Tag Archives: Less Than Two Year Postsecondary

Enhancing Education through Technology (Ed-Tech) State Program

The primary goal of this program is to improve student achievement through the use of technology in elementary and secondary schools. Additional goals include:

  • helping all students become technologically literate by the end of the eighth grade, and
  • establishing innovative, research-based instructional methods that can be widely implemented through the integration of technology with both teacher training and curriculum development.

Types of Projects

Local activities include the support of continuing, sustained professional development programs and public-private partnerships. Activities also include:

  • the use of new or existing technologies to improve academic achievement;
  • the acquisition of curricula that integrate technology and are designed to meet challenging state academic standards;
  • the use of technology to increase parent involvement in schools; and
  • the use of technology to collect, manage, and analyze data to enhance teaching and school improvement.

 

Additional Information

Under the Ed-Tech program, the U.S. Department of Education provides grants to State educational agencies (SEAs) on the basis of their proportionate share of funding under Part A of Title I.

States may retain up to 5 percent of their allocations for State-level activities, and must distribute one-half of the remainder by formula to eligible local educational agencies and the other one-half competitively to eligible local entities.

In the Department’s fiscal year (FY) 2006 appropriations bill, Congress also included language overriding the statutory provision that SEAs use 50 percent of the amount available for grants to local education agencies (LEAs) for formula awards and 50 percent for competitive awards. The FY 2006 language provides SEAs with the flexibility to reserve up to 100 percent for competitive awards to eligible local entities.

Early Childhood Educator Professional Development Program

Types of Projects

The professional development programs must provide research-based training to improve early childhood pedagogy and improve the children’s language and literacy skills.  Projects focus on early reading and cognitive development for both the professional development activities and early childhood curricula.

Additional Information

The program authorizes project partnerships that include an entity with demonstrated experience in providing training to educators in early childhood education programs on:

  • identifying and preventing behavior problems, or
  • working with children identified as or suspected to be victims of abuse.

Allowable activities include, among others, professional development:

  • to familiarize early childhood educators with the application of recent research on child language and literary development, and
  • on working with children who have special needs (e.g., children who are limited English proficient).

Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants—Title II, Part A

TYPES OF PROJECTS

State-level activities include but are not limited to (1) reforming teacher and principal certification programs, (2) providing support for new teachers, and (3) providing professional development for teachers and principals. Local-level activities include but are not limited to (1) recruiting and retaining effective teachers and principals, (2) providing professional development for teachers and principals, and (3) reducing class size.

Additional Information

In exchange for receiving funds, agencies are held accountable to the public for improvements in academic achievement. Title II, Part A provides these agencies the flexibility to use these funds creatively to address challenges to teacher and principal quality, whether they concern preparation and qualifications of new teachers and school leaders, recruitment and hiring, induction, professional development, retention, or the need for more capable principals and other school leaders to serve as effective school leaders.

Mathematics and Science Partnerships

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This program is designed to improve the content knowledge of teachers and the performance of students in the areas of mathematics and science by encouraging states, institutions of higher education (IHEs), local education angencies (LEAs), and elementary and secondary schools to participate in programs that:

  • Improve and upgrade the status and stature of mathematics and science teaching by encouraging IHEs to
    improve mathematics and science teacher education;
  • Focus on the education of mathematics and science teachers as a career-long process;
  • Bring mathematics and science teachers together with scientists, mathematicians, and engineers to improve
    their teaching skills; and
  • Provide summer institutes and ongoing professional development for teachers to improve their knowledge and
    teaching skills.

TYPES OF PROJECTS

The program supports projects to improve math and science education through partnerships, which include, at a minimum, a high-need LEA and the mathematics, science, or engineering department of an IHE.

Additional Information

The Mathematics and Science Partnership (MSP) program is intended to increase the academic achievement of students in mathematics and science by enhancing the content knowledge and teaching skills of classroom teachers. Partnerships between high-need school districts and the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) faculty in institutions of higher education are at the core of these improvement efforts. Other partners may include state education agencies, public charter schools or other public schools, businesses, and nonprofit or for-profit organizations concerned with mathematics and science education.

