Source: https://www.scribd.com/document/1326047/description-tags-ga
Timestamp: 2018-06-18 00:38:53
Document Index: 157512545

Matched Legal Cases: ['§9304', '§9302', '§9101', '§1111', '§9101', '§9101', '§9101', '§9101', '§9101', '§9101', '§1119', '§1111', '§1111', '§9101', '§1111', '§2121', '§2122', '§2122', '§2141', '§9101', '§9101', '§1119', '§9101', '§9101', '§1119', '§9101', '§9101', '§9101', '§200', '§9101', '§9101', '§9101', '§9101', '§9101', '§9101', '§9101', '§9101', '§9101', '§200', '§9101', '§1119', '§9101', '§9101', '§9101', '§9101', '§9101', '§9101', '§1119', '§1111', '§9101', '§1111', '§1111', '§1111', '§9303', '§9302', '§1111', '§1111', '§1111', '§1111', '§1111', '§1111', '§2131', '§2102']

description: tags: ga | Elementary And Secondary Education Act | Special Education
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Georgia Department of Education April 20-22, 2005
U.S. Department of Education Monitoring Team: Elizabeth Witt Julie Coplin Allison Henderson (Westat) Georgia Department of Education (GDOE) Jeanie Weathersby, Deputy Superintendent Wendy Hughes, Director, Teacher Quality and Title II, Part A Coordinator Scott Austenson, Deputy Superintendent Jeff Gagne, Federal Policy Analyst Lissa Pijanowski, Director, School Improvement Theodore Pikes, Assistant Director, Teacher Quality Steve Preston, Coordinator, Professional Learning Kim Sites, Grants Accounting Manager Georgia Professional Standards Commission (GPSC) F.D. Toth, Executive Secretary Angelia Davis, Title II A Consultant Tom Hall, Director of Special Projects Gerri Heard, Title II A Program Coordinator Linda Holloman, Title II A Consultant Chuck McCampbell, Director of Technology Leslie Morrison, Title II A Consultant Jeanie Rakestraw, Title II A Consultant Frank Stewart, Title II A Consultant Paulette Martin, Administrative Assistant State Agency for Higher Education (SAHE) Sheila Jones, Executive Director, Georgia P-16, Board of Regents Ed Davis, Director, Operations, University of Georgia Tom Koballa, Director, Education Partnerships, University of Georgia.
Page 2 – Georgia Monitoring Report Overview of Georgia: Number of Districts: 183 Number of Schools: 2,247 Number of Teachers: 106,226 Total State Allocation (FY 2004): $77,740,058 Allocation for local educational agencies (LEAs): $73,114,526 State Educational Agency (SEA) State Activities Allocation: $1,924,006 State Agency for Higher Education (SAHE) Allocation: $1,924,006 Scope of Review: Like all State educational agencies (SEAs), the Georgia Department of Education (GDOE), as a condition of receiving funds under Title I, Part A and Title II, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), provided an assurance to the U.S. Department of Education (the Department) that it would administer these programs in accordance with all applicable statutory and regulatory requirements, including those in Title I, Part A that concern “Highly Qualified Teachers” and those that govern the use of Title II, Part A funds. See §9304(a)(1) of the ESEA. One of the specific requirements the Department established for an SEA’s receipt of program funds under its consolidated state application (§9302(b)) was submission to the Department of annual data on how well the State has been meeting its performance target for Performance Indicator 3.1: “The percentage of classes being taught by ‘highly qualified’ teachers (as the term is defined in §9101(23) of the ESEA), in the aggregate and in ‘high-poverty’ schools (as the term is defined in §1111(h)(1)(C)(viii) of the ESEA).” The Department’s monitoring visit to Georgia had two purposes. One was to review the progress of the State in meeting the ESEA’s highly qualified teacher (HQT) requirements. The second was to review the use of ESEA Title II, Part A funds by the SEA, selected districts, and the State agency for higher education (SAHE), to ensure that the funds are being used to prepare, retain, and recruit high-quality teachers and principals so that all children will achieve to high academic achievement standards and to their full potential. The monitoring review was conducted April 20-22, at the offices of the GDOE. As part of the review, the Department monitoring team met with Jeanie Weathersby, Deputy Superintendent, GDOE; F.D. Toth, Executive Secretary, GPSC, and; Wendy Hughes, Director, Teacher Quality and Gerri Heard, Title II, Part A Coordinator. Fran Watkins, Title II A Program Administrator, Professional Standards Commission did not attend because of illness. The review team also met with Ed Davis and Tom Koballa, University of Georgia and Sheila Jones, Georgia Board of Regents, to discuss the SAHE grants. The review team visited the Clayton County School District and conducted telephone interviews with the Glascock and Clay County Schools.
