Mr. James E. Cason

Associate Deputy Secretary

Department of the Interior

1849 C Street, N.W.

MS 7229

Washington, D.C. 20240

Dear Mr. Cason:

On September 7-8 and 12-16, 2005, a team from the U. S. Department of
Education's Student Achievement and School Accountability Programs
(SASA) reviewed the Bureau of Indian Affairs' (BIA) administration of
the following programs: Title I, Part A, authorized by the Elementary
and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), as amended by the No Child
Left Behind Act (NCLB); and, Title X, Part C, Subtitle B, of NCLB (also
known as the McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Assistance Improvements
Act of 2001). Enclosed is a report based upon this review.

Because of the increased emphasis that the ESEA, reauthorized as NCLB,
places on accountability for [all]{.underline} students, and a focus on
States' responsibilities to work with districts and schools to improve
instruction and boost student achievement, ED is committed to working
closely with States to define their responsibilities. SASA's monitoring
process is aligned to the changes brought about by the NCLB. Monitoring
for the Title I, Part A and Homeless Education programs is conducted in
three broad areas - accountability, instructional support, and
compliance with fiduciary responsibilities. The ED team conducted a
number of activities (described in the attached report) to verify
compliance with the critical monitoring indicators in each of the three
broad areas.

The enclosed report contains a listing of the critical monitoring
elements in each of the areas for the two programs monitored, a
description of the scope of the monitoring review, and the findings and
recommendations that the team cited as a result of the review. Beginning
with the 2003-2004 monitoring cycle, every State that participates in an
onsite monitoring review will have a condition placed on its Title I,
Part A grant award specifying that the State must submit (and receive
approval of) documentation that [all]{.underline} compliance issues
identified in the monitoring report have been corrected. Following an
onsite review, ED will issue the monitoring report within 30 business
days of the team's return. The State education agency (SEA) then has 30
business days to respond to all of the compliance issues identified in
that report. ED staff will review the SEA's response for sufficiency and
will determine which areas are acceptable, and which will require
further documentation of implementation. ED will allow 30 additional
business

Page 2 -- Mr. James E. Cason, Associate Deputy Secretary

days for receipt of this further documentation. ED recognizes that some
corrective actions may require longer than the prescribed 30 days, and
in these instances, ED will work with the SEA to determine a reasonable
timeline. In all cases, however, evidence of implementation of actions
designed to correct [all]{.underline} compliance issues identified in
the monitoring report must be submitted and approved by ED prior to
removing the condition on the State's grant award.

The ED team would like to thank Mr. Edward Parisian and his staff for
their hard work and the assistance they provided prior to and during the
review in gathering materials and providing access to information in a
timely manner.

We look forward to working further with your staff members on any
follow-up activities, and in assisting them to improve the delivery of
services under NCLB in BIA funded schools.

Sincerely,

Jacquelyn C. Jackson, Ed.D.

Director

Student Achievement and School

> Accountability Programs

Enclosure

cc: Mr. Edward F. Parisian, Deputy Director, OIEP

Mr. Stan Holder, Director, Center for School Improvement

Mr. E. Patrick Ragsdale, Director, Bureau of Indian Affairs

SASA\\Group 1\\ESimermeyer\\pms: retyped with corrections: 12-06-2005 --

My Document\\monitoring\\BIA Letter