The MSP program is a formula grant program to the states, with the size of individual state awards based on student population and poverty rates. No state receives less than one half of one percent of the total appropriation. With these funds, each state is responsible for administering a competitive grant competition, in which grants are made to partnerships to improve teacher knowledge in mathematics and science.

Services to Students

A CAMP project provides services to assist participants in completing their first year of college, to assure the success of the participants in meeting the project’s objectives, and in succeeding in an academic program of study at the Institute of Higher Education (IHE). The types of allowable services include:

  • Outreach and recruitment services to eligible persons
  • Personal, academic, and career counseling
  • Tutoring and academic skill building instruction and assistance
  • Assistance with special admissions
  • Health services
  • Assistance in obtaining student financial aid
  • Housing support for students living in institutional facilities and commuting students
  • Exposure to cultural events, academic programs, and other educational/cultural activities not available to migrant youth
  • Internships

In addition, a CAMP project must provide follow up services for students after they have completed their first year of college. However, grantees may not use more than 10 percent of their awarded funds for follow up services. Follow up services could include:

  • Monitoring and reporting the academic progress of a student’s first year of college and their subsequent years in college
  • Referring students to on- or off- campus providers of counseling services, academic assistance, or financial aid

Resources

Non-Regulatory Services Guidance (PDF, 323 KB)

Performance Reporting and Evaluation

Annual Performance Reporting allows programs to determine the overall effectiveness in meeting program goals and objectives, such as GPRA 1, GPRA 2, and Efficiency targets.

Program evaluation allows programs to: 1) provide data on GPRA 1,GPRA 2 and Efficiency targets; 2) determine at what level of quality program activities are being implemented; 3) identify strengths and weaknesses in program implementation and program effectiveness through tools such as exit interviews, surveys, observations, recruitment, counseling, or tutoring logs, and research analyses (finding correlations between practices and results). Program evaluation is both formative and summative, allowing for the use of annual performance results that may lead to recommendations for changes in programming.

Resources

Meeting Materials

Annual Director’s Meeting

July 31 – August 2, 2017 ● Washington, DC

Grant Management and Monitoring

Monitoring is an integral part of the Department of Education’s grant administration and oversight. The end goal of the Department’s monitoring is to promote the efficient and effective achievement of the program objectives. These objectives are in support the Department’s mission to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access. OME conducts monitoring to:

  • Examine the objectives and results achieved by a HEP or CAMP project, particularly progress against GPRA indicators
  • Review implementation of a HEP or CAMP project with a focus on project quality and areas of improvements
  • Determine project compliance with applicable statutes/regulations; and
  • Examine the resolution of prior findings from monitoring reviews and audits.

Financial Management

The Department of Education requires its grantees to maintain adequate financial management systems. An adequate financial system is one that enables the grantee to accurately identify the source and disbursement of all funds for federally sponsored activities. To ensure transparency and compliance with the terms of the grant, grantees must retain records of their financial management procedures. A high-quality financial management system should also allow the grantee to show the relationship between financial data and performance outcomes.

Resources

Eligibility

Recruiters focus on key actions to successfully recruit eligible HEP/CAMP students: informing, identifying, screening, and selecting. Creating a Recruitment Plan will provides strategic direction and an agreed upon focus for your program’s recruitment activities and goals. Providing good customer service is also critical to your efforts because referrals by former and current HEP/CAMP students serve among your most valuable recruitment tools.

Be strategic and thoughtful about recruiting efforts by establishing a documented recruitment plan. Elements to include in your program’s plan include:

  • the recruitment activities identified in your approved application
  • a defined target population
  • strategies to focus on the state’s agriculture and farming industries
  • an identified geographic area for your recruitment efforts
  • an established timeline
  • identified networks that are already established to tap into, and ways to utilize technology to expand your outreach efforts

Resources