Page 3 – Georgia Monitoring Report
Element Number Critical Element Has the State developed and implemented 1.1. procedures, consistent with the statutory definition of highly qualified, to determine whether all teachers of core academic subjects are highly qualified (§9101(23))? Critical Element Are all new elementary school teachers 1.2. (including special education teachers, as appropriate) required to pass a rigorous State test in reading, writing, mathematics, and the other areas of the elementary school curriculum to demonstrate subject-matter competency (§9101(23)(B)(II))? Critical Element Are all new middle and secondary school 1.3. teachers (including special education teachers, as appropriate) required to demonstrate subjectmatter competency, in each core academic subject they teach, consistent with §9101(23)(B)(II)(ii)? Critical Element Are all veteran (i.e., those who are not new to 1.4. the profession) elementary school teachers (including special education teachers, as appropriate) required to demonstrate subjectmatter competency by passing a rigorous State test or by completing the State’s “High Objective Uniform State Standard of Evaluation” (HOUSSE) procedures (§9101(23)(C))? Critical Element Are all veteran middle and secondary teachers 1.5. (including special education teachers, as appropriate) required to demonstrate subjectmatter competency in each core academic subject they teach, consistent with §9101(23)(B)(II)(ii)? Critical Element For each set of HOUSSE procedures the State 1.6. has developed, can the State describe how it meets each of the statutory requirements in §9101(23)(C)(ii)? Monitoring Area 1: Highly Qualified Teacher Systems & Procedures Description Status Finding Commendation Page 7
Page 4 – Georgia Monitoring Report Critical Element Does the SEA ensure that, since the beginning 1.7. of the 2002-03 school year, districts only hire highly qualified teachers (including special education teachers, as appropriate) to teach in Title I programs? Critical Element Has the SEA ensured, since the beginning of the 1.8. 2002-03 school year, that districts that use ESEA Title II funds to reduce class size hire only highly qualified teachers for such positions? Critical Element Does the SEA’s plan establish annual 1.9. measurable objectives for each LEA and school to ensure that annual increases occur: • in the percentage of highly qualified teachers at each LEA and school; and • in the percentage of teachers who are receiving high-quality professional development to enable such teachers to become highly qualified and successful classroom teachers (§1119(a)(2)(A))? Critical Element Does the SEA also have a plan with specific 1.10. steps to ensure that poor and minority children are not taught at higher rates than other children by inexperienced, unqualified and out-of-field teachers? Does the plan include measures to evaluate and publicly report the progress of such steps (§1111(b)(8)(C))? Critical Element Has the State reported to the Secretary in its 1.11. Consolidated State Performance Report (CSPR) the number and percentage of core academic classes taught by highly qualified teachers, in the aggregate and in high-poverty schools, consistent with the statutory definition of highly qualified (§1111(h)(4)(G); §9101(23))? Critical Element Does the State prepare and disseminate to the 1.12. public an Annual State Report Card (§1111(h)(1)(C)(viii))? If so, how is it disseminated? Finding 12
Page 5 – Georgia Monitoring Report
Monitoring Area 2: Administration of ESEA Title II, Part A Description Status Does the SEA allocate funds according to the statute, using the most recent Census Bureau data as described in the Non-Regulatory Guidance (§2121(a))? Does the SEA require an application from each LEA before providing Title II, Part A funding? If yes, what information does the SEA require in the LEA application (§2122(b))? Does the SEA require each LEA to describe how the activities to be carried out are based on the required local needs assessment (§2122(b))? Does the SEA have a procedure to determine the amount of funds each LEA expended during the period of availability? Does