you are receiving 243 funding, you'll want to make sure that you attend his session. So 231 funding for EL Civics is made up of that civic participation, which is contextualized programs, supporting civics education, and then citizenship preparation as well, and again with that focus of integration. 

The next section in 231 or the next part of 231 is Adult Basic Education. Now while we don't associate grade levels with adult education, you can look at this as eighth grade and below. So those are for individuals that are really needing to work on those basic skills, not just in language arts, but also in mathematics. And you may have English learners that transition from English learner English literacy into some of your higher level Adult Basic Education programs. 

So a model ABE program provides comprehensive services to meet those diverse education needs of their students and your preparing them to either transition into secondary education or vocational ed, technical ed job preparation classes. Again, you're focusing on all the areas of language arts as well as mathematics. 

And really, these courses are designed, as we said earlier, to help students receive the skills that they need that will lead them to employment or advancement on their job or entering into that whole Adult Secondary Education program, which is our next topic area. So Adult Secondary Education, you can really think of this as those high school programs, whether it is helping a student to complete their high school diploma or to prepare to take either the GED or the HiSET. 

Those are the two high school equivalency programs or exams that are approved by the California State Board of Education. Again, you're looking at the wide range of subjects that you would have in high school. So math and English and social studies and science and any other courses that your local school board has determined will lead to a high school diploma that's issued to an adult. 

Oftentimes, the number of credits are fewer than what your comprehensive high school students would have to have, or you're helping them to prepare for one of those tests. All right. That was fast. I hope that means that David and Abby might be ready. We might get to have a little longer lunch. But I'm ready to answer questions, and I'm going to stop sharing. All right. So what questions might there be? 

JIM SHIELDS: Carolyn, there's a couple things in the Q&A. Leticia, she says, "I believe there are now seven." I think maybe that was in reference to the program areas you discussed earlier. I'm not sure. And she also made a reference to pre-apprenticeship and workforce prep. 

DR. CAROLYN ZACHRY: Yes. Also, those pieces are part of the career apprenticeship [ INAUDIBLE ]. 

JIM SHIELDS: OK. And then we have another question. Could you please discuss more about HSD and HSE? 

DR. CAROLYN ZACHRY: All right. So HSD would be a high school diploma. So for individuals that dropped out of high school for whatever reason, didn't finish, what most adult programs do is you get the student's transcript, and you determine what courses they need to meet whatever your high school diploma requirements are for an adult individual. 

So there's a minimum requirement ed code, and I don't have that off the top of my head, perhaps one of my staff who know that, probably Neil can drop that ed code link into the chat. But there's a minimum requirement, and it's about 100 to 120 credits. So it's English, math, science, some basic science, and basic history, or social studies that are required for-- or the minimum requirements for a diploma. 

At the adult level, you have to meet those. What you don't have to have is you don't have to have physical education, so that's waived for adults. But some adult schools do require students to have some elective programs-- thanks, Neil-- --to have some electives as well. So you want to make sure that you're meeting whatever the requirements are for your district. 

If you are preparing a student for the high school equivalency, there are a lot of online programs that agencies are using to help their students prepare for those exams. Both GED and HiSET have their own set of items that a student can do online. And you're just going through that curriculum and helping them prepare to take that test and hopefully pass the test. 

And I'm not sure if that-- I hope that answered what the individual was looking for. If not, perhaps they can ask a little more in depth of a question. 

JIM SHIELDS: Yeah. And we have some additional ones that have come up now. Ned from Claremont Adult School says, "So for ELA, this is only for students looking for secondary diploma, not for students looking for general English skills, that would be the English literacy and civics. So the major difference between them is whether they want to attain that further secondary diploma," is his question. 

DR. CAROLYN ZACHRY: Yeah. I mean for your students that are really looking at that English literacy and civics program, you know, the-- well, let me step back a moment. The goal of WIOA, I will just tell you in general, the goal of WIOA is, because it starts out with workforce, is workforce preparation. So in general, all of our students should be working towards a job. And the hope is that, when they exit, they will be getting a job, or if they have a job, that they will be moving further along in their career trajectory. 

So that is a piece that I think is the important part of all WIOA, which is why it's critical for collecting either Social Security numbers or the individual tax ID number that you have. That way we can do a data match, and you don't have to survey your students. I think that's something we don't talk about. We didn't talk very much about in this orientation, but that's a critical piece of follow-up after students leave. 

And so, again, the focus is on workforce preparation. And so, for those students who really are looking to move through an English language acquisition to move into a secondary diploma, yes, that focus is more on that ELA program, and I would say in general. But you will have students that are wanting to do your English Literacy and Civics Education who are also moving towards that diploma. So really, it allows you to be flexible at your local level. So hope that answered that, Ned. 

JIM SHIELDS: OK. And then we have a question from Donna. "Can you elaborate more on EL Civics?" 

DR. CAROLYN ZACHRY: Let's see. So not sure exactly what you're looking for on elaboration. Corey, are you here? Wondering if you might be able to elaborate a little more on that. Corey might not be here. 

