U. S. D E P A R T M E N T O F E D U C A T I O N

Diverse Learners

Every child in America deserves a world-class education.

Today, more than ever, a world-class education is a 

prerequisite for success. America was once the best educated 

nation in the world. A generation ago, we led all nations in 

college completion, but today, 10 countries have passed us. 

It is not that their students are smarter than ours. It is that 

these countries are being smarter about how to educate their 

students. And the countries that out-educate us today will 

out-compete us tomorrow.

We must do better. Together, we must achieve a new goal, 

that by 2020, the United States will once again lead the world 

in college completion. We must raise the expectations for 

our students, for our schools, and for ourselves—this must 

be a national priority. We must ensure that every student 

graduates from high school well prepared for college and a 

career.

 

President Barack Obama

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Diverse Learners

Diverse Learners

Reauthorizing the Elementary and 

Secondary Education Act 

To help achieve President Obama’s stated goal of including 

all of America’s students in leading the world in education, 

the administration has designed a blueprint for a reenvisioned 

federal role in education through the reauthorization of the 

Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). The new ESEA

will ensure equity and opportunity for all students by calling for

▶ Rigorous and fair accountability for all levels 

of school performance; 

▶ Meeting the needs of diverse learners; and 

▶ Greater equity in providing students a fair chance to 

succeed. 

America’s schools are responsible for meeting the educational 

needs of an increasingly diverse student population, and ESEA

programs must provide a wide range of resources and support 

to ensure that all students have the opportunity to succeed 

in college and in a career. ESEA includes programs that help 

schools meet the special educational needs of children working 

to learn the English language, students with disabilities, Native 

American students, homeless students, the children of migrant 

workers, and neglected or delinquent students. In addition, the 

federal government has a responsibility to provide assistance to 

certain high-need regions and areas, including rural districts 

and districts that are affected by federal property and activities.
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In each of these areas, the administration’s ESEA reauthorization 

proposal will continue and strengthen the federal commitment 

to serving all students, and it will improve each program to 

ensure that funds are used more effectively to meet the needs of 

the students they serve.

Education for Students With 

Disabilities

While the primary funding for programs specifically focused on 

supporting students with disabilities is through the Individuals 

with Disabilities Education Act, the ESEA reauthorization 

proposal will increase support for the inclusion and improved 

outcomes of students with disabilities. The proposal will help 

ensure that teachers and leaders are better prepared to meet 

the needs of diverse learners, that assessments more accurately 

and appropriately measure the performance of students with 

disabilities, and that more districts and schools implement highquality, state- and locally determined curricula and instructional 

supports that incorporate the principles of universal design for 

learning to meet all students’ needs.

Education for English Learners 

The administration’s proposal will continue to provide 

significant formula grants to help states and school districts 

implement high-quality language instruction programs to 

improve the education of English Learners. Grantees may 

provide dual-language programs, transitional bilingual 

education, sheltered English immersion, newcomer programs 

for late-entrant English Learners, or other language instruction 

programs. Grantees may also provide effective professional 

development for all teachers of English Learners, including 

teachers of academic content areas, that is responsive to 

demonstrated needs identified by evaluations. To ensure that 

formula grant assistance in these areas supports the conditions 
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needed to foster English Learners’ success, the proposed 

reauthorization will require states to:

▶ Establish new criteria to ensure consistent statewide 

identification of students as English Learners, and 

to determine eligibility, placement, and duration of 

programs and services based on the state’s valid and 

reliable English language proficiency assessment; and

▶ Implement a system to evaluate the effectiveness 

of language instruction programs, and to provide 

information on the achievement of subgroups of 

English Learners so as to drive better decisions by 

school districts for program improvement and to 

support districts in selecting effective programs.

Districts that are not improving the performance of English 

Learners will lose flexibility around the use of funds under 

this program and must work with the state to implement more 

effective strategies.

The reauthorization proposal will also provide new competitive 

grants to states, districts, and nonprofit partners to support 

the development of innovative programs, build the knowledge 

base about promising practices, and scale up effective practices 

to improve instruction for English Learners. These grants will 

include funding for graduate fellowships to support research and 

leadership in developing effective practices to improve English 

Learner outcomes, as well as state or district partnerships with 

colleges and universities for developing effective teachers.

