A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Objective 2.4. Special populations receive appropriate services and assessments consistent with high standards.

Key strategies for FY 1999

• Main financial support.
  • The $7.8 billion request for Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies is intended to help states and school districts ensure that low-income, disadvantaged students are able to meet the same high standards expected of all children. The program gives states and schools substantial flexibility--including waivers from federal rules that impede improved achievement and school wide reforms for schools with a majority of poor students--in exchange for helping disadvantaged students meet high state standards. This will be supplemented with a $50 million increase for Title I Migrant Education.
  • The $3.8 billion request for IDEA Grants to States is intended to improve the quality of education for children with disabilities so that these children can, to the maximum extent possible, meet the same challenging standards that have been established for all children, while also preparing them for employment and independent living.
  • The Department is also seeking $168 million for Bilingual Education Instructional Services, which supports projects designed to develop the English language skills of participating students and to help them meet the same challenging standards expected of all students.

• Ensuring appropriate assessments for all children. Disseminate guidance and provide technical support regarding accommodations for assessing children with limited English proficiency and children with disabilities to states, local school districts, technical assistance providers, and teacher education institutions. Draw upon the resources and expertise of a panel convened by the National Academy of Sciences, as well as identify and disseminate promising practices at the state and local levels.

• Monitoring student progress. Encourage the adoption of national assessments in fourth grade reading and eighth grade mathematics to enable states, districts, schools, and parents to benchmark their students' performance against a common measure of achievement aligned with challenging standards.

• Attention to equity. Implement guidance on testing and assessments that may involve high stakes assessments of special populations. The guidance was developed in 1998 by the Office of Civil Rights (OCR).

• Highly qualified teachers. Promote the training and recruitment of teachers to serve children with special needs (e.g., limited English proficiency and special education) and for high-poverty areas. The President is seeking $1.1 billion in funding over the next 7 years to support states in hiring 100,000 new teachers as part of a Class Size Reduction Initiative. The goal of the initiative is to help reduce class sizes nationwide in grades 1-3 to an average of 18 students per class. Funds would be distributed to states on the basis of the Title I formula, and the funding match would be lower for high-poverty districts. In addition, the budget includes $67 million for a new Teacher Recruitment and Preparation program that would recruit new teachers for the high-poverty urban and rural areas that have the most difficulty in attracting and retaining a high-quality teaching force.

• Research, dissemination and implementation of effective practices. Expand the scope of ED-supported research and dissemination, and the implementation of strategies to support the education of students with special needs and in high-poverty districts.
  • The $175 million request for Demonstrations of Comprehensive School Reform would support awards helping some 3,500 urban and rural schools to carry out comprehensive, research-based educational reforms.
  • The $200 million Education Opportunity Zones initiative would assist urban and rural school districts--with high concentrations of children from low-income families--to implement educational reform strategies linked to challenging standards for all students, accountability for results, expanded public school choice, and interventions in failing schools.
  • The budget also includes $15.5 million for the National Institute on the Education of At-Risk Students, which helps develop and disseminate instructional methods for improving the achievement of students at risk of educational failure. The Institute supports the Center for Improving Achievement for At-Risk Students, which conducts research and development into "whole school" reforms that help all students in a school become high achievers, as well as the Center for Research on Education, Diversity and Excellence, which works to improve educational results for students from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds.
  • The $291 million requested for Special Education National Activities, will continue to support a wide range of services supporting state and local efforts to educate children with disabilities. These funds facilitate state improvement efforts, research and innovation to help children with disabilities meet high standards, technical assistance, preparation of personnel who work with children with disabilities, information centers to help parents meet the education needs of their children with disabilities, and media services (such as captioning) for individuals with disabilities.

