Measurable Skills Gains (MSG) Procedure

Please Note:

The Power Point presentation from Jim Potts' training is attached at the bottom of this page.

Overview:

The purpose of the Measurable Skill Gains (MSG) indicator is to track and measure important progressions and achievements made by WIOA clients (entered in training or education), through pathways and towards various goals of their individual programs. A gain must be recorded for a client each year they are enrolled in training or education and progress satisfactorily in one or more areas of their employment or training program. (For additional information on Measurable Skills Gains see US DOL TGEL 10-16 Change 1, pages 18-24: https://wdr.doleta.gov/directives/corr_doc.cfm?DOCN=3255).

These procedures outline:

Who is in the measure & when
Types of Skills Gains
How to record Skills Gains in Career Connect; and

Who is in the measure?

All In-school Youth

UPDATED: Out-of-School Youth who, during a Program Year (PY) enroll in a training program or secondary or post-secondary education leading to a diploma, high school equivalency, or certification. The customer must be enrolled in one of the following services:

UPDATED: Adult and Dislocated Workers who, during a Program Year (PY), are enrolled in one of the following training services:

Additionally, participants must meet specific requirements for certain skills gains types, as outlined below.

Time Frames for Inclusion in the MSG Indicator

Skills Gains are based on the Program Year (July 1-June 30) and NOT on the Exit date. This means that Skills Gain is a live, in-program measure.

Adult, DW and OSY customers are in the measure each year they participate in WIOA and are enrolled in training or education (i.e. have an open training service/education service as defined above).

If the training/education service dates span multiple program years, then the participant is in the measure each year.

EXAMPLES:
- If Susie started Occupational Classroom Training in May of 2018 (PY17) and completed training in Oct 2018 (PY18), she would be included in the measure in both PY17 and PY18.
- If William participates in training from January-May 2018 (PY17), but continues to receive job placement services through August 2018 (PY18), he is only included in the measure in PY17.

Agencies must close completed training/education services in a timely manner to ensure that customers are removed from the measure upon training completion.

Participants who are enrolled in training/education are included in the measure regardless of how long they have participated in the Program Year. For example, if a participant is enrolled in June, they have until June 30^th to achieve a gain.

In accordance with DOL guidance, “Programs should not delay enrollment or services to participants until a new program year even if programs believe there is insufficient time for the participant to make any type of measurable skill gain by the end of that program year.”

Types of Measurable Skills Gains

Skills Gains are measured by five Skill Types, and may be documented as follows:

Post-Secondary Transcript/Report Card:

Applies to participants enrolled in post-secondary education
Full-time students must complete a minimum of 12 hours per semester during the WIOA program year (July 1-June 30)
Part-time students must complete a total of at least 12 credit hours over the course of two completed consecutive semesters during the WIOA program year
Allowable documentation: Transcript or Report Card that shows a participant is meeting the State unit’s academic standards. The documentation must include whether the participant is enrolled full- or part-time. It must not show that the participant dropped out or was removed on academic or conduct grounds.

Secondary Transcript/Report Card:

Applies to participants without a high school diploma or equivalency at program entry
Allowable Documentation: Participant’s secondary school transcript or report card for one semester showing that the participant demonstrating satisfactory achievement in all classes. It must not show that the participant dropped out or was removed on academic or conduct grounds. The semester must be within the Program Year.

Training Milestone: Participant made satisfactory or better progress towards established milestones, such as completion of OJT (Adult/DW only) or completion of one year of an apprenticeship program or similar milestones.

Allowable Documentation: Satisfactory or better progress report from an employer or training provider that is providing training (e.g., training reports showing completed milestones, increases in pay resulting from new skills, or increased performance.)

Skills Progression: Participant successfully passes an exam that is required for an occupation or progress in attaining technical or occupational skills as evidenced by trade-related benchmarks, such as knowledge based exams and/or a diploma. (e.g., employer knowledge based exam, occupational competency assessment, test necessary to obtain a credential.)

Allowable Documentation: Copy of results of exam, test or assessment or copy of diploma or certificate.

5. Educational Functioning Level (EFL): An individual can achieve an EFL gain for MSG in one of two ways:

a. Test Scores: A Participant who is below post-secondary grade level at program entry and achieves a gain of at least one EFL on an acceptable Adult Basic Education (ABE) or English as a Second Language (ESL) post-test.

