NCES Report Reveals 25 Percent Dropout Rate

Approximately 25 percent of U.S. public high school students fail to graduate from high school on time, according to a new report issued last week by the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).

The report, issued June 2, 2010, also shows that nearly 40 percent of African-American and Hispanic students drop out of school, prompting Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to declare that “too many of our schools are failing to offer their students a world-class education.”  He added that the Obama administration is addressing the problem by proposing that $4 billion be made available for turning around the lowest-performing high schools, including the 2,000 campuses that produce half of the 613,379 dropouts referenced in the NCES report.

The full report, titled “Public School Graduates and Dropouts from the Common Core of Data: School Year 2007-2008,” is available on the NCES website at:   http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2010341.  A copy of Duncan’s statement on the report’s findings is available at: http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/statement-national-governors-association-and-state-education-chiefs-common-core.

REMINDER:  Second 2009-10 SES Parent Notification Letter Guidance and Submission Process

LEAs with campuses in Title I, Part A School Improvement Stage 2 and above must notify parents of eligible students about the SES option at least twice during the school year.  However, LEAs that meet their Title I, Part A (regular and ARRA) 20 percent obligation are not required to disseminate a second SES parent notification letter because the district already exhausted its funding obligation.  A second SES parent notification letter is only required if a district has not met its Title I, Part A 20 percent obligation (regular and ARRA). 

The state-required PNL and instructions are located on the TEA’s Division of NCLB Program Coordination’s website at: http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/nclb/titleia/sesPNL0910.html.

The second SES packet must be disseminated to parents of eligible students not currently enrolled in the program.  LEAs should disseminate the second packet during the second semester.  The SES packets must include the following three (3) enclosures.

1.   Providers’ One-Page Summaries

·     http://www5.esc13.net/ses/parent_notification_09-10_ProviderSummaries.html

2.   Provider Service Area Spreadsheet

·     http://www5.esc13.net/ses/parent_notification_09-10.html

3.   SES State Enrollment Form

·     http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/nclb/titleia/AppendixD.html

A copy of the parent notification letter and/or packet(s) is required to be mailed to the TEA at the time they are disseminated from the LEA to the parents.  SIP campuses that do not submit this notification may forfeit their ability to reallocate these funds for other allowable activities and/or it may cause the district’s 2010 Initial Compliance Review (ICR) score in the 2011 NCLB desk audit process and subsequent Performance-Based Monitoring (PMB) interventions to be elevated.  Please mail a copy of the SES PNL and packet at the time it is disseminated to parents to:

Rita Ghazal, SES State Coordinator
Texas Education Agency
1701 North Congress Avenue
Austin, Texas 78701

For questions regarding this requirement, please contact Rita Ghazal, SES State Coordinator, at (512) 936-9374 or rita.ghazal@tea.state.tx.us. 

REMINDER Initial SES Parent Notification Letter Update

The Division of NCLB will review the initial SES PNLs in two phases.  The first phase is completed.  Phase one included a compliance review of the parent letter.  Phase two includes a compliance review of the three (3) required enclosures.  Thank you for all of your hard work in completing this requirement.  The division received a record number of accurate phase one submissions.  LEAs requiring PNL corrections will be contacted by Friday, January 15, 2010.  Otherwise, no action is required. 

REMINDER 2009-10 LEA Supplemental Educational Services Website Reporting

The TEA has begun conducting a review of LEA websites to review the below SES data reporting requirements.  LEAs that have not already posted the required SES data to their district and/or campus(es) websites should continue to work with district staff to post the required information.  

Districts with campuses in Title I School Improvement Stages 2 or above are required to post specific information related to Supplemental Educational Services (SES) on their website.  Guidance requires LEAs to post four required data components to the Internet as close to the school start date as possible, and that the data are regularly updated throughout the school year (see SES Guidance questions G-10 through G-13). 

To comply with this website reporting requirement, LEAs must display the following on their website, beginning with 2007–08 data: 

1) the number of students eligible for SES.

2) the number of students participating in SES.

3) a list of approved SES providers that can serve the LEA.