• School infrastructure and capacity. The Administration is requesting federal tax credits to pay the interest on nearly $22 billion in school modernization bonds that may be used to construct or renovate public school facilities. One-half of the bond authority would be allocated to the 100 school districts with the largest number of low-income children. The proposal calls for the issuance of $1l.1 billion in interest-free bonds in 1999 and an identical amount in 2000. The $475 million request for the Technology Literacy Challenge Fund would support grants to states that are used to buy hardware, connect schools to the Internet, train teachers to use technology, and develop and buy software. Funds are distributed to states on the basis of the Title I formula, and participating states are required to submit a statewide technology plan that includes long-term strategies for assisting the school districts with the largest numbers or percentages of poor children and the greatest need for technology in the classroom.

• Extending opportunities for learning. Support after-school activities that are of particular benefit to special populations, through financial support, technical assistance, information sharing, and development of a continuous improvement project management guide. A greatly expanded, $200 million 21st Century Community Learning Centers program would support approximately 4,000 before- and after-school programs--serving up to half a million students--that would keep schools open as safe havens while providing extended learning activities to improve student achievement and prevent juvenile violence and substance abuse. The Department will closely coordinate this program with supporting activities that will be funded through a five-year, $55 million private donation by the C.S. Mott Foundation aimed at enhancing the quality of before- and after-school programs.

Coordination

• Children of families with special needs. Expand coordination efforts with the Departments of Health and Human Services and Labor to ensure that children from families moving from welfare to work and others with special needs (e.g., migratory workers, homeless families) receive opportunities to participate fully in educational activities--both during, and before and after school--that are aimed at helping them to reach high standards.

• President's Hispanic Education Initiative. Build upon public and private partnerships, initiated through the President's Hispanic Education Initiative to support increased family and community involvement in education. For example, with the Partnership for Family Involvement, promote America Reads and other efforts to support a greater emphasis on reading through Spanish language television, radio and print media. The President's budget request includes increases totaling $217 million for programs that show particular promise in addressing the special needs of Hispanic Americans. These include a doubling of funding for Bilingual Professional Development to $50 million and a $50 million increase for Title I Migrant Education.

• Support for homeless children. Continue to collaborate--as a member of the Interagency Council on Homelessness--on a National Survey of Homeless Assistance Providers and Clients with the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce/Census, Energy, Health and Human Services/Social Security Administration, Housing and Urban Development, Justice, Labor and Transportation, and the Federal Emergency Management Administration.

• Juvenile justice. Coordinate with the Department of Justice in developing a Census of Residential Juvenile Facilities--a multidisciplinary project that will collect information on juveniles in detention and correctional custody, including data on education.

Programs supporting this objective

Selected performance indicators and charts

Students in high-poverty schools will show continuous improvement in achieving proficiency levels compared to those for the nation. (Goal 1, indicator 2)

Indicator background and context. Poverty has a substantial impact on student achievement, as illustrated by the performance of fourth graders on the NAEP assessment in reading and mathematics. In 1994, fourth graders in high poverty schools scored considerably below the national average, with only 26 percent able to score at or above NAEP's basic level. While scores were closer on math, poverty school students still scored much lower. The goal is to bring the scores closer to that for all schools.

Data source. Educational Testing Service. Special analysis of NAEP, 1997-98; U.S. Department of Education. NAEP 1994 Reading A First Look: Findings from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, and NAEP, 1996: Mathematics Report Card for the Nation and the States.

Students in high-poverty schools will show continuous improvement in achieving proficiency levels compared to those for the nation. (Goal 1, indicator 2)

Indicator background and context. By the year 2001, Title I of ESEA requires that states establish accountability systems that track the progress of students from special populations (e.g., limited English proficient), and report progress to parents and local communities. Therefore, progress of states in reporting assessment data for at-risk students will be tracked annually.

Data source. Council of Chief State School Officers. State Education Indicators with a Focus on Title I, 1997.

Verification/validation of performance measures: Independent program evaluations by the Planning and Evaluation Service will validate State-reported program information. The rigorously designed National Assessment of Education Progress will provide an independent benchmark on State-reported student outcomes for at-risk populations. The Congressionally mandated Independent Review Panel, is reviewing all surveys and results for quality.

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[Objective 2.3]

[Objective 3.1]