In addition, under the College- and Career-Ready Students 

program, a $14.5 billion request for the reauthorized Title I, Part 

A, currently Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies, states 

will be required to adopt and implement statewide grade-bygrade English language proficiency standards that are linked to 

the state’s college- and career-ready academic content standards.
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Education for Migrant Students

The proposal will continue and strengthen formula grants to 

states, districts, and other providers to meet the educational 

needs of migrant students. To ensure that funds are most 

effectively targeted to the areas in which migrant students live, 

the administration will update the current funding formula to 

incorporate more accurate and timely data. The administration 

will also strengthen and facilitate interstate efforts to support the 

educational transition of migrant students into local schools and 

communities.

Education for Homeless Children and 

Youths 

The reauthorization proposal will continue and strengthen 

formula grants to help states and districts put in place systems 

and services to meet the educational needs of homeless students. 

First, the administration will better target funds to serve 

homeless students by allocating funds on the basis of counts of 

homeless students rather than of shares of Title I allocations. 

Second, the administration will remove barriers to effective 

services for homeless children. And third, the administration 

will clarify provisions of the current statute where ambiguity 

resulted in delays in services for homeless children and youths. 

The proposal will also increase transparency by requiring 

grantees to report on the academic outcomes for students served 

by the program.
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As the President points out, the story 

of the ci vi l rights mo vement was written 

in our schoo ls because “there is no 

stronger weapon against, and no better 

path to opportunity, than an education 

that can un lock a chi ld ’s God-gi ven 

potentia l.” Few ci vi l rights are as 

centra l to the cause of human freedom 

as equa l educationa l opportunity. 

Freedom is ... the abi lity to think on 

your own and to pursue your own path 

as far as your gifts can take you—

and on ly education can gi ve you that 

freedom, can open those doors. If you 

cannot read, you are not tru ly free.

—U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan

Education for Neglected and 

Delinquent Children and Youths 

The proposal will continue and strengthen formula grants to 

states to improve educational services for students in stateoperated institutions and community day programs for 

neglected or delinquent children and youths. To better direct 

funds to support students in locally operated institutions, the 

proposal will ask districts to reserve funds received under 

the College- and Career-Ready Students program to support 

programs conducted by locally operated institutions.
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Education for Indian, Native 

Hawaiian, and Alaska Native Students

The proposal for ESEA reauthorization will continue strong 

support—through formula and competitive grants to states; 

districts; Indian tribes; Indian institutions of higher education; 

Indian, Native Hawaiian, and Alaska Native educational and 

community-based organizations; and nonprofit organizations, 

agencies, and institutions—to help meet the unique needs of 

Indian students, Native Hawaiian students, and Alaska Native 

students.

Grantees under the Indian education program will have greater 

flexibility to use funds to carry out programs that meet the 

needs of Indian students, including Native language immersion 

and Native language restoration programs, and develop tribalspecific standards and assessments. The proposal will improve 

access to funds for Indian tribes under other ESEA programs, 

and recognize and strengthen the role of tribal education 

departments in coordinating and implementing services and 

programs for Indian students within their jurisdiction. To ensure 

that programs reflect the academic, language, and cultural needs 

of Indian students, the administration will continue to require 

the participation of the parents of Indian children in the design 

of programs. To support effective programs, we will expand 

eligibility to school districts and public charter schools under the 

Native Hawaiian and Alaska Native programs.

Education for Rural Students

The proposal will continue formula grants to rural districts to 

address the specific needs of students in rural areas through 

the Small, Rural School Achievement (SRSA) and the Rural 

and Low-Income School (RLIS) programs. In order to improve 

targeting of funds, the administration will update the method 

used to identify districts as “rural.” To allow additional districts 
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needed flexibility, the proposal will also expand the current 

REAP-Flex (Rural Education Achievement Program-Flex) 

authority to districts that are eligible to receive funds under 

RLIS. This authority allows eligible small districts to use other 

federal education funds flexibly. In addition, the administration 

will better align the accountability requirements of the Collegeand Career-Ready Students program with the rural education 

program so that this program supports school improvement 

efforts in persistently low-performing districts.

To help rural districts apply for competitive grants and 

determine effective strategies for improving student academic 

achievement, the secretary may reserve funds for national 

activities, such as technical assistance and research on innovative 

programs, that are designed to help rural districts overcome 

common capacity constraints.

This publication is in the public domain and may be reproduced in 

whole or in part. It comprises excerpts from A Blueprint for Reform: 

The Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, 

U.S. Department of Education, March 2010. To read the full text, visit 

www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/blueprint.

For more information, go to www.ed.gov or call 1-800-USA-LEARN.

May 2010
 The Department of Education’s mission is to promote 

student achievement and preparation for global 

competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and 

ensuring equal access.

www.ed.gov