Allowable Documentation: Pre- and post-ABE or ESL test. NOTE: EFL gains are calculated based on test scores entered on the WIOA “Educational Functioning Level for Measurable Skills Gains” bar in Career Connect.

b. EFL Gain by Entry into Post-Secondary Education: The EFL gain for entry into post-secondary education applies to Exiters who:

received a qualifying training/education service, AND
whose school status at exit is “Not attending school; H.S. Graduate”, AND
who enter Post-Secondary education or training after exit, but during the same program year as the qualifying training/education service.

Although multiple gains may be entered for a client in a program year (July 1-June 30), only one gain will count towards performance per year.

Recording Measurable Skill Gains in Career Connect

Entering Educational Functioning Level (EFL) Gains: E

a. To record EFL Gains based on Adult Basic Education (ABE) and English as a Second Language (ESL) test scores. To record EFL gains, add pre-, progress- and post-test scores in the WIOA Educational Functioning Level for Measurable Skills Gain screen in accordance with the Literacy & Numeracy procedures posted at: https://workforceboard.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115006352528-Literacy-Numeracy-Procedures-Revised-9-28-2017- . See Appendices A and B of this procedure for lists of ABE and ESL tests scores and their corresponding EFL levels.

b. To record EFL Gains for exiters who received training/education services and enter Post-Secondary after exit:

Step 1:

In the WIOA Closure screen select “Not attending school, HS Graduate” in the “School Status at Exit” field. Be sure that you have proof of school status at exit in the customer file. (NOTE: this field is not required for Adult/DW exiters, but must be entered to receive credit for the MSG.)

Step 2:

When creating a quarterly follow-up record, set the “Placement in Quarter” field to “Post-secondary Education”, indicate the date of placement in post-secondary, and indicate the documentation used to verify post-secondary enrollment.

NOTE: The post-secondary placement must occur during the same program year as the qualifying training/education service to count as a MSG.

NOTE: Career Connect uses a different methodology to calculate “EFL Entry into Post-secondary Education” than IWDS does. The data entry instructions above are to ensure that the MSG is counted correctly in IWDS since IWDS data is used for federal reporting and WIOA Performance. IWDS and Career Connect MSG reports may not match up exactly due to the differences.

Recording non-EFL Skills Gains: All measurable skills gains other than EFL gains, are recorded in Staff Profile > Case Management Profile > Programs > WIOA Measurable Skills Gains bar.

Step 1:

Click on the Measurable Skills Gains bar to expand it and then click on “Create Measurable Skills Gain”.

Step 2:

In the “General Information” section, select or confirm the LWDB and Office.

Step 3:

In the Skill Attainment Information, select the applicable Skill Type based on the descriptions and requirements outlined above.

Step 4:

Add the date the Skill Gain was attained in the “Date Skill Attained” box.

Step 5:

Select the “Type of Achievement” (see figure above). Note that the Type of Achievement selections will vary depending on which Skill Type was selected in Step 2 above. The table below shows which Type of Achievements go with which Skill Types.

Step 6:

Click on “Verify” and select “Other Applicable Documentation, (specify). Type in the documentation used to verify the skills gain in the box.

Step 7:

Add and save a case note providing details about when and how the skills gain was attained, including which WIOA service(s) led to the gain.

Reports

To run a Measurable Skills Gain report in Career Connect:

Step 1:

Go to Detailed Reports > Case Load and select “Measurable Skill Gains”

Step 2:

Select the following filters:

Program: Title I-Workforce Development (WIOA)
Customer Group: Select as desired; keep as “None Selected” to return all customer groups
Office Location: Select your office(s)
Program Year: Select the desired program year. Remember that the program year is based on the Program Year start date of July 1. For example for the period July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018, select Program Year 2017.

Step 3: Report Results

When you click on “Run Report” Career Connect will return a summary of total number of participants who have made each Skills Gain Type, including the Educational Functional Level (EFL) gain.

To see which participants have made the gains, click on the blue number in the “Total Skill Gain” column.

Measurable Skills Gains (MSG) Procedure

Please Note:

The Power Point presentation from Jim Potts' training is attached at the bottom of this page.

Overview:

Who is in the measure?

Time Frames for Inclusion in the MSG Indicator

Types of Measurable Skills Gains

Recording Measurable Skill Gains in Career Connect

Step 1:

Step 2:

When creating a quarterly follow-up record, set the “Placement in Quarter” field to “Post-secondary Education”, indicate the date of placement in post-secondary, and indicate the documentation used to verify post-secondary enrollment.

Step 1:

Step 2:

Step 3:

Step 4:

Step 5:

Step 6:

Step 7:

Reports

Step 1:

Step 2:

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