Counting Participants

Let's take a look at some of the factors involved in actually counting an adult or Participant type student for FTE. Here are a number of things to be considered, right out of the "Official" documentation.

The four "Official" count dates are; 
     4th Wednesday of July; 
     1st Wednesday of October; 
     2nd Wednesday of February; and 
     4th Wednesday of April. 

To be counted for state aid, students must: 

• Meet the general eligibility requirements; 
  Basically, in order to be counted, the participant must be enrolled in a course that operates on one of the four count dates, and be in attendance on the count date, except: 
• Attend or be excused on or before the count day; and 
• Meet one of the three additional attendance requirements: 

1. Attend on the count day (note that attendance on the actual count day fulfills this requirement and the previous requirement simultaneously); Note: Non-Wednesday Courses: If a course is not scheduled to meet on a Wednesday, the count shall be conducted on the next day (following the count day) in which the course meets; or 
   
2. Attend prior to the count date and attend at least once within ten school days (using the K-12 calendar) following the count date; or 
   
3. Attend prior to the count date and be excused on the count day and attend (be physically present) within 30 calendar days following the count day. 

This is essentially it for regular adult traditional classes. What's a "traditional" class you ask? A traditional class is one in which all the students are studying the same lessons at the same time -- but beginning with the 2002-2003 school year, the folks in Lansing have decided that all classes can be treated as Traditional classes for FTE purposes.

But, "We do Learning Centers!" you say. Ok, let's review:

Here is what Lansing says

• Learning Centers

Learning Centers (Labs) are a methodology for the delivery of instruction. FTE value is determined by class/course in which the participant is enrolled.

"What does this mean?" you may ask There was talk that we were to determine what a "typical" class would be. You would determine how many hours per week and how many hours total for the semester would be in a "typical" class in your district. That would give you the "typical" FTE value for each class and the student would take as many classes as would fit in a week. 

Let's consider this example: a "typical" adult high school completion class is normally scheduled for 3.5 hours one night a week for the 18 weeks in the semester. Here is the math.

• 3.5 hours times 1 meeting per week times 18 weeks equals 63 total hours
• 63 class hours divided by 450 hours (participant FTE) equals 0.14 FTE

So that means that if a student is taking three adult high school completion classes per week we would count that student for 3 times 0.14 for a total FTE value of 0.42. But, they could come anytime convenient during the week while your Learning Center is open.

Bear in mind that the above quoted two sentences are the only written documentation we have seen on this subject. This concept is new and untested and as of this writing is not provided in STUREC(c). 

To view the two versions of Official documentation, click here for one or here for the other.