• Universal language and standardized data.
• Employment-focused measures for adult programs, and skill attainment measures for youth programs.
• Designed in partnership with other federal employment and training agencies.

• Focus on the core purposes of the workforce system.
• Break down barriers to integration resulting from different definitions, data and reports for each workforce program.
• Resolve questions raised by GAO and other oversight agencies regarding consistency and reliability of data.
• Reduce confusion among our customers and stakeholders who want to know about results.

• Vocational Rehabilitation Grants to States
• American Indian Vocational Rehabilitation Services
• Supported Employment State Grants Projects with Industry
• Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers State Grants for Incarcerated Youth Offenders Vocational Education (Carl Perkins):
• State Grants
• Tech Prep State Grants
• Tribally-Controlled Postsecondary Vocational Institutions

Department of Health and Human Services
Temporary Assistance to Needy Families

Department of Veterans Affairs
Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Services

Department of the Interior
Job Placement and Training

Department of Housing and Urban Development
Youthbuild
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ETA will continue to collect all the data on program activities, participants, and outcomes that is necessary to convey full and accurate information on the performance of workforce programs. The collection of information beyond that required for common measures will also help frame and provide context to the outcomes reported through these measures.
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ETA will no longer using the concept of "hard exit," although case managers will likely continue to track completions and terminations from a program. The current WIA exit policy has been inconsistently implemented across the country. Comparability of performance information across states and grantees is only possible if a common point in time is used to begin measurement.

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1. He or she has received a notice of termination of employment; or
   
2. His or her employer has issued a WARN or other notice that the facility or enterprise will close.

For the earnings gain measure, the pre-program earnings of dislocated workers will be one quarter prior to the date of participation, regardless of the dislocation date. ETA will continue to collect data on wages at the point of dislocation for program management purposes.

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1. Developed or endorsed by employers;
   
2. Tied to specific technical/occupational skills; and
   
3. Approved or awarded by an appropriate educational, governmental, or employer entity.

ETA has made every attempt to use clear language in the definition to ensure consistent application of the measure across states and grantees. ETA worked very closely with the Department of Education to develop the certificate definition.
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Setting a high standard and using a tight definition is necessary for a meaningful and consistent outcome measure and to assess the workforce system's ability to provide individuals with the credentials needed to succeed in the labor market.
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As outlined in the NRS, there are two sets of educational functioning levels - six levels for Adult Basic Education (ABE) and six levels for English-as-a-second language (ESL) students. Each ABE and ESL level describes a set of skills and competencies that students entering at that level demonstrate in the areas of reading, writing, numeracy, speaking, listening, functional, and workplace skills. These descriptors provide guidelines for placing participants in educational functioning levels, based on performance on standardized tests.

To achieve a positive outcome for the measure, a participant who was basic skills deficient must demonstrate through post-test that he/she has advanced one or more educational functioning levels beyond the level in which he/she was initially placed at pre-test.
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Youth who are basic skills deficient will have to increase one or more EFLs to achieve a positive outcome on the literacy and numeracy gains measure. However, this does not mean that every youth will need to increase the equivalent of two grade levels to be counted as a positive outcome in the measure. Under a normal distribution of pre-test scores, most participants' scores will place the individuals in a range where they have completed some of the skills in that particular EFL. Therefore, for a majority of participants, a positive outcome is not likely to require the equivalent of completing two full grade levels.
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However, the assessment test used by the school must be cross-walked to the Educational Functioning Levels (EFLs) outlined in the Department of Education's National Reporting System. In addition, the same assessment must be used for both the pre-test and the post-test.
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1. Section 188 of WIA;
   
2. Guidelines associated with the assessment test; or
   
3. State law or policy.

The Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy feels strongly that individuals with disabilities should be included in the common measures. It is important that individuals with disabilities experience full program participation, including tracking their progress in attaining literacy and numeracy skills.

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In addition, ETA will review efficiency levels as applied at the state and grantee levels based upon the level of program funds awarded. In practical terms, this means that ETA and states/grantees will track the number of participants.
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However, mechanisms are not currently in place to provide access to wage records for grantees operating the following programs: H-1B Technical Skills Training, Job Corps, Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers, Native American Employment and Training, Responsible Reintegration of Youthful Offenders, and Senior Community Service Employment Program. For these grantees, supplemental sources of data, such as participant surveys or contacts with employers, will be permitted as an interim means of reporting until all grantees in a program have access to wage records.
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• We will publish new reporting requirements for comment in early 2004.
• These new reporting requirements will be final around mid-2004.
• Then we will provide guidance for necessary technical changes and begin a transition period with system-wide staff training.

The WIA, Labor Exchange, and Trade programs will be first. The National Programs and discretionary-funded grants will follow as logistical issues are ironed out.
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The next generation performance information system will replace all current reporting requirements with a single, comprehensive system.

The new reporting requirements will apply to WIA (including state programs and National Emergency Grants), Employment Service, VETs, Trade, Migrants, Native Americans, Older Workers, H-1B Skill Grants, and other training and employment grants.
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(Note: Even with reauthorization scheduled for early in 2004, there will likely be a transition period for implementation of any new or different provisions, including performance measures.)

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We propose to collect a core set of information (demographic characteristics, service provision information, and common measure components) for all participants in all programs. These core elements will be defined consistently across all programs. Additionally, there are program-specific elements that will be collected.
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