MELINDA HOLT: Dr. Zachry, Corey is not here. 

DR. CAROLYN ZACHRY: OK. That's right, he had another appointment this morning. So Diana Batista, can tap on you for that, to see if you can elaborate a little more? I'm not sure what else to add on to. 

DIANA BATISTA: I can't show my video, but the EL Civics piece has been, as Carolyn mentioned, with us for a long time. Those what we call COAAPs, the Civic Objective Additional Assessment Plans, are available at the CASAS website. You'll also find a number of them at the OTAN Exchange site, which I'm sure OTAN is going to talk about. 

But what they are is basically a short curriculum. Each one is approximately 30 hours long, and we're asking you to address language and literacy objectives. So I think Carolyn referenced speaking to a doctor, or you might also hear of speaking to the pharmacist. So what we did was we looked at what a student would need to know in order to accomplish that skill in English. 

So we would look at the vocabulary that they would need as well as the list of what sort of questions and be prepared to respond in English when the conversation begins, so that they're capable of carrying on a dialogue. We also would go into more details in showing them, for example, for speaking to the pharmacist, how to read the medicine label. 

And then each COAAP has a specific list of language and literacy objectives as well as some specific skills in that area. And then each agency develops their own assessment, where you measure that the student has learned what was taught. I hope that's not too basic, but there's a lot of information at the CASAS website, and I'm sure they're going to talk about it as well. But if you have any other questions, please put it in the Q&A. I'll be happy to add to that. 

DR. CAROLYN ZACHRY: Thank you so much, Diana. I appreciate you going much more in depth on that. And Neil has put in that there's a YouTube page for California EL Civics support. And it really is those-- it really is I want to say hands on, but it's not hands on like you would think of hands on. But it is much more on a practical application for EL Civics. 

DIANA BATISTA: Performance-based, definitely. 

DR. CAROLYN ZACHRY: Performance-based. 

DIANA BATISTA: Anthony also put some resources there. Thank you, Anthony. 

DR. CAROLYN ZACHRY: And the other piece I would say is that it's also timely. So for example, in 2020, when we were preparing for the census, LAUSD developed a COAAP related to the census. And agencies could use that COAAP that was developed to help their students understand the census. When COVID happened, there was a COVID COAAP that was put together. 

So we can be nimble and flexible with our COAAPs to really meet the changing times. So my guess is-- I know we have one on voting, and in 2024, we'll have a big presidential-- a big election, so I know that that will be a COAAP that will probably be used quite a bit then. 

Let's see. Yep, I'm looking at the next one from Leticia. "I'm wondering about a tool that can measure language acquisition listening, speaking, writing since CASAS measures reading." Why we don't have any CASAS people here today? 

BARBARA LEHMAN: I'm here. 

DR. CAROLYN ZACHRY: Do we? 

BARBARA LEHMAN: Carolyn, this is Barbara Lehman, and I'm here. 

DR. CAROLYN ZACHRY: Barbara. Thanks, Barbara. Yeah. Can you help us with that one? 

BARBARA LEHMAN: CASAS does have listening, speaking, reading, and writing assessments, and they're all on the website. And they also have an essay assessment that higher level students are-- that's available. And they have an intake assessment that's not just on TE. But those are all found on the CASAS' website. 

And in terms of EL Civics, the assessments there are applied performance, and you look at a rubric and develop your own assessments. 

DR. CAROLYN ZACHRY: All right. Thank you so much, Barbara. So the next question is also a CASAS question. And it's also a question that relates to the importance of having some type of a conversation with a student. 

So the question happens to be, for a student that's coming in, wants to work on their high school diploma, but they do the CASAS test, and they come out in the higher level ABE or low-level ABE. So what are you to do? So Barbara, what would CASAS say in that sense on what their recommendation would be? 

BARBARA LEHMAN: Well, because there's still an ABE, they're considered basic skills deficient. And that's anybody that's reading below an eighth grade level, not that we equate things with the grade level equivalency, but that's an easily understood way to explain it. And so CASAS would give them skill building in order to get them up to a ninth grade level or into the ASE program. And there are a number of different activities that they do and assessments that we do that can help the teacher facilitate that. 

DR. CAROLYN ZACHRY: Yeah. So really you're going to-- it's a tough one, but they really need to be working on those basic skills first as you help to move them into their high school diploma. They may not be happy with that, but I think if you sit down with them and go over their results and talk about maybe a plan of action on how to move a student into their high school diploma piece, then that would be a beneficial way to go about that. 

So I hope that answered that. And then the next question-- and Leticia, I'm not sure I quite understand. Why aren't adult agencies required to measure language acquisition gains? So students do, we pre and post test them. I'm not sure-- we are looking at language gains because we're looking at literacy gains. I'm not sure-- 

MELINDA HOLT: Dr. Zachry, I think there's a correction down in the Q&A. She typed level gains. 

DR. CAROLYN ZACHRY: Level gains. OK. So let me go back, and let me read that. Jim, can you read that one out loud. I can't find it. 

