The Title I Messenger! “Keeping YOU on Target!”

March 2012 Volume 3, Number 1

In This Issue Month in Review

Federal Update

Record Keeping in Title I Schoolwide Schools

Just Ask John

Title I Toolkit

Important Reminders Register for

Consolidated Application and Title I Fiscal Training

Consolidated Application opens no later than April 16, 2012

The 1003(g) school improvement grant will open on April 3 and close on May 11

LEAs with Targeted Assistance schools make sure your participating students are tagged in eSchoolPlus

LEAs offering Choice and/or SES in schools ensure participants are tagged in eSchoolPlus by May 30

Month in Review

January and February were exciting months for many of our Title I schools in Delaware. During the 2012 National Title I Conference in Seattle, Lake Forest School District's Lake Forest East Elementary School and Caesar Rodney School District's Nellie H. Stokes Elementary School were honored as 2011 National Title I Distinguished Schools. Lake Forest East Elementary School, under the leadership of Principal Susan Piavis, was selected for its outstanding performance in closing the achievement gap between student groups. Nellie H. Stokes Elementary School, which is led by Principal Corey Miklus, was selected for its outstanding performance in exceptional student achievement for two or more years. The State recognized the following three State Title I Distinguished Schools during the month of January: 1) Lake Forest North Elementary School in Lake Forest School District; Brenda G. Wynder, principal; 2) Long Neck Elementary School in Indian River School District; David C. Hudson, principal; and 3) Star Hill Elementary School in Caesar Rodney School District; Chester Cox, principal. The State also recognized 30 additional schools as Title I Distinguished Honorees. Congratulations to all our winners and honorees!

Thank you to those who attended the 1003(g) SIG technical assistance meeting on Tuesday, March 27, 2012. A copy of the presentation given during the session and additional resources including a grant manual, checklist, self-assessment rubric and various other resources are available on our ESPES Website. We received notice today March 30, 2012 that our state application has been approved. As such, we plan to open the grant on April 3, 2012. The 1003(g) SIG grant will be due on May 11, 2012. The list of eligible schools is available on our School Accountability Website. All LEAs with schools in any of the three tiers are encouraged to apply. There is a total of $6,027,943 available statewide for this grant. The state must give priority to LEAs that submit approvable applications for eligible Partnership Zone schools before providing funding for other schools in Tier I and Tier II. Tier III schools can only be funded after approvable applications for PZ schools and other Tier I and Tier II schools are funded.

The Consolidated Application is scheduled to open no later than April 16, 2012. Have you registered for any of the LEA Consolidated Grant Application Technical Assistance

http://www.doe.k12.de.us/dess/espes.shtml#1003Ghttp://www.doe.k12.de.us/aab/accountability/school_account.shtml

Title I Calendar Updates The Title I Annual Calendar has been updated with the following changes. A revised copy is available here. Please print a new version.

LEAs with Targeted Assistance schools reminded to ensure participants are tagged in eSchoolPlus by March 31

SEA pulls Targeted Assistance data in April and verified with LEAs.

Contact Information (302) 857-3320 Theresa Kough Director tkough@doe.k12.de.us Ted Jarrell Consolidated, Data and Fiscal Support and School Improvement tjarrell@doe.k12.de.us Kim Wells Equitable Services, Family and Community Engagement, SES and School Improvement kwells@doe.k12.de.us John Hulse Distinguished Schools and Consolidated Support jhulse@doe.k12.de.us

Sessions? They begin on Monday, April 16 and run through June 5. You are welcome to sign up for training sessions, webinars, and supervised drop-in work sessions through PDMS. This year’s two due dates for the LEA Consolidated Grant Application are July 13 and August 17, 2012, at the very latest. Plan now so that you don’t have to burn the midnight oil in the summer! If you need more information on the grant or the technical assistance schedule, visit the ESPES website here.

We are also planning for our Regional Title I Fiscal trainings in April. Please consider attending one of the sessions to get a jump start on planning for your Title I funds next year. During the sessions we will provide an overview of the fiscal requirements under Title I including set-asides, per-pupil allocation requirements, allowable costs, indirect costs, and document maintenance issues. We will discuss the changes that were made to the Title I allocation process this year as a result of recent Federal monitoring visits. We will also provide recommendations for how to plan for ESEA Flexibility. Finally, we will walk LEAs with more than 1 school through the Title I budgeting spreadsheet. The sessions will be held in all three counties April 16, 17 and 18. You can register for the course (#1235) in PDMS. We hope to see you there!