the SEA have a procedure to regularly review the drawdowns of the LEAs? Does the SEA have a written policy on allowable carryover funds? If an LEA cannot obligate funds within the 27 months of availability (which includes the extra year of availability permitted under the Tydings amendment), does the SEA have a procedure for reallocating these funds to other LEAs? Does the SEA have records to show that each LEA meets the maintenance of effort requirements? Does the SEA ensure that it and its component LEAs are audited annually, if required, and that all corrective actions required through this process are fully implemented? Has the SEA identified and provided technical assistance to LEAs that are not making progress toward meeting their annual measurable objectives in meeting the highly qualified teacher challenge (§2141)? Met requirement
Met requirement No written procedure Recommendation No written procedure Recommendation
NA 13 14
Page 6 – Georgia Monitoring Report
Monitoring Area 4: State Agency For Higher Education (SAHE) Activities Description Status Did the SAHE manage a competition for eligible partnerships? Does the SAHE have procedures to ensure that eligible partnerships include the required members, i.e., an institution of higher education and the division of the institution that prepares teachers and principals, a school of arts and sciences, and a high-need LEA? Met requirement Finding Commendation
Page NA 14
Page 7 – Georgia Monitoring Report
Critical Element 1.1: Has the State developed and implemented procedures, consistent with the statutory definition of highly qualified, to determine whether all teachers of core academic subjects are highly qualified (§9101(23))? Finding: The GDOE’s procedure for determining the highly qualified teacher (HQT) status of special education teachers of core academic subjects is not consistent with the definition of a “highly qualified” teacher in §9101(23) of the ESEA. The GDOE and the GPSC has not determined the highly qualified status of special education teachers instructing in the core content areas. Citation: The ESEA provisions governing teacher quality include basic requirements (§1119(a) and (b)) that all teachers of core academic subjects who teach in Title I programs and who were hired after the first day of the 2002-03 school year first demonstrate that they are highly qualified, and that all other teachers of core academic subjects in all public schools be highly qualified by the end of the 2005-06 school year. §9101(23) of the ESEA expressly defines a “highly qualified” teacher as one who has at least a bachelor’s degree, has full State certification, and has demonstrated competency in each subject he or she teaches in certain statutorily prescribed ways. Further Action Required: The GDOE must submit a written plan with specific procedures to ensure that all special education teachers of core academic subjects are highly qualified in conformity with the definition in §9101(23) and the timeline in §1119(a)(1) and (2). (Note: multi-subject teachers in certain rural districts and new special education multi-subject teachers do have additional flexibility). Commendation: Georgia is commended for its development of the “HiQ” system that allows teachers and administrators to determine a teacher’s HQT status online. The system is very user-friendly and lets teachers immediately know their HQT status. Commendation: Georgia is commended for its excellent collaboration and communication between the GDOE and GPSC. Both have worked to together to meet the highly qualified teacher challenge. Critical Element 1.2: Are all new elementary school teachers (including special education teachers, as appropriate) required to pass a rigorous State test in reading, writing, mathematics, and the other areas of the elementary school curriculum to demonstrate subject-matter competency (§9101(23)(B)(II))? Finding 1: The Georgia definition and procedures for determining the HQT status of new special education teachers at the elementary level are not in compliance with statute. See Critical Element 1.1 for a more detailed discussion of this issue.
