Transcript Slide 1

Texas Comprehensive Center
Annual Forum
Marriott River Center
San Antonio, TX
July 31, 2006
Anita Villarreal, Director
Title I School Improvement
Texas Education Agency
Division of NCLB Program Coordination
AYP reporting
• 512-463-9704
Application for Supplementary
Title I SIP Funding
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Electronic application available through eGrants
Will need a UserName and Password
Application available September 1 for 2006-2007
Application deadline October 17, 2006, 5:00 P.M.
Application for Supplementary
Title I SIP Funding (continued)
• District application on behalf of the SIP
campus, if a district has multiple campuses
in need of improvement, a separate
application per campus is required.
• Must be a Title I, Part A served campus
• Campus based application/allocation
Application for Supplementary
Title I SIP Funding (continued
• Stage 1 campuses will receive an
allocation of $25,000 and TEA will prepay
the cost of the required Campus
Administrators Mentoring Program.
Application for Supplementary
Title I SIP Funding (continued
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Stage 1 campus principals are required to
participate in the Campus Administrator
Mentoring Program provided by SIRC.
Application for Supplementary
Title I SIP Funding
Specific items are required to be addressed
within the SIP application for funding:
• Describe the Comprehensive Needs
Assessment that was conducted;
• Describe Identified Needs;
Application for Supplementary
Title I SIP Funding (continued)
• Describe System of Reform; and
• Submit the Parent Notification Letter.
Application for Supplementary
Title I SIP Funding (continued)
SIP campus personnel are required to:
• Attend SIRC’s SIP Orientation Session;
and
• Attend a Best Practice Conference.
May 15, 2006
Letter from U.S. Secretary of Education,
Margaret Spellings
Title I School Improvement
• School Choice
• Supplementary Educational Services
(SES)
• Addressed:
– Implementation
– Expectation
– Enforcement
– State Action and Assistance
Implementation
• Public School Choice and SES are critical to
students’ academic success, and yet for the
past several years, participation has been
unacceptably low in many LEAs around the
country.
• In 2003-04, only 17% eligible students
participated in SES, and only 1% participated
in public school choice.
Implementation
• The majority of LEAs notified parents about
the public school choice option after the
school year began;
• In some cases States did not provide LEAs
with timely AYP data; and
• Several States did not ensure that LEAs
included all required information in their
notices to parents.
Implementation
The Department’s Office of Inspector General
conducted a series of six audits that revealed
significant findings on State and LEA
implementation of the School Choice and SES
provisions.
Implementation
The audits found that each of the six States
failed to monitor adequately their LEAs for
compliance. As a result,
• Nearly all of the parent notification letters
reviewed failed to include the required
elements of the law;
Implementation
• Multiple LEAs did not offer eligible parents
the options to transfer their children or
participate in SES at all;
• Several LEAs allowed students to transfer to
ineligible choice schools;
Implementation
• Issued late notification letters;
• Failed to budget sufficient funding for the
services; and/or
• Did not notify parents of all options
available to them.
Expectations
LEAs to notify all eligible parents of their public
school choice and SES options in a way that is:
• Timely (i.e., before the start of the school
year) for Texas, prior to August 25, 2006;
• Clear;
• Unbiased; and
• Contains all required information.
Expectations
• LEAs to set aside an amount equal to 20
percent of their Title I, Part A, allocation for
choice-related transportation and SES.
• To spend that amount, unless demand for
services (allowing for a sufficient
enrollment period) does not require full
funding.
Enforcement
The United States Department of Education
(USDE) is prepared to take significant
enforcement action. USDE will be using data
collected through Title I monitoring, Inspector
General reports, Consolidated State
Performance Reports, and other sources to take
enforcement action.
Enforcement
These actions may include the following:
• Placing conditions on Title I grants to an
SEA that will require corrective action and
extra reporting until the LEA meets its
responsibilities with regard to public school
choice and SES, and if the conditions are
not met, further enforcement actions will be
taken;
Enforcement
• Withholding all or a proportionate amount
of program and administrative funds from
an SEA; and/or
• Entering into a compliance agreement with
an SEA or with an SEA and LEA to ensure
adherence to the law.
