Nactep Apr

Dear Project Directors:

The Grant Performance Report (ED 524B) form must be used for submission of the annual performance report, electronically, through the e-Reports system. Enclosed you will find the forms and instructions for the U.S. Department of Education’s ED 524B.

The annual performance report is normally due thirty days before the end of the project year. However, the submission date has changed to mid-August of each program year because of the Department’s requirement to obligate discretionary grant continuation awards by September of each program year. This report must provide data to demonstrate that projects made substantial progress toward meeting their approved goals, objectives and performance measures to receive continuation funding. Since the annual performance report is due early, you must submit your supplemental (or interim) data by email, fax or mail thirty days after your current budget year ends.

In addition to your annual performance reports, grantees are required to submit annual evaluation reports, as indicated in your Grant Award Notifications. The evaluation report should be submitted separately, through email, fax or mail thirty days after your current budget year ends. Additional guidance and instructions for your evaluation reports are provided in this letter under Evaluation Report.

Grantees are also required to submit final performance reports within 90 days after their project ends. These reports should be submitted using the ED 524B form electronically through the Department’s e-Reports system.

Please read the instructions and forms for the ED 524B carefully before completing and submitting your annual or final performance reports. If you have questions, concerning completing the forms, you should contact your program officer for guidance.

When accessing e-Reports for the first time you will have to register to get an ID and password. You will receive a prompt asking if you are a Project Director. After answering yes, you will need to add your name and grantee DUNS number as they appear on your grant award notification. If you are a new Project Director and your name does not appear on the Grant Award Notification, you should contact your ED project officer.

The ED 524B Form (Grant Performance Report)

• The ED 524B consists of a five (5) page form. All requested information must be reported in the appropriate section and page of the form according to the instructions.

• All financial data, including budget expenditure data and indirect cost information must now be completed by your Business Office. Please allow sufficient time for your Business Office to provide you with this information in order for you to meet the performance report due date. When completing the budget expenditures, grantees should include their budget for the current year, and if there are carryover funds, submit a budget for the following year to identify how the carryover funds will be expended.

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• When reporting on your project objectives, please remember that each of your performance measures must now be aligned or associated with one of your approved

project objectives [see Section A of the Project Status Chart]. Please note that when establishing this alignment between project objectives and performance measures, we do not expect you to redesign your approved grant application nor do we want you to make changes to your approved objectives or scope of work.

• When reporting on quantitative performance measures, you are required to report on the targets (e.g., benchmarks or goals) that you established in your approved grant application for each year, as well as your actual performance data for the year. Quantitative performance measures data must be reported in a specific format in Section A of the Project Status Chart. Please read these instructions carefully.

If you have ED approved and documented changes to your originally approved grant application, then you will report the revised performance measure targets and actual Government Performance Results Act (GPRA)

The report must also include the following performance measures established under the GPRA.

At the secondary level: An increase in the percentage of career and technical education students who-

• Attain academic proficiency, as demonstrated by meeting academic content standards and student academic achievement standards that meet challenging State defined academic standards for reading/language arts and mathematics;

• Attain career and technical skill proficiencies, including student achievement on technical assessments that are aligned with industry-recognized standards;

• Attain a secondary school diploma; and

• If a credential, certificate, or degree is offered by the State in which the project operates, in conjunction with a secondary school diploma, attain a proficiency credential, certificate, or degree in conjunction with a secondary school diploma.

• Are placed in—

• Postsecondary education or advanced training;

• Military service; or

• Employment.

At the postsecondary level: An increase in the percentage of career and technical education students who—

• Enroll in a postsecondary education or training program;

• Attain challenging career and technical skill proficiencies, including student achievement on technical assessments that are aligned with industry-recognized standards;

• Attain an industry-recognized credential, a certificate, or a degree;

• Are retained in postsecondary education or transfer to a baccalaureate degree program;

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• Are placed in--

• Military service; or

• Apprenticeship programs; and

• Employment, including retention in employment and placement in a specific

occupation or profession.

• Were referred to social or related services that were intended to improve the extent to which participants benefited from the project (e.g. referring a student to an agency that will help to obtain child care or health care, which would result in improved classroom attendance) or to prepare for or obtain employment.

