U.S. Department of Education

SERVING THE NEEDS OF DISADVANTAGED STUDENTS

America’s schools are responsible for meeting the educational needs of an increasingly diverse 

student population. Many students face unique challenges that increase their probability of dropping 

out or not fully engaging in their education. As a country, we cannot let the potential of these 

students go to waste. Our future economic prosperity is tied to the success of all students. To ensure 

that all students have the opportunity to succeed in college and career, the Department has made 

several commitments in its FY 2013 budget request to programs that address the needs of students 

facing unique challenges, including homeless students, children of migrant workers, neglected and 

delinquent students, and students from low-income communities.

 $393 million for Migrant Education State Grants. This program would continue to help 

address the educational needs of approximately 241,000 children of migrant agricultural 

workers, allowing them to complete high school or a GED program and obtain 

employment. The Department also uses a portion of funding to improve inter- and intraState coordination of migrant education activities, including State exchange of migrant 

student data records through the Migrant Student Record Exchange System. 

 $37 million to help migrant students complete high school and college. This request 

would support approximately 43 High School Equivalency Program (HEP) projects and 39 

College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP) projects, as well as outreach, technical 

assistance and professional development activities. HEP projects help low-income migrant 

and seasonal farm workers gain high school diplomas or equivalency certificates, and CAMP 

makes grants to provide stipends and special services, such as tutoring and counseling, to 

migrant students who are in their first year of college. 

 $50 million for Neglected and Delinquent State Grants. This program will continue to 

support education services for neglected and delinquent children and youth in local and 

State-run institutions, community day programs, and correctional facilities. These services 

would help an estimated 109,000 neglected and delinquent students return to and complete 

high school or a GED program and obtain employment.

 $65 million for Homeless Children and Youth Education. This program provides 

formula grants to States, which subgrant most funds to local educational agencies for 

services that help homeless children enroll in, attend, and succeed in school. In addition to 

ensuring homeless children and youth have access to academic instruction, the program 

increases access for these children to preschool programs, special education, and gifted and 

talented programs. The Administration’s reauthorization proposal would improve the 

funding formula to better reflect shifts in State counts of homeless students and target funds 

to where they are needed most. The proposal also would require States to track and report 

data on the academic achievement of homeless students. 
U.S. Department of Education

 $5 million to strengthen services provided to disconnected youth. This program would

support youth who are neither employed nor enrolled in an educational institution or who 

are at high-risk of dropping out of high school. In implementing the program, the 

Department would work closely with the Department of Health and Human Services (which 

has requested $5 million for the program) and the Department of Labor (which has 

requested $10 million) to increase awareness and coordination at the state, local and federal 

levels. A portion of these funds would be used to invest in innovative re-engagement 

strategies and comprehensive approaches to prepare this population for college and career 

success. 

 $81 million for College Pathways and Accelerated Learning for low-income students.

This new program would provide grants to school districts and other entities to provide 

college-level and other accelerated courses and instruction in middle and high schools with 

high concentrations of students from low-income families. Although students who drop out, 

or are at risk of doing so, are often thought of as low achievers who need a watered-down 

curriculum, educators find that often the opposite is the case. This program will improve 

the education of students who may otherwise drop out because they are bored with and not 

challenged by the standard curriculum. 

 $534 million for School Turnaround Grants. Funds will continue to support subgrants 

from States to districts to help low-performing schools implement rigorous interventions 

that bring about dramatic improvements in student achievement and school performance.

Over 92% of the more than 1,200 subgrants awarded by States in fiscal year 2009 were 

provided to medium to high poverty schools. In fiscal year 2010, preliminary data from 37 

States and the District of Columbia show that medium to high poverty schools received 84% 

of grants.

 $100 million for Promise Neighborhoods, an increase of $40 million from fiscal year 

2012. This program will continue to support projects that significantly improve the 

educational and developmental outcomes of children and youth by providing a birth-tocareer continuum of rigorous and comprehensive education reforms, effective community 

services, and strong systems of family and community support – with high quality schools at 

the center. The comprehensive services provided by grantees will also help engage 

disconnected youth and keep them in school until graduation

 $1.1 billion for getting students through middle school and into college. This 

investment will support the GEAR Up and TRIO programs, which provide intensive 

services to students in middle school through college. GEAR Up, which serves students 

beginning in the middle grades, provides early college preparation and awareness activities to 

entire cohorts of students at individual schools that help them stay on a path to higher 

education. The TRIO programs, which include Upward Bound and Talent Search, provide 

intensive support, including summer learning opportunities, for students in high school to 
U.S. Department of Education

help more low-income, first generation college students access and succeed in higher 

education.