This rule is being substantially rewritten to amend the local requirements for the collection of adult student information and adopt in rule standard procedures for the reporting of instructional hours for adult general education students. Adding ...

 

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

State Board of Education

RULE NO.:RULE TITLE:

6A-10.0381Registration of Adult Education Students

PURPOSE AND EFFECT: This rule is being substantially rewritten to amend the local requirements for the collection of adult student information and adopt in rule standard procedures for the reporting of instructional hours for adult general education students. Adding rulemaking authority based on the provisions in sections 1008.41, 1004.93, and 1011.80, F.S.

SUMMARY: Section 1008.405, Florida Statutes, requires the State Board of Education adopt a rule with the specific information on adult students that must be maintained and the acceptable means of maintaining it. The current rule identifies the local registration information necessary for compliance with this law. The accountability reporting requirements for the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) have been updated which requires an update of the instructional hours reporting for school districts and Florida College System institutions. This revision is consistent with the federal requirements.

SUMMARY OF STATEMENT OF ESTIMATED REGULATORY COSTS AND LEGISLATIVE RATIFICATION:

The Agency has determined that this will not have an adverse impact on small business or likely increase directly or indirectly regulatory costs in excess of $200,000 in the aggregate within one year after the implementation of the rule. A SERC has not been prepared by the Agency.

The Agency has determined that the proposed rule is not expected to require legislative ratification based on the statement of estimated regulatory costs or if no SERC is required, the information expressly relied upon and described herein: The Agency has determined that the proposed rule does not require legislative ratification and is not expected to have any impact on the factors found in section 120.541(2)(a), F.S. This is because the rule adopts amendments to instructional hours reporting procedures that are currently required for districts and Florida College System institutions.

Any person who wishes to provide information regarding a statement of estimated regulatory costs, or provide a proposal for a lower cost regulatory alternative must do so in writing within 21 days of this notice.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY: 1001.02, 1004.93, 1008.405, 1008.41, 1011.80(11), FS.

LAW IMPLEMENTED: 1001.02, 1004.93, 1008.405, 1008.41, 1011.80, FS.

A HEARING WILL BE HELD AT THE DATE, TIME AND PLACE SHOWN BELOW:

DATE AND TIME: May 16, 2017, 9:00 a.m.

PLACE: Miami Senior High School, 2450 SW 1st St., Miami, FL 33135.

THE PERSON TO BE CONTACTED REGARDING THE PROPOSED RULE IS: Tara Goodman, Bureau Chief, Division of Career and Adult Education, 325 West Gaines Street, suite 744, Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0400; phone [phone]; [e-mail].

 

THE FULL TEXT OF THE PROPOSED RULE IS:

 

Substantial rewording of Rule 6A-10.0381 follows. See Florida Administration Code for present text.

6A-10.0381, Registration of Adult Education Students and Enrollment Reporting for Adult General Education Students

(1) Purpose. The purpose of this rule is to specify procedures and requirements for registration of students in adult general education and postsecondary career and technical programs and requirements for reporting enrollment for students in adult general education programs.

(2) Definitions. The following definitions shall be used in this rule:

(a)“Attendance” means physical presence in a scheduled classroom or laboratory course as documented by the instructor or other tracking method.

(b) “Committed hours” means the time a student signs up to attend a class in an on-campus laboratory.

(c) “Date of enrollment” means the first date of actual attendance in the class.

(d) “Instructional contact hours” means hours of instruction reported in the class.

(e) “Scheduled classroom hours” means the time the class is scheduled to meet.

(f) “Scheduled laboratory hours” means  the time a student is scheduled to attend a class in an on-campus laboratory.

(3) As part of the registration for students in adult general education and adult postsecondary career programs identified in section 1004.02(25), Florida Statutes, each school district and Florida College System institution offering these programs shall be required to collect and maintain on file sufficient information for location of the student upon termination and to determine appropriate placement in a program. Registration information may be collected and maintained in electronic or manual format.

(4) Required registration information for all students. The following information shall be collected and maintained for each student enrolled in an adult general education program or adult postsecondary career program funded by the state.

(a) Name, permanent address, date of birth, Florida education identifier, social security number if available, and Florida student number identifier,

(b) Whether the student has a high school diploma or equivalent certificate at entry into the program,

(c) The program of enrollment; and

(d) The course title and course number.

(5) In addition to the above requirements, each district and Florida College System institution is required to collect and maintain enrollment and attendance information on students enrolled in adult general education programs based on minimum enrollment requirements for funding and mandatory withdrawal procedures for students for non-attendance. Information may be collected and maintained in electronic or manual format.

(6) Minimum threshold for fundable enrollments and instructional hours reporting in adult general education courses and programs. A student shall be counted for a fundable enrollment once a student has participated in instructional activity for twelve (12) contact hours per program in a given reporting period, based upon ten (10) hours of minimum instructional hours and two (2) hours of assessment or placement activities. The minimum threshold does not limit the actual hours of assessment that may be provided. Assessment and placement hours are not reported as instructional hours in student databases.

(7) Rules for the reporting of instructional contact hours for classroom instruction in adult general education courses and programs.  The following requirements apply to the reporting of instructional hours:

(a) Instructional contact hours for classroom instruction are those scheduled classroom hours that occur between the date of enrollment in a class and the withdrawal date or end-of-class date, whichever is sooner.

(b) A student may be reported only for the instructional contact hours that are scheduled for attendance.