Enforcement
• In most cases, when LEAs are out of
compliance with public School Choice and
SES, conditions will be placed on State
grants and consideration will be given to
withholding Federal funds or entering into
a compliance agreement.
State Action and Assistance
USDE directed States to:
• Begin working with their LEAs now to
ensure that in the 2006-07 school year, to
ensure significant improvements in the
implementation of these provisions;
• Closely monitor LEA actions, including
their spending on public school choice and
SES and their parent notifications;
State Action and Assistance
• Provide LEAs with significant resources
and technical assistance;
• Provide responses complete and accurate
responses when reporting to USDE; and
• Continue implementing high-quality
evaluations of SES providers.
School Choice
School districts receiving federal funds
under Title I, Part A are required to make
School Choice available to all students
who are enrolled in Title I campuses if their
campus has been identified as a Title I
campus in need of improvement.
School Choice
Public School Choice is not applicable to
open-enrollment charter schools that are
identified in school improvement or other
types of campuses that are, by design,
already schools of choice.
School Choice
Which students are eligible to change campuses
under the Title I public school choice provisions?
All students enrolled in Title I campuses
identified for school improvement, corrective
action, or restructuring are eligible to transfer to
another public school campus within the district
(which may be a charter school) that is not in
school improvement.
School Choice
Is there any priority for students to be allowed
to transfer under the Title I public school choice
option?
The school district must give all students in a
campus identified for improvement the
opportunity to transfer to another public
school.
–There may be circumstances in which
the school district needs to give
priority to the lowest-achieving
children from low-income families.
School Choice
How long must a school district continue to
offer students in eligible Title I campuses the
option to attend another public school?
The school district must offer choice to
all students in an eligible Title I campus
until the campus is no longer identified
for improvement, corrective action, or
restructuring.
School Choice
How long must students who change campuses
be allowed to attend the campus of their choice?
If an eligible student exercises the option to
transfer to another public school campus, the
school district must permit the student to
remain in that campus until he or she has
completed the highest grade in the campus.
School Choice
What if providing the option to transfer to
another campus within the district is not
possible?
The school district must, to the extent
practical, enter into cooperative agreements
with other school districts in the area (or with
open-enrollment charter schools in the State)
that can accept its students as transfers.
School Choice
If the school district is not able to enter into
an agreement then the campus must offer
other types of supplemental educational
activities or other campus reform strategies
to students attending that campus.
School Choice
Parent Notification Letter
• Parents must be notified by August 25,
2006.
Parent Notification letters must include the
following information:
Date of notification;
LEA name;
Campus name;
Contact information;
Authorized signature;
An explanation of what the AYP status
means;
How the campus compares in terms of
academic achievement to other elementary
campuses or secondary campuses served by
the LEA;
The reasons for the AYP status;
An explanation of what the campus is doing
to address the problem of low achievement;
An explanation of what the LEA is doing to
help the campus address the achievement
problem;
An explanation of how the parents can
become involved in addressing the
academic issues that cause the campus to
be identified for improvement;
An explanation of the parents’ option to
transfer their child to another public school;
Contact information, if different for School
Choice;
Timeline regarding School Choice;
Provide a 30 day window for transfer
response from parents (30 calendar
days);
Provide campus names for School
Choice, if applicable;
Supplementary education activities if
unable to provide School Choice; and
Supplementary Educational Services
(SES) information, if applicable.
SES
Under No Child Left Behind, any Title I,
Part A campus that has not met AYP for
three consecutive years (Stages 2-5) are
required to offer Supplementary
Educational Services (SES).
Purpose:
• To offer the parents of students attending
Title I schools in need of improvement
additional sources of academic instruction
for their children outside normal school
hours in:
• Math
• Reading
• Language Arts
SES must be:
• Consistent with the content and instruction
used by the LEA.
• Provided outside the regular school day.
• High quality and research-based.
• Specifically designed to increase student
academic achievement.
Eligible Students
• Low-income students attending
Title I schools in need of
improvement.
• Eligible students prioritized by
greatest academic need if
resources are limited.
