Grants and Other Financial Assistance Programs: FY2018

Title III: English Language Acquisition and Academic Achievement Program for English Learners and Immigrant Children and Youth
Fund Code: 180

Purpose:	Title III of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) provides supplemental resources to local school districts to help ensure that English learners (ELs) and immigrant children and youth attain English proficiency and develop high levels of academic achievement in English, assist teachers and administrators to enhance their capacity to provide effective instructional programs designed to prepare ELs and immigrant children and youth to enter all-English instructional settings, and promote parental, family, and community participation in language instruction educational programs for parents, families, and communities.
Priorities:	The priorities of Title III are to: Increase the English language proficiency of ELs by providing effective language instruction educational programs that meet the needs of ELs and increase English language proficiency and student academic achievement Provide effective professional development designed to improve the instruction and assessment of ELs, to enhance the ability of teachers and school leaders to understand and implement curricula and assessment practices and measures, and to increase children's English language proficiency or substantially increase the subject matter knowledge, teaching knowledge, and teaching skills of teachers Provide and implement other effective activities and strategies that enhance or supplement language instruction educational programs for ELs which shall include parent, family, and community engagement activities In addition to the above priorities, the Title III program supports Massachusetts' goals and strategies (listed below) for increasing student achievement by enhancing grant recipients' capacity to increase students' English language proficiency and academic achievement. State Goal, Core Strategies, and ESSA Priorities The goal of Massachusetts' public K-12 education system is to prepare all students for success after high school. Our five core strategies to accelerate the pace of school improvement are: Strengthening standards, curriculum, instruction, and assessment Promoting educator development Supporting social-emotional learning, health, and safety Turning around the state's lowest performing districts and schools Enhancing resource allocation and data use Additionally, Massachusetts has identified four priority focus areas under its plan for implementing the Every Student Succeeds Act: Early grades literacy Middle grades math High-quality college and career pathways for high school students Supporting historically disadvantaged subgroups of students ESEA requires states and districts to implement "evidence-based" practices, activities, strategies and interventions with demonstrated evidence of effectiveness. Evidence-based practices refer to interventions for which there is evidence of significant positive impact that can be found in published research papers, literature reviews, or DESE research briefs. Alternately, evidence-based practices can be those local practices that a district or state has previously instituted, measured, and found to be effective. See link to "Title III - Required and Authorized Activities" under "Additional Information" below for required and authorized activities for Title III subgrants.
Eligibility:	Funds will be awarded to districts or consortia of districts with more than 100 students identified as English learners (ELs) in the March 2017 student data transmission (SIMS). Districts interested in forming a consortium for Title III purposes were required to submit letters of intent by June 16, 2017. See the FY18 List of Eligible School Districts and Consortia under "Additional Information" below.
Funding Type:	Federal funding CFDA#84.365A
Funding:	An estimated $13,031,143 will be available for subgrants to eligible entities. The grants will be awarded using a formula based on number of ELs reported in March 2017 SIMS and the number of districts eligible to apply. Award notifications with funding amounts of eligible districts and consortia will be posted on the DESE website after the DESE has received its state allocation from the United States Department of Education. Funding is contingent upon availability. All dollar amounts listed are estimated/approximate and are subject to change. If more funding is to become available it will be distributed under the same guideline as listed in the initial RFP document.
Fund Use:	Title III formula subgrants are to be used to fund supplemental instruction for ELs, professional development for teachers and administrators of ELs, and EL family and parent engagement. Required and authorized activities can be found in the "Additional Information" section below. Title III funds must be used to supplement the level of local, state, and federal funds that, in the absence of Title III funds, would otherwise be expended for programs for EL children and in no case supplant such federal, state, and local funds. There is a maximum 2% cap on direct administrative costs, and suggested maximum 20% for supplies and materials, and 15% for travel. Important: Please note that districts may not use Title III funds to support or provide either the SEI Teacher or SEI Administrator Endorsement course because doing so would violate the federal "supplement, not supplant" requirement. Under this provision, recipients may not use Title III funds to pay for services that are required under federal, state or local laws. These courses are a pathway to the SEI Endorsement, which is mandated under state regulations for all core academic teachersi with at least one EL and for principals/assistant principals and supervisors/directors who supervise or evaluate core academic teachers with ELs.
Project Duration:	Upon approval - 6/30/2018 (Year 1)* *The period of availability for this grant award can be extended beyond Year 1 based on utilizing the multi-year feature for this Funding Opportunity in EdGrants. Extended period as follows: 7/1/2018 - 6/30/2019 (Year 2); 7/1/2019 - 9/30/2019 (Year 3).
Program Unit:	Office of English Language Acquisition and Academic Achievement
Contact:	Melanie Manares Beth O'Connell
Phone Number:	Melanie Manares (781) 338-3573 Beth O'Connell (781) 338-3571
Date Due:	September 30, 2017
Required Forms:	FY18 Title III 180 Workbook (with completed Narrative* and Private Schools* sheets)   Signed Part I Cover Sheet, scanned as PDF file (CoverPage tab of the workbook)   For Consortia Only: Signed Memorandum of Understanding (to be created by applicant / not part of the workbook) *Only one Narrative and Private Schools form which represents the activities and how money will be spent for the district/charter school/consortium as a whole is required. Title III no longer requires a Private School form to be submitted for each private school, and no longer requires a separate narrative for each member district of a consortium.
Additional Information:	Required and Authorized Activities List of Eligible School Districts and Consortia Guidance to Consortia Memo (dated May 19, 2017) Information about MOUs
Submission Instructions:	Submit all required grant materials through EdGrants In EdGrants, districts are required to create and name the project. Please use the following naming convention for your "Applicant Project Name" in EdGrants: FY18 180 Title III (Applicant Name) All required forms should be uploaded / attached in the Attachments List formlet of the Application Submission. This includes a signed / scanned PDF of Part I / Coversheet with Superintendent's signature , a completed FY18 Title III 180 Workbook and a signed MOU if applying as a consortium. The final budget the applicant is requesting must be entered directly into EdGrants as part of the application submission process. The budget tab of the workbook is intended to be used only as a working document to come up with a finalized budget proposal. DESE will not review budgets included in the workbook. Guidance Documents regarding EdGrants Please note: It is up to the district to determine who they want to add as EdGrants Front Office users in order to submit grant application as well as payment request information. Please review the EdGrants: User Security Controls to make informed decisions regarding assigning your district level users.

1 "Core academic teachers" are defined by 603 CMR 7.02 for purposes of sheltered English immersion instruction as early childhood and elementary teachers, teachers of students with moderate disabilities, teachers of students with severe disabilities, and teachers of the following academic subjects: English, reading and language arts, mathematics, science, civics and government, economics, history, and geography.