Vermont

The NRS ICR requires that the State has standardized forms (electronic or paper) for collecting student information (e.g., intake, attendance) that include all NRS measures and have correct NRS definitions and categories.  This requirement ensures that all local providers collect all required data elements for federal WIOA reporting.  Discussion with the State team and a review of local intake forms revealed that VTAOE allows each local provider to create and use its own data collection forms.  The versions the monitoring team reviewed appear to have the required data elements included, but there is potential for data collection errors when the State does not have oversight of the data collection forms.  The current forms were devised to align with the State's previous management information system, and VTAOE has since transitioned to LACES. VTAOE must create a standardized data collection form for all local providers to use at intake.

Discussion: Program regulations require a State to have a written assessment policy that its local providers must follow for measuring educational gain and reporting data in the National Reporting System (NRS).  The State’s assessment policy must specify the score ranges tied to educational functioning levels for placement and reporting gains for accountability.  After reviewing VTAOE’s assessment policy, the review team found that the State did not include score ranges tied to educational functioning levels for placement and reporting gains for accountability.  VTAOE must include score ranges for all assessments in the PY 2023 assessment policy submitted to OCTAE for review.