Adult Ed Consortia

The Bay Region Adult Education Consortium (BRAEC), a consortium of 16 AEBG consortia in the Bay Area, mobilized to engage in the data and accountability initiative and concluded that an aligned and scaled regional data system could most effectively facilitate regional data sharing. Fourteen of the 16 BRAEC members agreed to pool resources to further study of data needs and potential solutions. In January 2017, BRAEC members hired Resource Development Associates (RDA) to lead a data capacity enhancement process that included the following objectives:

Conduct a needs assessment and gap analysis of existing data systems and capacity
Identify and assess potential software across a range of functionality
Provide recommendations for potential solutions to data challenges

Using and Sharing Data to Improve Adult Education

After several years of budget cuts to adult education programs, and in response to a growing need to bridge skill gaps in the workforce, the 2015-2016 California State Budget created a dedicated funding stream for adult education through the Adult Education Block Grant (AEBG).

Data Sharing: A Crucial Component of AEBG Implementation

An integrated system that allows adult education providers to share data on learners’ education needs and outcomes would enhance consortia’s responsiveness to AEBG data and accountability requirements, allow them to compare performance and engage in continuous improvement efforts, and enable consortia members to more effectively use data to identify and address common challenges.

Technology Solutions: Assessing the Range of Possibilities

A well-designed data strategy that enables data sharing among adult education agencies and individual-level data linkages across systems will improve program management and service delivery.