Hello Program Management Colleagues,
Some of you have been waiting for the good news below about PIAAC from the American Institutes for Research (AIR). Here are two of the highlights from the latest AIR PIAAC update, The Buzz:
PIAAC Small Area Estimates: Coming in 2020
Since 2013, PIAAC has published a large volume of official statistics about the proficiency of adults in the United States. The published statistics are mainly for the nation and for major subgroups. However, policymakers, business leaders, and educators/researchers often need information about adults’ skills and knowledge in smaller geographic areas, such as states or counties.
To address this need, PIAAC will use advanced statistical modeling approaches to produce literacy and numeracy estimates for all states and counties in the United States. A visualization-based website will be launched in spring 2020 that will allow users to access small area estimates through heat maps and summary card displays. This user-friendly website will provide precision estimates and facilitate statistical comparisons among counties and states. For more information about PIAAC, please visit the PIAAC website at https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/piaac/.
For those who may not understand the importance of this, with state and county data adult basic education (including ESOL/ESL) practitioners and others can explain to legislators how their communities and states are doing in meeting the needs for adult literacy, numeracy and problem solving in a technology rich environment. In the past, with U.S. national assessments of adult literacy, that data has enabled adult basic skills advocates to explain to legislators what the needs are, and in some cases this has made a huge difference in program funding and related services for adult learners.
Another important piece of news about PIAAC is that the U.S. will be participating in the next round of PIAAC data collection in 2021-2022, so that beginning in the Fall of 2023 we will be able to learn about what, if anything, has changed with regard to PIAAC data in the U.S. and how U.S data compares with more than 30 other "developed" countries.
Cycle 2 of PIAAC (2021)
Data collection for the three rounds of PIAAC cycle 1 took place between 2011 and 2015 in 33 countries, including the United States. Planning is now under way for PIAAC cycle 2. The data collection of cycle 2 will be conducted between August 2021 to March 2022 in the United States and more than 30 other countries, with the results and reports published in Fall 2023. For more information about the first two cycles of PIAAC, visit the U.S. PIAAC Data Collections page on the Gateway. Stay tuned to future Buzz issues for more information about cycle 2!