RLIS Performance

RLIS Grant Program Performance

The RLIS program provides grant funds to rural LEAs that serve concentrations of children from low-income families. Under RLIS, the U.S. Department of Education (Department) awards funds to State educational agencies (SEAs), which in turn make subgrants to LEAs. An SEA may award the RLIS grant funds to its eligible LEAs via a formula or via a competition. In some cases, the Department awards RLIS funds directly to eligible LEAs; these LEAs are referred to as specially qualified agencies (SQAs). Whether receiving a subgrant from its SEA or a grant directly from the Department, an LEA uses these funds to support a range of authorized activities, in order to assist students in meeting challenging State academic standards.

As part of the Department’s responsibility for fiscal and programmatic oversight and to identify areas in which SEAs and SQAs need assistance and support to meet their goals and objectives, the Department periodically assesses the extent to which SEAs and SQAs comply with RLIS program and fiscal requirements. Please see the two sections below specific to SEA performance reviews and SQA performance reviews:

SEA Performance Information

Recent monitoring reports detailing SEA compliance with RLIS program and fiscal requirements are available at the School Support and Accountability Performance webpage. SEAs preparing for a future monitoring review may wish to reference past monitoring reports from other SEAs to learn more about the requirements that the review is conducted against and the potential outcomes from a monitoring review. These outcomes include areas of commendation, areas that meet requirements, areas with recommendations from the Department, and areas with required actions that must be addressed in order to comply with RLIS program and fiscal requirements.

SQA Performance Information

The Office of Rural, Insular, and Native Achievement Programs (RINAP) is committed to supporting RLIS-SQA program grantees as they implement Federal grant programs.  Part of this commitment includes a monitoring process designed to not only address RINAP’s responsibilities for fiscal and programmatic oversight, but to also identify areas in which grantees need assistance and support to meet their goals and obligations. The monitoring process is anchored around ongoing conversations between RINAP program officers and grantees and is conducted using both off-site (desk) monitoring, as well as on-site monitoring visits to grantees.

The goal of the monitoring process is to conduct a program-centered, performance-focused review of fiscal and program requirements through a single, streamlined process that results in improved and strengthened partnerships between the Department and grantees.  To accomplish this, the RINAP monitoring process is organized into specific grant performance topics, which reflect the programmatic and fiscal requirements of the RLIS-SQA program.

Monitoring reports are provided in the table below and assess an SQA’s grant administration and fiscal management processes based on information provided through the review process, and other relevant qualitative and quantitative data. Monitoring reports are designed to communicate to SQAs and stakeholders the status of program implementation, noting areas where the SQA is excelling and areas that require attention.

NOTE: The Department is currently revising the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) measures for the RLIS grant program. This webpage will be updated once revisions are complete.