Page 8 – Georgia Monitoring Report Citation: §9101(23)(B)(II) of the ESEA requires that all new elementary teachers demonstrate subject-matter competency in each of the core academic subjects they teach by passing a rigorous State assessment in reading, writing, mathematics, and the other areas of the elementary school curriculum. Further Action Required: GDOE must ensure that all new elementary teachers, including special education teachers who provide direct instruction in core academic subjects, demonstrate subject-matter competency no later than the end of the 2005-06 school year. Finding 2: Georgia allows certified elementary teachers who are new to the profession to move into the State and teach on a 1-year, non-renewable temporary certificate if they have not met all of the GPSC requirements, including passing the Praxis II assessments. This particularly is a problem for teachers transferring from Alabama where there are no State testing requirements. Such a test is the only way that new elementary teachers can demonstrate subject-area competency; if teachers have not passed the test, they cannot be considered highly qualified. Citation: §9101(23)(B)(II) of the ESEA requires that all new elementary school teachers demonstrate subject-matter competency in each of the core academic subjects they teach by passing a rigorous State assessment in reading, writing, mathematics, and the other areas of the elementary school curriculum. Further Action Required: The GDOE must ensure that all new elementary school teachers, including special education teachers who provide direct instruction in core academic subjects, demonstrate subject-matter competency no later than the end of the 2005-06 school year. Finding 3: Georgia’s major alternative route to certification — the Teacher Alternative Preparation Program (TAPP) — allows participants to enter the program and begin teaching before passing the Praxis II content assessments. Teachers in TAPP are required to pass Praxis II before the end of the two-year program. The only way that elementary teachers who are new to the profession can demonstrate subject-matter competency is by passing a rigorous test of content before beginning to teach. Citation: The requirements in 34 CFR §200.56(a)(2)(ii) provide, among other things, that teachers in an alternative route program are considered to be highly qualified only if they have demonstrated subject-matter competency before beginning to teach, and then for a maximum of 3 years while they seek full State certification or licensure. Further Action Required: The State must revise its alternative route to certification to ensure that elementary teachers participating in alternative certification programs demonstrate subject-matter competence by passing the State test prior to being deemed highly qualified. Secondary teachers must also demonstrate subject-matter competence, using one of the means allowed by statute.
Page 9 – Georgia Monitoring Report Critical Element 1.3: Are all new middle and secondary school teachers (including special education teachers, as appropriate) required to demonstrate subject-matter competency, in each core academic subject they teach, consistent with §9101(23)(B)(II)(ii)? Finding 1: The Georgia definition and procedures for determining the highly qualified status of new special education teachers at the secondary level are not in compliance with statute. See Critical Element 1.1 for a more detailed discussion of this issue. Citation: §9101(23)(B)(II)(ii) of the ESEA requires middle and secondary school teachers new to the profession to demonstrate subject-matter competency in each of the core academic subjects they teach by passing a rigorous State academic subject test or by successfully completing an academic major, coursework equivalent to an academic major, a graduate degree, or advanced certification or credentialing. Further Action Required: GDOE must ensure that all new middle school and secondary teachers who teach multiple subjects, including special education teachers who provide direct instruction in core academic subjects, demonstrate subject-matter competency in each core academic subject they teach, in accordance with the options available in §9101(23)(B)(ii) and §9101(23)(C)(ii) of the ESEA, no later than the end of the 2005-06 school year. Special education teachers who are new to the profession and who teach multiple subjects may have two years from the date of hire to become highly qualified in other subjects if they are highly qualified in mathematics, science, or language arts at the time of hire. Finding 2: Georgia allows certified middle and secondary teachers who are new to the profession to move into the State to teach on a 1-year, non-renewable temporary certificate if they have not met all of the GPSC requirements, including passing the Praxis II assessments. This particularly is a problem for teachers transferring from Alabama, where there are no State testing requirements. Citation: §9101(23)(B)(II)(ii) of the ESEA requires middle and secondary school teachers new to the profession to demonstrate subject-matter competency in each of the core academic subjects they teach by passing a rigorous State academic subject test or by successfully completing an academic major, coursework equivalent to an academic major, a graduate degree, or advanced certification or credentialing. Further Action Required: The GDOE must ensure that all middle school and secondary teachers who teach multiple subjects, including special education teachers who provide direct instruction in core academic subjects, demonstrate subject-matter competency in each core academic subject they teach, in accordance with the options available in §9101(23)(B)(ii) and §9101(23)(C)(ii) of the ESEA, no later than the end of the 2005-06 school year. Special education teachers who are new to the profession and who teach multiple subjects may have two years from the date of hire to become highly qualified in other subjects if they are highly qualified in mathematics, science, or language arts at the time of hire.
