Texas Comprehensive Center Annual Forum Marriott River Center San Antonio, TX July 31, 2006

1. Texas Comprehensive Center Annual ForumMarriott River Center San Antonio, TXJuly 31, 2006 Anita Villarreal, Director Title I School Improvement Texas Education Agency Division of NCLB Program Coordination

2. AYP reporting • 512-463-9704

3. Application for Supplementary Title I SIP Funding • 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.

4. 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

5. 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.

6. Application for Supplementary Title I SIP Funding (continued • Stage 1 campus principals are required to participate in the Campus Administrator Mentoring Program provided by SIRC.

7. 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;

8. Application for Supplementary Title I SIP Funding (continued) • Describe System of Reform; and • Submit the Parent Notification Letter.

9. 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.

10. May 15, 2006 Letter from U.S. Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings Title I School Improvement • School Choice • Supplementary Educational Services (SES)

11. Addressed: • Implementation • Expectation • Enforcement • State Action and Assistance

12. 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 only1% participated in public school choice.

13. 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.

14. 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.

15. 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;

16. 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;

17. 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.   

18. 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. 

19. 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.

20. 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. 

21. 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;

22. 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.

23. 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. 

24. 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;

25. 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.

26. 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.

27. 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.

28. 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.

29. 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.

30. 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.

31. 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.

32. 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.

33. 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.

34. School Choice Parent Notification Letter • Parents must be notified by August 25, 2006. Parent Notification letters must include the following information:

35. Date of notification; • LEA name; • Campus name; • Contact information; • Authorized signature; • An explanation of what the AYP status means;

36. 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;

37. 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;

38. 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.

39. 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).

40. 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

41. 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.

42. 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.

43. 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

44. 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;

45. 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;.

46. 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.

47. 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);

48. 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;

49. 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).

50. PRIVACY ISSUES • Student records must be securely maintained. • Staff should refrain from discussing students’ performance with others. • Remove student indicators from public ads.