MELINDA HOLT: It's two words, level gains. 

DR. CAROLYN ZACHRY: Level gains. OK. So why aren't adult-- why aren't we required to measure level gains? You do measure educational functioning levels, so students do move through level gains. And that's partially what we're looking-- that's what we're looking for, as well as measurable skill gains, so I'm not sure if that's what you're looking for. Anyone else, CDE staff or CASAS staff have thoughts on that? 

BARBARA LEHMAN: CASAS is looking at the different levels and starting with beginning low and going up to advanced. And those are measured by a raw score being converted into a scale score and moving up that level as measured by the MSGs. So there are charts on the CASAS website that will help you to determine what level of student is in. And in the listening test, because weren't we speaking about listening to begin with? There are different levels in listening as well as reading. 

DR. CAROLYN ZACHRY: Yes, again, tomorrow, Jay will be presenting on CASAS, and there's so much about WIOA that we have to have our state leadership partners. Projects are critical. And each one of their websites has a great deal of information that you're going to want to go through and kind of mine and bookmark and make sure that you have that, so you know where to go for those different questions that you might have. 

So let's see. Neil, I was wondering if you could answer this one. 

NEIL KELLY: Yeah, yeah. I could come off mic. And since Barbara's in the room, she can also help me. So when a student's transitioning to ASE, we're still running them through assessments for reading and listening. So they might be at a certain ELA level even though they're in an ABE or an ASE program. So that's why it's important to do that assessment, do your pre and post testing so you know what level is that. 

And Barbara, correct me if I'm wrong. The student could be at a certain level, but they could be in an ABE, ESL, ASE program, but they're testing at that level per the CASAS test score, right? 

BARBARA LEHMAN: Correct. There's a cut score for CASAS. And what is found is that, if most ELLs will test lower in listening than they do in reading, many of them have a much higher reading score than a listening score, but depending on the test they have the paired score on, they will be considered ABE. 

But the students don't really need to have all of that depth of information. So if a student is unhappy about being-- this is what I should have said before-- unhappy about not being in a school class, you can say it's pre high school, you know, it's how the teacher positions it to the student is what I have found, personally, but yeah. 

And then, many agencies only test in reading for ESL, but the federal government approves both reading and listening. You can test the listening score, the listening test. You can also test math for your ASE students, because you want to look at a total student, but you need a paired score for the federal government. 

DR. CAROLYN ZACHRY: Thanks, Barbara. I think that's an important piece about paired scores, so remember that you want to be in-- a lot of this information, these questions are going to be answered in the accountability training that you're going to have a little later this week. So just know that we'll be coming back to these similar questions, and information will be shared on that day. 

So Diana, I saw you're going to answer our next question for us, related to English Language and Civics education. and who is that for? 

DIANA BATISTA: So the question was, if the English Language and Civics Education is more for students that are interested in community programs and not necessarily going on to post-secondary, and the answer is no, the English learner civics education topics cover a very wide variety of information, including when students are looking to advance educational goals. 

There is a whole lesson set up for students that are looking into whether it's vocational CTE or colleges, and it teaches the students how to go through and look at, for example, college courses, a pathway of what would be required, how to contact someone at the college. There are also other lessons that are on soft skills, basic skills for workforce. 

There's a set of lessons on cultural-- I'm trying to think of the word for it-- like that we used to use a lot for equity pieces, where students get to share about their own culture. So everyone gets to learn about the other students that are in their class kind of on a personal level. 

But Barbara, sorry to pick on you again, but I believe that there's over-- well, probably close to 75 different topics right now. Some of them are workforce based, some of them are community based, some health. But it's a wide variety. And where to find that information at the CASAS site has been put in the chat. Go ahead, Barbara. What am I missing? 

AMUKELA GWEBU: Before Barbara goes-- 

DIANA BATISTA: Thank you, Amukela. 

AMUKELA GWEBU: Yeah. Before Barbara goes, I want to provide some clarity to the group. You cannot have a WIOA Title 2 231 program without that English acquisition, without the training, without the COAAPs. I mean for our program, you can't do that, but we do provide state funding, a state funding model that can accommodate and has more funding for the flexible opportunities or ideas that providers have. 

The funding that we have is a small minute portion of the-- it's a supplemental portion, and it has like strict guidelines. So if you look at our RFA, you look at all our documents, the CASAS documents, it tells you the things the three things that should be there for you to do this program. So just for clarity, I just want to express that. We can't have it any other way Thank you. 

DIANA BATISTA: Thank you, Amukela. I wanted to add, you also must conduct a needs assessment. You just reminded me. Where you survey your students on certain topics to get a feel for what they need and what they're interested in learning, and that helps you to target the instruction. 

DR. CAROLYN ZACHRY: Thank you, Diana. And think that ends all of our questions. So thank you for your questions. It really does take our whole office because we have such a large program and so many agencies, and it really takes all of us working together to provide the support to the field. Not one person can do it by themselves.