Structure and Leadership

OSS Organizational Chart

Functional Support Team Division

Five Functional Support Teams within the Office of State Support (OSS) help OSS leadership and the State Support Groups (which work directly with states) carry out the OSS vision. Four teams help OSS develop methods to better serve state education agencies in core grant administration functions — policy development and alignment, technical assistance, performance review, and data analysis and transparency. A fifth supports OSS’s efforts to help states implement the next generation of student assessment systems and to hold local education agencies and schools accountable for the academic progress of their students.

Policy Development and Alignment Functional Support Team

• Use program implementation and outcome data to engage in policy analysis to bring forth policy options and recommend decisions.
• Conduct outreach, focus groups, and meetings with key internal and external stakeholder groups in the development of policy options and recommendations.
• Track and communicate federal and state legislative initiatives to support information sharing about what is going on in the field.
• Include technical and content experts, in addition to OSS State Support Group members and other points of contact, in policy development activities and deliberations.
• Develop regulations, nonregulatory guidance, policy letters, FAQs, and memorandums to Chief State School Officers to support policy implementation.
• Lead the internal and external policy clearance process to assist with timely dissemination of information.
• Conduct policy alignment reviews to ensure the proper articulation of U.S. Department of Education (ED) priorities and OSS grant program policies across programs in OSS and programs in other offices, and develop and implement communication and coordination norms and procedures to ensure consistency of policy across programs.
• Develop and maintain a transparent tracking system that enables the OSS Leadership Team and Program Officers to know the status of policy decisions on a standard timeline.
• Develop and maintain a knowledge management system that makes regulations, nonregulatory guidance, policy letters, FAQs, calendars, and other resources readily accessible to Program Officers.
• Serve as a resource to Program Officers on state-specific issues to support the implementation of policy (e.g., grant conditions, new policy questions, matters that might require general counsel).
• Support the development of Program Officers on policy analysis, regulations, nonregulatory guidance, policy letters, and memorandums to Chief State School Officers and other grantees.
• Develop and implement communication and coordination norms and procedures to ensure consistency of policy decisions and application across the states.
• Evaluate and continuously improve processes and outcomes based on quality, utility and efficiency metrics.
• Develop processes, tools, templates and resources to support states and Program Officers with the implementation of policy.
• Design and coordinate necessary and required peer review processes.
• Provide briefings and information to office and senior leadership on the status of (and issues related to) policy.

Technical Assistance Functional Support Team

• Track, compile, and assess the technical assistance needs of states, using data where possible to identify needs specific to individual states, groups of states, and all states.
• Coordinate the participation of technical and content experts, including staff in other principal offices in the U.S. Department of Education (ED), in addition to OSS State Support Group staff, in technical assistance planning and activities.
• Identify and share, both internally and externally, proven and promising practices from the field.
• Develop in-house technical assistance products for Program Officers to use with states (e.g., consulting tools, training materials, webinars, links to best practice information).
• Coordinate the development, tracking, and utilization of technical assistance resources (e.g., Regional Education Laboratories, Comprehensive Centers, Community of Practitioner systems).
• Develop and maintain a knowledge management system that makes research, best practices, and other technical assistance resources readily accessible to Program Officers.
• Work with OSS State Support Groups, Contracting Officer’s Representatives, contractors, and the ED logistics team to develop and coordinate conferences, meetings, and training events for states that are sponsored by the office.
• Develop and execute a comprehensive annual technical assistance plan in collaboration with other principal offices and technical assistance activities with other relevant principal offices.
• Coordinate the provision of direct technical assistance to states on particularly complex or technical problems, deciding when third-party assistance may be more productive than OSS helping a state.
• Evaluate the quality, relevance and utility of technical assistance provided by OSS.
• Support the development of Program Officers on how to identify state education agencies’ technical assistance needs, the relevant technical assistance resources, and best and promising practices via training and assignments to the Technical Assistance Functional Support Team.
• Serve as the in-office lead for the continual development of professional staff in key technical and content areas, coordinating with other OSS Functional Support Teams and ensuring that staff development is high quality and job embedded for all program processes.
• Provide briefings and information to office and senior leadership on the status of (and issues related to) technical assistance plans.
• Develop and implement communication and coordination norms and procedures to ensure consistency of technical assistance practices across the states.
• Evaluate and continuously improve processes and outcomes based on quality, utility and efficiency metrics.

