Federal Programs » Federal Programs Overview

Federal Programs Overview

TITLE I

Purpose: Title I, Part A (Title I) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as reauthorized by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), provides financial assistance to local educational agencies (LEAs) and schools with high numbers or high percentages of children from low-income families to help ensure that all children meet challenging state academic standards. Federal funds are currently allocated through four statutory formulas that are based primarily on census poverty estimates and the cost of education in each state.

 

TITLE II -IMPROVING TEACHER QUALITY

 

Title II is a federally funded grant for the purpose of increasing the academic achievement of all students by helping schools and districts improve teacher and principal quality and ensure that all teachers are certified.

 

Purpose of the Title II, Part A Program

Purpose: The purpose of Title II, Part A is to increase the quality and effectiveness of teachers, principals, and other school leaders. The focus is on raising student achievement by improving teacher, principal, and school leader quality. 

Use of Funds: Title II funds should directly support the quality and effectiveness of teachers, principals and other school leaders through multiple pathways to teaching and learning, teacher induction and mentorship, meaningful evaluation and support, strong teacher leadership, and transformative school leadership. Funds can also be used to develop and implement initiatives to assist in recruiting and retaining highly qualified teacher.

 

Title II - Professional Development

 

The term “ high-quality professional development” means professional development that includes, but is not limited to, 

 

Improve and increase teachers' knowledge of the academic subjects and enable teachers to become certified;

Are an integral part of broad school-wide and district-wide educational improvement plans;

Give teachers, principals, the knowledge and skills to help students meet challenging State academic standards;

Improve classroom management skills;

Are sustained, intensive, and classroom-focused and are not one-day or short-term workshops;

Advance teacher understanding of effective instructional strategies that are based on scientifically-based research; and

Are developed with extensive participation of teachers, principals, parents, and administrators.

 

TITLE III

 

To help ensure that English learners (ELs), including immigrant children and youth, attain English proficiency and develop high levels of academic achievement; assist teachers (including preschool teachers), administrators, and other school leaders in developing and enhancing their capacity to provide effective instructional programs; and promote parental, family, and community participation in language educational programs.

 

 

What can the LEA spend Title III funds on?

 

 

Developing and implementing elementary school and secondary school language instruction educational programs for EL and immigrant students that are coordinated with other relevant programs and services

 

Upgrading program objectives and effective instructional strategies

Identifying, acquiring, and upgrading curricula, instructional materials, educational software and technology, and assessment procedures

Participating in electronic networks for materials, training, and communication

Supporting supplemental educational personnel who have been trained, or are being trained, to provide educational services to EL and immigrant students

Providing tutorials and academic and career counseling

Providing family literacy services, family outreach, and family training activities

 

TITLE IV

  

Funds are awarded to LEAs using the Title I formula and must be spent in the following three categories:

 

Safe and Healthy Students - 20% 

Well Rounded Educational Opportunities - 20%

Effective Use of Technology - a portion of funding, no more that 15% may be spent on infrastructure

 

 

State Compensatory Education
The goal of the State Compensatory Education program is to reduce any disparity in performance on state assessments and in rates of high school completion between students at risk of dropping out of school and all other district students. Expenses must directly impact students.  State Compensatory Education programs/services must be accelerated, intensive, and focused on students at-risk of dropping out of school according to the State At-Risk Criteria -14 Indicators.

 

McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Program

The McKinney-Vento program addresses the problems that homeless children and youth have faced in enrolling, attending, and succeeding in school. Under this program, State educational agencies (SEAs) must ensure that each homeless child and youth has equal access to the same free, appropriate public education—including a public preschool education—as other children and youth. LEAs must ensure homeless students have access to the services they are entitled to so they are empowered to achieve the same state academic standards required of all students. Homeless children and youth should be integrated into the student body at large and may not be separated from the mainstream school environment. States and districts are required to review and undertake steps to revise laws, regulations, practices, or policies that may act as a barrier to the enrollment, attendance, or success in school of homeless children and youth. (Texas Education Agency, 2014)

 

Who is homeless? (Sec. 725) The term "homeless children and youth"— (A) means individuals who lack fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence …; and (B) includes— (i) children and youths who are sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason; are living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative accommodations; are living in emergency or transitional shelters; are abandoned in hospitals; or are awaiting foster care placement; (ii) children and youths who have a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings …(iii) children and youths who are living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings; and (iv) migratory children who qualify as homeless for the purposes of this subtitle because the children are living in circumstances described in clauses (i) through (iii).