Federal Update As you know, the Department applied for ESEA Flexibility during the mid-February

submission window. States that apply through this request may be granted flexibility in exchange for rigorous and comprehensive State-developed plans designed to improve educational outcomes for all students, close achievement gaps, increase equity, and improve the quality of instruction. Our February submission is available on the Department’s ESEA Flexibility Website. We are currently working with USDOE and our peer reviewers to address questions and provide clarifications. Please stay tuned for updates! If you have any comments or suggestions, please feel free to contact either Joanne Reihm jreihm@doe.k12.de.us or Susan Haberstroh shaberstroh@doe.k12.de.us.

Record Keeping in Title I Schoolwide Schools LEAs operating schoolwide programs in Title I schools are responsible for ensuring these schools have documentation on file for the three core components of schoolwide programs: the comprehensive needs assessment, the comprehensive schoolwide plan, and the evaluation. If an auditor came knocking would you be ready?

http://www.doe.k12.de.us/infosuites/staff/fedstprog/TitleIPartA/TitleIFILES/Title_I_Ann_Tmelne_06082010.docmailto:kwells@doe.k12.de.ushttp://www.doe.k12.de.us/dess/espes.shtmlhttp://www.doe.k12.de.us/infosuites/ddoe/flex.shtmlmailto:jreihm@doe.k12.de.usmailto:shaberstroh@doe.k12.de.us

Melvin D’Souza Data Support mdsouza@doe.k12.de.us Geri Donahue Administrative Support gdonahue@doe.k12.de.us

Documentation relating to the needs assessment should include significant information about the achievement of students and conditions in the school that directly affect their academic achievement. Most schools include this information as part of their school Success Plan. Documentation relating to the comprehensive schoolwide plan (or Success Plan) must contain specific information about how the school will implement the 10 required components of schoolwide programs, how resources will be used, how the school will consolidate programs to support the schoolwide program, and how student assessment results will be disseminated. Documentation relating to the annual evaluation should include the method of evaluation used, and findings that describe the results achieved by the schoolwide program and its implementation.

Title I Schools Under Improvement, Corrective Action or Restructuring under the current ESEA law have much of this documentation already online in the Education Success Planning and Evaluation System (ESPES) because it is a required component of 1003(a) School Improvement Grant applications. LEAs with schoolwide schools that are not currently under improvement need to ensure that similar documentation is available for these schools as well. If Delaware’s application for ESEA Flexibility is approved and 1003(a) grants are no longer available, LEAs will need to ensure that their Title schools that were formerly designated as Under Improvement, Corrective Action or Restructuring continue to keep the required schoolwide documentation accessible and up to date. LEAs are encouraged to have all of their schoolwide schools post their Success Plans in the ESPES system. This will help ensure easy access to and tracking of schoolwide program goals, objectives and measures.

Just Ask John

Q: Dear John, I just realized that one of the initiatives we were approved to fund through our school improvement grant (licenses for math software) was already paid for out of other federal funds. Now I have extra money to use. I was thinking about using it to send some of our Title I principals to a professional development conference this summer. Can I just go ahead and use the funds since I’m sure it’s an allowable cost under Title I? - Excess on the East Coast

A: Dear Excess, Congratulations on having more money to play with! Before you send your principals off to the conference you’ll need to request an amendment to your school improvement grant. The good news is submitting an amendment request to DDOE is as easy as I, 2, 3. As soon

http://www.doe.k12.de.us/infosuites/staff/fedstprog/TitleIPartA/TitleIFILES/TitleISW.pdfhttp://www.doe.k12.de.us/infosuites/staff/fedstprog/TitleIPartA/TitleIFILES/TitleISW.pdf

as you determine that a program objective and/or specified activity will not be accomplished or needs to be modified, the LEA program manager should submit a subgrant amendment request as follows to DDOE for preapproval of the change:

1. Compose an email explaining the reason for your requested amendment. Your explanation should include how the funds were going to be used, how you intend to use them now and most importantly, what the impact of not using the funds for their original intended purpose will be (if any).

2. Include the grant type (School Improvement, LEA Consolidated, etc), grant year (2010-11, 2011-12, etc) and Title I funds project number for the grant you want to amend. Also, include the amount of funds that you want to reallocate. If the funds are being moved from one funding classification to another, please include the specifics of the change (i.e., move from Supplies and Materials to Travel).

3. Send the email to the Title I program manager and make sure to cc your business manager since it involves a significant change in the use of your funds.

- Just Ask John

Title I Toolkit – Schoolwide Programs The 10 Requirements for Schoolwide Programs Designing Schoolwide Programs – USDOE Non-Regulatory Guidance USDOE Presentation on Making the Most of Schoolwide Programs

http://www.doe.k12.de.us/infosuites/staff/fedstprog/TitleIPartA/TitleIFILES/TitleISW.pdfhttp://www.doe.k12.de.us/infosuites/staff/fedstprog/TitleIPartA/TitleIFILES/FederalGuidanceFILES/designingswpguid.dochttp://www2.ed.gov/admins/lead/account/sw/schoolwide.ppt