History of the National Reporting System

The 1993 Government Performance and Review Act mandates all federally funded programs and agencies demonstrate that they have met their legislative goals and have an impact on their client populations. In addition, Federal agencies are required to develop strategic plans to ensure that services are delivered efficiently and in a manner that best suits client needs, and to develop indicators of performance to demonstrate their agency’s impact.

In 1995, the U.S. Congress considered eliminating adult education as a separate delivery system by integrating the program into a general system of workforce development. Convincing data on the impact of adult education at the state and federal levels were demanded to demonstrate its importance as a separate education program. Similar demands were raised at the state level. In response to these demands, the state directors of adult education asked the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) to work toward developing a national system for collecting information on adult education student outcomes.

Throughout 1996 and 1997 the DOE and the state directors worked together to develop a framework for program accountability in adult education. This framework specified the purposes of the adult education program, the essential characteristics of an accountability system and identified seven categories of outcome measures. The resulting National Reporting System of Adult Education (NRS) was designed and formally began in October 1997.

NRS started as a voluntary project; however, it became mandatory in August 1998, with the passage of the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act within the Workforce Investment Act (WIA—P.L. 105-220). WIA establishes accountability requirements, including that states develop outcome-based performance standards for adult education programs as one means of determining program effectiveness. In 1998, the NRS was expanded to establish the measures and methods to conform to the WIA requirements.

Today the DOE continues to support the NRS through training and technical assistance, development of materials for state staff and by quality control of state data collection efforts.  The DOE also maintains the national database of measures.

Click here for more information and a Guide for Improving National Reporting System (NRS) Data Quality Webpage.