Tag Archives: Teacher Improvement
Eligibilty – Coordinator for the Outlying Areas
Who May Apply: (specifically) These consolidated grants are limited to the insular areas (American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands).
Resources
- Comprehensive Regional Assistance Centers – provide technical assistance services focused on the implementation of reform programs.
- Equity Assistance Centers – provide assistance in the areas of race, gender, and national origin equity to public schools to promote equal educational opportunities.
Legislation, Regulations and Guidance
Funding Status
Note: This program is funded as part of a set-aside from the appropriation for Title I grants. Under the set-aside, up to $5 million is reserved for a program of discretionary grants to local educational agencies (LEAs) in the Outlying Areas and the Republic of Palau. Under ESSA, beginning in FY 2017, the Republic of Palau will receive $1,000,000 from the Title I appropriation. Palau does not receive funds under the Consolidated Grant authority.
Each Year the department makes 5 awards for a total of $5,000,000.
Eligibility
Who May Apply: (specifically) These grants are limited to local education agencies (LEAs) in the outlying areas (American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands) and the Republic of Palau.
Awards
Note: This program is funded as part of a set-aside from the appropriation for Title I grants. Under the set-aside, up to $5 million is reserved for a program of discretionary grants to local educational agencies (LEAs) in the Outlying Areas and the Republic of Palau. Under ESSA, beginning in FY 2017, the Republic of Palau will receive $1,000,000 from the Title I appropriation. Palau does not receive funds under the Consolidated Grant authority.
Each Year the department makes 5 awards for a total of $5,000,000
Applicant Information
Extension Notice
In July 2015, the Department published a notice in the Federal Register informing the public that the Secretary of Education would grant a possible extension period – up to 24 months – for successful T&FASEG projects. This extension period was set to take place during FY 2016 and FY 2017.
The Department is not accepting new T&FASEG applications.
Federal Register Notices
Coordinator for the Outlying Areas
Program Description
The No Child Left Behind Act amended the Department of Education Act to require the Department to establish the ‘Coordinator for the Outlying Areas’ position. School Support and Rural Programs currently employs the Departments Coordinator for the Outlying Areas, who: (1) serves as the principal advisor to the Department on Federal matters affecting the outlying areas; (2) evaluates, on a periodic basis, the needs of education programs in the outlying areas; (3) assists with the coordination of programs that serve the outlying areas; and (4) provides guidance to programs within the Department that serve the outlying areas.
As used in this section, the term outlying areas includes Guam, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands, but does not include the Freely Associated States of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of Palau.
Maryland ED-Flex Policy Letter
September 25, 2003
Honorable Nancy S. Grasmick
State Superintendent of Schools
Maryland State Department of Education
200 West Baltimore Street
Ba1timore, MD 21201
Dear Superintendent Grasmick:
The Department has reviewed your plan to invoke your authority as an Education Flexibility Partnership Act (Ed-Flex) State to issue, on a case-by-case basis, one-time, one-year waivers of the teacher quality requirements under section 1119(a)(1) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as amended, by the No Child Left Behind Act (P.L. 107-110).
Under Ed-F1ex, a State may consider requests from its LEAs to waive statutory and regulatory requirements that impede implementation of State and local improvement plans or that unnecessarily burden program administration, while maintaining the intent and purposes of affected programs. (As you know, Ed-flex States must meet the accountability requirements of Title I to maintain their Ed-flex authority.) States should base, at a minimum, their determination to grant a waiver of the teacher quality requirements of Title I on the following conditions:
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The SEA grants the waivers on the basis of individual applications submitted by the LEAs under section 4 of the Ed-Flex statute (P.L. 106-25).
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The SEA determines that the requesting LEA is taking the steps necessary to meet the requirements of section 1119 of Title I by the end of the period for which the waiver is granted.
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The State’s and LEA’s goals for raising the achievement of all students will not be compromised.
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The waivers will not compromise the State’s plan to ensure that, not later than the end of the 2005-2006 school year, all teachers teaching in core academic subjects will be highly qualified.
The Ed-Flex waiver plan you presented in your letter dated July 31, 2003, meets these conditions and therefore is permissible. Specifically, you indicate that local school superintendents must submit a written request that:
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Explains why their efforts to recruit highly qualified teachers in Title I schools are not sufficient.
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Lists the Title I schools for which the one-time waiver will apply.
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Does not include a waiver for any Title I school that has been identified for school improvement or corrective action.
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Ensures that the LEA, if a waiver is granted, will document their progress in ensuring that by the beginning of the 2004-2005 school year all newly hired teachers in all Title I schools are highly qualified.
We appreciate your commitment to provide all students with highly qualified teachers and your belief that invoking your ED-Flex authority as proposed will enable you to maintain high standards for teacher qualifications while ensuring that all teachers in the Title I schools are highly qualified.
I look forward to working with you to fully implement the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.
Sincerely,
Ronald J. Tomalis
Chief of Staff to the Under Secretary
Office of Elementary and Secondary Education