Page 10 – Georgia Monitoring Report Finding 3: The State does not require new middle and secondary school teachers of history, geography, civics/government, or economics to demonstrate subject-matter competency in each of those subjects they teach. The State allows middle and secondary social studies teachers new to the profession to demonstrate subject-matter competency by requiring a major in one of the four social studies areas (regardless of assignment), and passing the broad-field social studies assessment. While the State has specific licenses with required majors for Economics and History, it also offers a general Social Studies license. The broad-field assessment used for the demonstration of social studies content knowledge may not provide adequate subject-matter preparation for each of the core academic subjects explicitly noted in the statute. Citation: §9101(11) of the ESEA identifies history, geography, civics/government and economics as individual core academic subjects. §9101(23)(B)(ii) of the ESEA requires new teachers of core academic subjects to demonstrate subject-matter competency in each core academic subject they teach. Further Action Required: The GDOE must ensure that all history, geography, civics/government and economics teachers demonstrate subject-matter competency in each of these subjects that they teach, no later than the end of the 2005-06 school year. (In doing so, if the GDOE has determined that the coursework requirement for an academic major in social studies provides coursework “equivalent to a major” in each or in a subset of these specific core academic subjects, it also will need to specifically explain the basis for its determination.) Finding 4: Georgia’s major alternative route to certification — the Teacher Alternative Preparation Program (TAPP) — allows participants to enter the program and begin teaching before passing the Praxis II content assessments. Teachers in TAPP are required to pass Praxis II before the end of the two-year program. While some middle and secondary teachers in the TAPP program may be able to satisfactorily demonstrate subjectarea competence via a major or other means, others cannot. Citation: The requirements in 34 CFR §200.56(a)(2)(ii) provide, among other things, that teachers in an alternative route program are considered to be highly qualified only if they have demonstrated subject-matter competency before beginning to teach, and then for a maximum of 3 years while they seek full State certification or licensure. Further Action Required: The State must revise its alternative route to certification to reflect these requirements. Critical Element 1.4: Are all veteran (i.e., those who are not new to the profession) elementary school teachers (including special education teachers, as appropriate) required to demonstrate subject-matter competency by passing a rigorous State test or by completing the State’s “High Objective Uniform State Standard of Evaluation” (HOUSSE) procedures (§9101(23)(C))?
Page 11 – Georgia Monitoring Report Finding: The Georgia definition and procedures for determining the highly qualified status of veteran special education teachers at the elementary level are not in compliance with the statute. See Critical Element 1.1 for a more detailed discussion of this issue. Citation: §1119(a)(2) of the ESEA requires all teachers of core academic subjects to be highly qualified by the end of the 2005-2006 school year. Recent amendments to the IDEA, which the President signed into law on December 3, 2004, affirm that these requirements apply to special education teachers (while providing some flexibility for special education teachers of multiple subjects and who teach to alternate achievement standards for students with significant cognitive disabilities). Further Action Required: The GDOE must ensure that all teachers who are not new to the profession, including special education teachers who provide direct instruction in core academic subjects, are highly qualified in each of the core academic subjects they teach by the end of the 2005-2006 school year. (Please also refer to the discussion in Critical Element 1.1-1.3 above.) Critical Element 1.5: Are all veteran middle and secondary teachers (including special education teachers, as appropriate) required to demonstrate subject-matter competency in each core academic subject they teach, consistent with §9101(23)(B)(II)(ii)? Finding 1: The Georgia definition and procedures for determining the highly qualified status of veteran special education teachers at the secondary level are not in compliance with statute. See Critical Element 1.1 for a more detailed discussion of this issue. Citation: §9101(23)(C)(ii) of the ESEA requires middle or secondary school teachers not new to the profession, including special education teachers who instruct in the core academic subjects, to demonstrate subject-matter competency in each of the core academic subjects they teach. Further Action Required: The GDOE must ensure that, no later than the end of the 200506 school year, experienced teachers pass the required State subject test or meet one of the other criteria for demonstrating the required subject-matter knowledge that §9101(23) (B)(ii) or §9101(23) (C)(ii) of the ESEA requires in order to be highly qualified. See Critical Elements 1.1 through 1.4 for more discussion. Finding 2: The State does not require veteran middle and secondary school teachers of history, geography, civics/government, or economics to demonstrate subject-matter competency in each of those subjects they teach. See Critical Element 1.4 for additional information. Citation: §9101(11) of the ESEA identifies history, geography, civics/government and economics as individual core academic subjects. §9101(23)(C) of the ESEA requires teachers of core academic subjects not new to the profession to demonstrate subject-matter competency in each core academic subject they teach.