4) the location where SES will be provided, by provider. 

Districts that do not have a website, or for questions regarding this data requirement, please contact Rita Ghazal, SES State Coordinator, at (512) 936-9374 or rita.ghazal@tea.state.tx.us. 

REMINDER 2009-10 Supplemental Educational Services Parent Complaint Policy

Districts with campuses in Title I School Improvement Stages 2 or above are required to have a parent complaint policy addressing parent concerns related to inaccessibility of Supplemental Educational Services (SES).  LEAs must provide the TEA with a written plan addressing such concerns. (See also guidance questions D-4 and D-5.)  LEAs may fax or mail these to the TEA. 

To send via U.S. mail:  

Rita Ghazal
Division of NCLB Program Coordination
Texas Education Agency
1701 North Congress Avenue
Austin, TX 78701-1494       

To send via fax:  

(512) 463-5337
Attention: Rita Ghazal 

For questions regarding this requirement, please contact Rita Ghazal, SES State Coordinator, at (512) 936-9374 or rita.ghazal@tea.state.tx.us. 

REMINDER SES POLICY GUIDANCE - Updated Supplemental Educational Services (SES) Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

On July 14, 2009, the Division of NCLB Program Coordination released a SES resource to assist campuses and districts understand the provision of SES.  The resource, frequently asked questions, addresses many common questions about the April 8, 2009, SES Guidance document.  The FAQ document was updated on Friday, September 18, 2009; the updated guidance document creates new SES policy guidance and program implementation requirements.  It includes new questions that address issues that were undeveloped or unaddressed in the July 2009 FAQ guidance, and it responds to inquires that the TEA received from LEAs and SES providers.  It is located on the NLCB website at http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/nclb/PDF/SES-FAQs.pdf.

 

REMINDER Second SES Parent Notification Letter (PNL) Dissemination Clarification (See FAQ 29)

Question: If a student is already enrolled in SES, are LEAs required to disseminate the second parent notification letter (PNL) and/or any additional PNL packets to the child’s family?

 

Response: No. Districts are not required to disseminate  the second PNL and/or any additional PNL packets to the parents of eligible students already enrolled in SES.  The purpose of disseminating additional PNL packets after the initial August PNL is to give parents of eligible children more options to choose SES for their child.  Therefore, if a parent already selected SES and enrolled their child, additional PNLs are not required for these parents.
 

REMINDER Supplemental Educational Services (SES) Learning Tool Delivery Clarification

Question:  At what point during SES enrollment/implementation does this learning tool 10-day delivery period begin? 

 

Response: Students enrolled in SES and assigned to a provider must receive applicable learning tools as soon as possible, but not later than 10 days from the date the student’s student learning plan (SLP) is approved. 

Guidance on using ARRA Title I funds is available at: http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/leg/recovery/guidance/title-i.doc

Guidance and related documents for other funds made available under ARRA, including the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund, are available at:  http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/leg/recovery/index.html#appsl
 

Duncan Says Stimulus Bill Will Expand Financial Aid for College

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan unveiled an overview of the U.S. Department of Education's proposed FY 2010 budget last week, highlighting provisions that would dramatically expand student financial aid while making it simpler, more reliable, and more efficient.

USDE’s budget will be increased significantly from funding provided under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).  In addition to increases in funding for elementary and secondary education, the ARRA would provide an additional $17 billion for Pell Grants in 2009 and 2010, Duncan said.  Current year funding for Pell Grants is $16.2 billion, with 6.1 million students participating.  The stimulus package also is providing nearly $14 billion in tuition tax credits for middle class families, raising the credit to $2,500 from $1,800.

USDE’s proposed budget also would restructure and expand the federal Perkins Loan program to ensure that all institutions can take part in the program.  The revised program would offer $6 billion in loans every year, an increase from the current $1 billion in funding.  Funds would reward schools that provide more need-based aid to students and that maintain reasonable student costs relative to other schools in their sector.

Details of USDE’s budget proposal for the 2010 fiscal year will be released in late April.  For more information on the department’s proposed budget, visit http://www.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget10/index.html.