(8) Rules for the reporting of instructional contact hours for laboratory instruction in adult general education courses and programs.  The following requirements apply to the reporting of instructional hours:

(a) Instructional contact hours for laboratory instruction are those scheduled laboratory hours that occur between the date of enrollment in a class and the withdrawal date or end-of-class date, whichever is sooner.

(b) A student may be reported only for the instructional contact hours that are scheduled for attendance.

(c) Scheduled hours for on-campus laboratories are reported based upon a student’s committed hours of attendance. Hours may not be scheduled based upon the total daily hours of operation for the laboratory.

(d) Institutions must document the completion of student work in an on-campus laboratory environment through assignments, tests, or attendance records.

(e) If a student has committed hours for more than one class in an on-campus laboratory, attendance must be verified for each scheduled class.

(f) If a student’s schedule includes blended learning with classroom and laboratory instruction combined, the classroom and laboratory instruction must be scheduled separately.

(9) Withdrawal and transfer procedures for classroom and laboratory instruction settings in adult general education. The following requirements apply to the reporting of instructional hours:

(a) A student must be procedurally withdrawn for non-attendance from the class by the institution. Instructional contact hours shall be reported from the date of enrollment until the date of withdrawal.

1. The standard for setting the withdrawal date shall be six consecutive absences from a class schedule. Instructional contact hours are reported up to and including the last date of attendance, but should not include any instructional contact hours reported for any period beyond the last date of actual attendance.

2. If a student is procedurally withdrawn for non-attendance and resumes enrollment in the same course and section within thirty (30) calendar days, districts or colleges may report the student instructional contact hours from the first date of enrollment to the final withdrawal date or the end of the class, whichever is sooner. If a student resumes enrollment after thirty (30) days, the student must be reported with a new course enrollment and course start date.

3. Institutions must develop local procedures for withdrawing students for non-attendance.

(b) If a student completes a literacy completion point (LCP) which results in a change in the program or course prior to the scheduled end of the class, report the instructional contact hours to the date the LCP was earned.

(c) If a student earns a diploma prior to the scheduled end of the class, report the instructional contact hours to the date the diploma was earned.

(d) If a student transfers from one class to another course section, separately report the instructional contact hours in the first class from the date of enrollment to the date of transfer and the instructional contact hours in the second class from the date of transfer or date of enrollment in the new section to the final withdrawal date or the end of the class, whichever is sooner.

(10) Rules for the reporting of instructional contact hours for online adult general education courses.  The following rules apply to situations in which instruction occurs, in whole or in part, in an asynchronous online environment, which refers to the online work of students and instructors occurring at different times.

(a) Instructional contact hours for online courses and course components are reported based upon the following actual hours:

1. Hours documented based upon elapsed time that a learner is connected to, or engaged in, an online software program that tracks time, or

2. Hours documented and verified by an instructor if such activity is not documented by the online software program.

(b) A student in a blended learning class, for which a component of the course is delivered in an asynchronous online environment, must have a separate course section scheduled for the online component.

(c) The sum of instructional contact hours for an online class must be rounded up to the nearest whole number.

(11) Reporting requirements for adult general education courses during the summer term. For courses that begin before June 30 and end on or after July 1, students enrolled in these courses must be reported with two (2) course records: the first enrollment shall have hours reported from the date of enrollment through June 30 and the second enrollment shall have hours reported from July 1 to the end of the course or student withdrawal, whichever is sooner.

(12) Fundable instructional contact hours cap for adult general education. In order to ensure compliance with the reporting requirements, an end-of-year cap will be applied to all accumulated instructional contact hours in adult general education programs. A maximum of 1300 hours may be fundable per reporting year for an adult general education student.

(13) Emergency closures of facilities offering adult general education courses. If a campus is closed due to emergency situations, such as hurricane or security situation, scheduled classroom and scheduled laboratory hours for those days may still be reported and those days do not count toward the six (6) consecutive absences for non-attendance.

(14) The adult general education instructional hours reporting provisions for this rule shall be used for the 2017-18 reporting year and for any future reporting year.

(15) Record retention requirement. Each school district and Florida College System institution shall maintain on file the data required by this rule in electronic format or hard copy for a period of three (3) years or until the completion of all audits for the period during which the course is offered, whichever occurs later.

(16) Other data requirements. School districts are to ensure that they comply with the information data base requirements of the Comprehensive Management Information System as specified in Rule 6A-1.0014, F.A.C., and Florida College System institutions  shall comply with reporting elements that are  required under section 1008.31, Florida Statutes.

(17) The reporting requirements in this rule become effective for the school district or Florida College System institution’s Fall 2017 enrollment term.

Rulemaking Authority 1001.02, 1004.93, 1008.405, 1008.41, 1011.80(11) FS. Law Implemented 1004.93, 1008.405, 1008.41, 1011.80 FS. History–New 12-23-92, Amended_____.

 

NAME OF PERSON ORIGINATING PROPOSED RULE: Rod Duckworth, Chancellor, Career and Adult Education.

NAME OF AGENCY HEAD WHO APPROVED THE PROPOSED RULE: Pam Stewart, Commissioner, Department of Education.

DATE PROPOSED RULE APPROVED BY AGENCY HEAD: April 18, 2017

DATE NOTICE OF PROPOSED RULE DEVELOPMENT PUBLISHED IN FAR: February 28, 2017