Page 12 – Georgia Monitoring Report Further Action Required: The GDOE must ensure that all history, geography, civics/government and economics teachers demonstrate subject-matter competency in each of these subjects that they teach, no later than the end of the 2005-06 school year. (In doing so, if the GDOE has determined that the coursework requirement for an academic major in social studies provides coursework “equivalent to a major” in each or in a subset of these specific core academic subjects, it also will need to specifically explain the basis for its determination.) Critical Element 1.7: Does the SEA ensure that, since the beginning of the 2002-03 school year, districts only hire highly qualified teachers (including special education teachers, as appropriate) to teach in Title I programs? Finding: The State cannot ensure that LEAs are hiring only highly qualified teachers providing instruction in core academic subjects in Title I programs. Citation: §1119(a)(1) of the ESEA requires that all teachers hired after the first day of the 2002-03 school year to teach in Title I programs must be highly qualified. Further Action Required: The GDOE must submit a written plan with specific procedures and a timeline for requiring LEAs in the State to ensure that all teachers hired to teach in Title I programs after the first day of the 2002-03 school year, including special education teachers providing direct instruction in core academic subjects, demonstrate that they are highly qualified in each core academic subject they teach, either by passing the State’s test for demonstrating subject-matter knowledge or by satisfying HOUSSE procedures established by the State, if the teacher is not new to the profession. Critical Element 1.11: Has the State reported to the Secretary in its Consolidated State Performance Report (CSPR) the number and percentage of core academic classes taught by highly qualified teachers, in the aggregate and in high-poverty schools, consistent with the statutory definition of highly qualified (§1111(h)(4)(G); §9101(23))? Finding: GDOE/GPSC reported HQT data in its CSPR in January 2005. However, the State did not include special education teachers in the HQT numbers or percentages. Citation: §1111(h)(4)(G) of the ESEA requires each SEA annually to report to the U.S. Secretary of Education on the percentage of classes (in core academic subjects) taught by highly qualified teachers in the State, local educational agency, and school”1 (a summary of which §1111(h)(5) requires the Secretary annually to report to Congress). Consistent with the §1111(h) reporting requirements, SEAs were required to submit to the Department, as part of their consolidated State application due September 1, 2003, baseline information on the percentage of teachers in the State who were highly qualified, in the
Page 13 – Georgia Monitoring Report aggregate and in high-poverty schools. In their Consolidated State Performance Reports for ESEA formula grant programs (implementing requirements governing the receipt of ESEA program funding under consolidated State applications (§9303 and §9302(a) of the ESEA, respectively) that were submitted to the Department by January 31, 2005, SEAs were required to provide data on the classes taught by highly qualified teachers, disaggregated by high-poverty and low-poverty and by elementary and secondary schools (§1111(h)(4)(G)). These requirements for public reporting on whether teachers are highly qualified extend to all public school teachers. Further Action Required: The GDOE/GPSC must report to the Department, as required by §1111(h)(4)(G), complete data on the percentage of classes taught by highly qualified teachers at all grade levels (and disaggregated by high-and low-poverty schools), as required for the Consolidated State Performance Report for the 2003-04 school year that was due to the Department on January 31, 2005. These data must include all teachers, including special education teachers. Critical Element 1.12: Does the State prepare and disseminate to the public an Annual State Report Card (§1111(h)(1)(C)(viii))? If so, how is it disseminated? Finding: The GDOE/GPSC has collected HQT data, but excluded special educators from the counts. In addition, the Annual State Report Card incorrectly reports data on classes taught, rather than not taught, by HQ teachers, and it does not include data on the percentage of teachers with waivers/emergency licenses Citation: §1111(h)(1)(C)(viii) of the ESEA requires each SEA to include in its Annual State Report Card data on the professional qualifications of teacher in the State, the percentage of such teachers teaching with emergency or provisional credentials, and percentage of classes in the State not taught (in core academic subjects) by highly qualified teachers, in the aggregate and disaggregate by high-poverty (as the term is defined in §1111(h)(1)(C)(viii) of the ESEA) compared to low-poverty schools. Further Action Required: The GDOE must report to the public and to the Department, as required by §1111(h)(1)(C)(viii), the percentage of classes not taught by highly qualified teachers at all grade levels (and disaggregated by high-and low-poverty schools) and the percentage of teachers teaching with emergency or provisional credentials, as required for the Annual State Report Card.
