CDE Announcements Archive

2024–25 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), Title II: Adult Education Family Literacy Act (AEFLA)

Dear Adult Educator:

This past week has been a challenging time for many adult education providers in California. Our thoughts and support are with each of you during this time. We encourage any agency needing additional support to reach out to the Adult Education Office (AEO) when they are able. Local networking and collaboration are strongly encouraged to meet the needs of colleagues, students, and their local communities. Our office continues to actively monitor emergency conditions and remains committed to providing support and assistance.

This message includes the following topics:

• A special message from DAEL Director, LaToya Newson
• 2025–26 Program Year Inquiry
• Second Quarter Deliverables
• ECR Help Desk
• Continuous Improvement Plan
• Grant Award Amendments for 2024–25
• Occupational Information Network (O*NET) Project
• Financial Literacy Webinar for Adult Educators
• Steps to College 2025

The AEO has received a special message from Director La Toya Newson, Division of Adult Education and Literacy (DAEL) that I would like to share with you.

The 2025–26 Program Year Inquiry is now available and is due January 31, 2025. Access this one-time inquiry from the Survey web page of the reporting site. An agency response is requested to support this work and directly impacts your award notifications. Failure to reply timely could result in a delayed ability to spend funds for next year until an amendment is processed. The estimated time to complete this inquiry is less than five minutes.

Neither a signature nor an approval is required when responding, but it is recommended that the inquiry be completed by your agency’s Adult Education Director or a staff member with the OAR Role of an Approver or OAR Admin.

Expenditure Claim Reports (ECR) for the second quarter due to the California Department of Education (CDE) by Friday, January 31, 2025.

All second quarter data deliverables, surveys, and training are also due Friday, January 31, 2025. For further information, please visit the WIOA, Title II: AEFLA Grant Information 2024–25 web page.

The AEO is shifting its virtual support office hours this month to focus specifically on WIOA expenditure claims. On January 21 and 28, 2025, AEO staff will be available to answer questions that may impede the completion of a claim or to aid with the ECR application within the reporting site. The ECR Help Desk will open at 1:00 p.m. and will remain open for 10 minutes or until all ECR-related questions have been answered. A virtual meeting link will be sent by email the morning of each session for those seeking ECR support.

It is time to begin planning for your agency’s Continuous Improvement Plan (CIP) which is due Wednesday, April 30, 2025. Online resources are available and will continue to be added in the coming weeks. Agencies are strongly encouraged to start early and to take advantage of additional support activities while preparing their CIP. Access the CIP Plan Guide (Word Document) and resources from the CIP web page of the reporting site.

Grant Award amendments are expected to be released no later than January 24, 2025. Funding results will be uploaded to the 2024–25 WIOA, Title II: AEFLA Grant Information Page and agencies receiving an amendment can expect an email notification when files are available for download.

Most agencies are expected to receive an amendment which will be reflected in the Third Quarter ECR. Additional funding is not a guarantee and is at the discretion of the state. Please refer to the July 2024, letter, issued with your Grant Award Notification 2024 for additional information.

The Occupational Information Network (O*NET) is seeking instructors of Adult Basic Education (ABE), Adult Secondary Education (ASE), and English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESL/ESOL) to provide input into job descriptions for these occupations. Job descriptions are included in a national database that is used by millions of employers, workers, educators, and students across the country.

O*NET has asked the National Association of State Directors of Adult Education (NASDAE) to recruit adult education instructors to assist with the collection of current and essential occupational information related to adult education instruction. To assist in this effort, share this simple form, AE Instructor Contact Info for O*NET, with your instructional staff and ask that those interested provide their name and contact information. This will help to ensure that California adult educators can assist in the development of current and accurate occupational descriptions for adult education instructors in the O*NET directory.

NASDAE will share the contact information submitted via this form with O*NET, who will then select a random sample to contact and request their participation in completing a set of questionnaires about their work. Responses from these experts will be combined by O*NET to define the activities, tasks, knowledge, and other aspects of work in the field. NASDAE has been assured by O*NET and the U.S. Department of Labor that participation is voluntary and that the information collected will be kept strictly private and confidential.

The adult educators who are selected and complete and return the O*NET questionnaires will be contributing to a key resource that provides important occupational information. O*NET will also offer them a $40 VISA gift code for their time and a certificate of appreciation from the U.S. Department of Labor.

More information about O*NET can be found here: www.onetonline.org and www.onetcenter.org.

Financial Literacy Across the Adult Education Spectrum

This free workshop, offered by the Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center, explores the many needs for integrating financial literacy into instruction for all learners. Our panelists work with learners across the adult education spectrum: pre-literacy English learners, English learners with higher levels of education, and ABE and ASE learners. They discuss takeaways from the Financial Literacy Institute offered through COABE, the various needs for financial literacy within their adult learner populations, and classroom applications and resources to support learners’ financial literacy goals.

• Participants will come away from the session with an understanding of essential financial literacy topics and classroom applications.
• Participants will engage in discussion about the many reasons that adult learners need financial literacy instruction that is relevant to their education, life, and career goals.
• Participants will come away with resources and instructional strategies to integrated financial literacy concepts into their programming and instruction.

Steps to College 2025, the largest bilingual & binational university fair in Northern California opens at nine a.m. on Saturday, February 8, 2025, at Cal Expo, Buildings A and B, 1600 Exposition Blvd., Sacramento, CA 95815. For more information visit: https://stepstocollegesac.org.

If you have any questions, please contact the AEO at 916-322-2175, or by email at adulteducation@cde.ca.gov.

Sincerely,

Carolyn Zachry, Ed.D.
Education Administrator and State Director
Adult Education Office
California Department of Education
916-322-2175
adulteducation@cde.ca.gov