Performance Review Functional Support Team

• Define and establish the performance management system that OSS State Support Groups will use with state education agencies to provide transparent, high-quality, differentiated support.
• Include the participation of technical and content experts, in addition to other OSS State Support Group staff, in performance review activities and deliberations.
• Develop a template, process and timeline for the development of State Implementation Plans.
• Working with the OSS State Support Group and Technical Assistance Functional Support Team, develop a template, process, and timeline for the development of the Annual State Performance Support Plans.
• In conjunction with the OSS Data Analysis and Transparency Functional Support Team, track, compile and assess performance (progress, quality and problems), using data where possible to identify problems relevant to individual states, groups of states, and all states to help inform state information sharing and required risk analysis.
• Develop performance review plans and monitoring protocols (assessing results, quality of implementation and compliance) for Program Officers to use with states (e.g., program review protocols, risk assessments, analysis of and follow-up on audit report, corrective action plans, financial management issues, and status reports on state implementation status), working with the OSS State Support Groups.
• Design a template for the performance monitoring reports Program Officers will use to communicate to states and stakeholders the status of program implementation, noting areas where the state is exceling and areas that require attention.
• Produce analyses and reports (e.g., annual, highlight) on the performance status and issues of states in coordination with the OSS Data Analysis and Transparency Functional Support Team.
• Support the development of Program Officers on procedures for program reviews, risk assessments, use of G5 data, and status reporting on state implementation status via training and assignments to the OSS Performance Review Functional Support Team.
• Coordinate with the OSS Technical Assistance Functional Support Team in the professional development of office staff in key technical and content areas related to performance review.
• Develop and implement communication and coordination norms and procedures to ensure consistency of technical assistance practices across the states.
• Evaluate and continuously improve processes and outcomes based on quality, utility and efficiency metrics.
• Coordinate and lead the implementation of Leading Indicators across programs.
• Help ensure the consistent application of findings and next steps across groups and states.

Data Analysis and Transparency Functional Support Team

• Define analytic and “evidence” agendas (e.g., profiles, case studies).
• Include technical and content experts, in addition to other OSS State Support Groups, in data analysis and transparency activities and deliberations.
• Develop logic models, Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) measures, and leading indicators for the work of OSS’s State Support Groups.
• In conjunction with the Performance Review Team, track, compile, and assess performance (progress, quality, and problems), using data where possible to identify issues relevant to individual states, groups of states, and all states.
• Produce analyses and reports (e.g., annual, highlight) on the performance status and issues of states in coordination with the Performance Review Functional Support Team.
• Design and update information collections, checking with the U.S. Department of Education’s (ED’s) data inventory, to minimize the data reporting burden on states.
• Implement required data quality review procedures for demographic and performance data submitted by states via EDFacts.
• Develop and implement data release activities with the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education front office.
• Manage the development and refinement of data definitions associated with the Title I accountability requirements, coordinating with the OSS Assessment Functional Support Team, to report these requirements in the annual Consolidated State Performance Report.
• Establish processes to support, and perform or oversee, data analyses to support policy decisions, technical assistance plans, performance reviews, implementation status reporting, risk identification, Agency Priority Goal reporting, and other reports (e.g., annual, highlight) on the performance status and issues of states.
• Work with ED’s Policy and Program Studies Service and Institute of Education Sciences to design and implement major program evaluations and analyses that support transparency of state implementation status and results achieved to date.
• Support Program Officer use of information systems (e.g., ED’s grants management system, G5; its vehicle for public access to high-quality and high-value state education data, ED Data Express; and ED’s GRADS360°) to use, manage, and maintain data.
• Support the development of Program Officers on the use of data, status reporting on state implementation status via training and assignments to the OSS Policy Development and Alignment Functional Support Team projects.
• Evaluate and continuously improve processes and outcomes based on quality, utility and efficiency metrics.

Assessment Functional Support Team

• Provide direct technical assistance to states, as well as specialized technical assistance through external experts for longer-term interventions for states with significant assessment and accountability issues.
• Coordinate the assessment peer review process for development and improvements to state assessment systems.
• Work with the Data Review and Transparency Team regarding the development and refinement of data definitions associated with the Title I accountability requirements for reporting these requirements in the annual Consolidated State Performance Report.
• Manage the Race to the Top Assessment discretionary grants.
• Manage the process for awarding and overseeing the discretionary Enhanced Assessment Grants.

Policy Development and Alignment Functional Support Team