Evaluation Report

An annual evaluation report must be submitted along with the annual and final performance reports. An independent evaluator must conduct the evaluation and prepare the evaluation report. This report should be submitted via email, fax or mail. The evaluation report must-

• Performance data. You will need to explain any revisions in the Explanation of Progress section.

• All grantees are required to provide updated GPRA data using the specific GPRA language provided to you by your project officer in the NACTEP GPRA Performance Measures Letter.

• ED requires that a signed Grant Performance Report cover sheet (524B) be faxed to your ED project officer within three business days after electronic submission.

REPORTING

The performance reports must include—

• A comparison of actual accomplishments to the objectives established for the period. Describe any problems, delays, or adverse conditions that materially impair the ability of the project to accomplish its purposes, along with the reasons for slippage and an explanation of any action taken or contemplated to resolve the difficulties;

• A description of any favorable developments that will permit the project to accomplish its purposes sooner, at less cost, or more effectively than projected; and

• A statistical report covering quantitative analyses of –

• The extent to which the project achieved its goals with respect to enrollment, skill proficiencies earned by completion, and placement of participants for the most recently completed training cycle(s) by gender and by programs of study for which instruction was provided.

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• Be appropriate for the project and be both formative and summative in nature;

• Include performance measures that are clearly related to the goals, objectives and intended outcomes of the project and the GPRA performance measures for the NACTEP.

• Be qualitative and quantitative with respect to-

• Academic, career and technical competencies demonstrated by the participants and the number and kinds of academic and work credentials acquired by individuals, including participation in programs providing skill proficiency assessments, industry certifications, or training at the associate degree level that is articulated with an advanced degree option.

• Enrollment, completion, and placement of participants by gender for each occupation for which training was provided.

• Job or work skill attainment or enhancement, including participation in apprenticeship and work-based learning programs, student progress in achieving technical skills proficiencies necessary to obtain employment in the field for which the student has been prepared, including technical skills in the industry the student is preparing enter.

• Activities during the formative stages of the project, to help guide and improve the project, as well as a summative evaluation that includes recommendations for disseminating project activities and results.

• The number and/or percentage of students that obtained industry recognized credentials, certificates, or degrees.

• The outcomes of students’ technical assessments, by type and scores, if available.

• The rates of attainment of a proficiency credential or certificate, in conjunction with a secondary school diploma.

• Measure the effectiveness of the project, including a comparison between the intended and observed results, and a demonstration of a clear link between the observed results and the specific treatment given to project participants.

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• Measure the extent to which information about or resulting from the project was disseminated at other sites, such as through the grantee’s development and use of guides or manuals that provide step-by-step directions for practitioners to follow when initiating similar efforts.

• Measure the long-term impact of the project, e.g., follow-up data on students’ employment, sustained employment, promotions, further/continuing education or training, or the impact the project had on tribal economic development or career and technical education activities offered by tribes.

If you have any problems while processing your grant performance report through e-Reports, a hotline staff is available to assist you at 1-888-336-8930, between the hours of 8:00 am – 6:00 pm, Eastern time, Monday-Friday.

Please feel free to contact Gwen Washington at [email protected] or Linda Mayo at [email protected] if you have any questions regarding this letter or the requirements of the

ED 524B form.

Sincerely,

Gwen Washington, Project Officer, NACTEP Linda Mayo, Project Officer, NACTEP

PAB/DATE/OVAE PAB/DATE/OVAE

U.S. Department of Education U.S. Department of Education

550-12^th Street, SW, Room 11076 550-12^th Street, SW Room 11075

Potomac Center Plaza Potomac Center Plaza

Washington, D.C. 20202-7241 Washington, D.C. 20202-7241

(202) 245-7790 (office) (202) 245-7792 (office)

(202) 245-7170 (fax) (202) 245-7170 (fax)

[email protected] (email) [email protected] (email)

Public Burden Statement:

According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 40 hours per response, including time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. The obligation to respond to this collection required to obtain or retain benefit (Public Law 109-207-116). Send comments regarding the burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to the U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20210-4537 or email [email protected] and reference the OMB Control Number 1830-0573. Note: Please do not return the completed NACTEP APR to this address.

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