Critical Element 2.6: Does the SEA have a written policy on allowable carryover funds? Recommendation: To ensure fiscally sound management practice, the GDOE should establish written procedures governing the amount of carryover a district may keep from year to year. The procedures should cover the appropriate range of carryover amounts,
Page 14 – Georgia Monitoring Report notification to the State regarding carryover and a justification for why it is necessary, and a plan for obligating such funds in a timely manner. Critical Element 2.7: If an LEA cannot obligate funds within the 27 months of availability (which includes the extra year of availability permitted under the Tydings amendment), does the SEA have a procedure for reallocating these funds to other LEAs? No, the State does not have a written procedure for reallocating excess carryover funds, or unclaimed funds, to other LEAs. Though the State has procedures in place, the monitoring team suggested to the GDOE that a written plan would be beneficial for responsible fiscal management and oversight. Recommendation: The State should create written procedures for reallocating excess carryover or unclaimed funds to other LEAs in a timely manner. The monitoring team suggested adopting procedures similar to those used with Title I funds. Critical Element 2.9: Does the SEA ensure that it and its component LEAs are audited annually, if required, and that all corrective actions required through this process are fully implemented? Commendation: The GPSC is commended for its intensive Title II, Part A monitoring of local educational agencies. The GPSC recently completed monitoring visits to all 183 school districts. Districts spoke highly of the technical assistance provided by GPSC staff on these visits and in general.
Critical Element 3.2: Does the State support activities that focus on increasing the subject-matter knowledge of teachers and that assist teachers to become highly qualified? Commendation: The State is commended for its commitment to systemic reform that aligns student content standards, curriculum, and assessments. Georgia also has aligned all teacher preparation and staff development to the content standards.
Critical Element 4.2: Does the SAHE have procedures to ensure that eligible partnerships include the required members, i.e., an institution of higher education and the division of the institution that prepares teachers and principals, a school of arts and sciences, and a high-need LEA?
Page 15 – Georgia Monitoring Report Finding: The SAHE did not exclusively use the required Census data in its determination of a high-need LEA. Citation: §2131(1)(A)(iii) of ESEA requires the SAHE to include a high-need LEA in each eligible partnership. §2102(3) defines the poverty requirements for a high-need LEA as an LEA that: • • • • Serves not fewer than 10,000 children from families with incomes below the poverty line; or Not less than 20 percent of the children served by the agency are from families with incomes below the poverty line and For which there is a high percentage of teachers not teaching in the academic subjects or grade levels that the teachers were trained to teach; or For which there is a high percentage of teachers with emergency, provisional, or temporary certification or licensing [Section 2102(3)].
Because the statute addresses family income, the Secretary has determined that the Census Bureau data is the only stable and reliable measure of family income and poverty. Further Action Required: In the next competition for eligible partnerships, the SAHE must use the most recent available Census data (as determined by the Secretary) to identify high-need LEAs. Other sources of data, such as free and reduced priced lunch data, may not be factored into the calculations, except for LEAs for which there is no available Census data (e.g., charter school LEAs). The most recent data can be found at http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/saipe/school/sd02ftpdoc.html. Commendation: The SAHE is commended for offering a $400 “bounty” for administrators to participate in Title II, Part A, SAHE-sponsored professional development activities. The $400 is given to the school. A commitment from instructional leadership is critical for effective schoolwide professional development.