• Students are identified by the
local public school.
Eligible Providers
• Private or public schools (including
charter schools) or school districts
• Institutions of Higher Education
• Education Service Centers
• For-profit entities
• Non-profits
Faith-based
Community-based
LEA Responsibilities
• Notify parents of school improvement
status and their opportunity for school
choice or SES;
• Provide parents with information about
SES and the SES providers in their area;
• If requested, assist parents with selection
of SES provider;
• If funds are insufficient to provide SES to
each child whose parents request the
services, prioritize so that the lowest
achieving children receive services;
• Avoid disclosing to the public the identity of
any student eligible for or receiving SES
without written permission from the parents;.
• Contract for SES with state-approved
provider that parents of eligible children
have selected;
• Work with selected providers to ensure
quality and appropriate services; and
• Provide necessary information to the TEA
to monitor the quality and effectiveness of
provider services.
LEA/PROVIDER AGREEMENT
Lea/Provider agreements should:
• Include individualized, specific
achievement goals required for each
student that are, in the case of students
with disabilities, consistent with the
students individualized education plan
(IEP) under the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act (IDEA);
• Describe how parents and teachers will be
regularly informed of student progress;
• Detail number of sessions, hours, cost,
attendance policy, etc.;
• Provide for termination if provider is unable
to meet certain goals or timetables;
• Clarify how the LEA will pay the provider
for its services;
• For faith-based organizations, assure that
SES funds are in a separate account, not
commingled with other operating funds;
• Include any other provisions relating to
liability and accountability as deemed
necessary by the LEA; and
• Prohibit the provider from disclosing to the
public identification of any student eligible
for or receiving SES (without written
parental consent).
PRIVACY ISSUES
•Student records must be
securely maintained.
•Staff should refrain from
discussing students’
performance with others.
•Remove student indicators
from public ads.
PAYMENT$ TO PROVIDER$
• Providers are paid by the LEA.
• LEAs are not required to pay for
transportation in order to provide SES.
• Providers should clearly detail costs in the
application.
SES PROVIDER RESPONSIBILITIES
• With the LEA & parents, develop an
individual Student Learning Plan that:
Includes Specific achievement goals for
each child;
Measures for student progress;
Contains a timetable for improving
student achievement;
• Provides the LEA and parents of children
receiving SES information on the child’s
progress; and
• Ensures that instruction provided and
content used are:
Aligned with state student academic
achievement standards
Consistent with the instruction provided
and content used by the LEA.
• Meet applicable federal, state, and local
health, safety, & civil rights laws.
• Ensure that all instruction & content are
secular, neutral, and non-ideological.
• Comply with all provisions of the
agreement with the LEA.
SES PITFALLS: BEWARE!
•Thinking SES is
homework help.
•Failure to link to state
academic standards and
local curriculum.
•Failure to deliver services
according to approved
application.
SES PITFALLS: BEWARE!
•Insufficient or
inappropriate
communication with
schools and parents.
•Misunderstanding of SES
process.
•Lack of concern for
health & safety issues.
Resources
• Staff contacts
http://www.tea.state.tx.us/nclb/contacts.html
• NCLB Monday Email
http://miller.tea.state.tx.us/list
Resources
• NCLB Website
http://www.tea.state.tx.us/nclb/
• Title I School Improvement Policy Guidance
http://www.tea.state.tx.us/nclb/titleia/sip/20
06-07/SchoolImprovementGuidance20062007.doc
Resources
• Series of “innovation guides”
http://www.ed.gov/about/pubs/intro/innovations
.html
• Toolkit
http://www.buildingchoice.org
Texas School Improvement Resource Center
5701 Springdale Road
Austin, Texas 78723-3675
www.esc13.net/statewide/sirc
Sally Partridge, Coordinator
512-919-5220
[email protected]
School Improvement Unit
Division of NCLB Program Coordination
Anita Villarreal, Director
Title I School Improvement
512-463-9402
[email protected]
Jan Irvin Foster,
Program Specialist
512-463-2333
[email protected]
Leticia Govea,
Program Specialist
512-463-3212
[email protected]
Division Fax 512-305-9447