President Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) into law on January 8, 2002. The act reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1964. This reform gives districts flexibility in how they spend their federal education dollars, in return for setting standards for student achievement and holding students and educators accountable for results. NCLB is designed to help all students meet high academic standards. States disaggregate data for students by poverty, race/ethnicities, disabilities and limited English proficiencies to ensure that no child – regardless of his or her background – is left behind. NCLB provides options for parents so that their children receive the best possible education. It also invests in teaching practices that have been demonstrated to work. The law aims to foster an environment in which every child can learn and succeed.
Resources for Information on the No Child Left Behind Act
1) No Child Left Behind Act Desktop Reference – Available to be downloaded at www.ed.gov. Free copies may be obtained at 1-800-USA-LEARN or 1-8777-4-ED-PUBS; or order online at www.ed.gov/pubs/edpubs.html.
2) Public Law 107-110 No Child Left Behind Act (law, regulations and guidance) – Available at <http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/guid/edpicks.jhtml?src=ln>.
Listed below are some of the programs in NCLB with the contact at the Kentucky Department of Education. Also, check with the director/coordinator of each program in your local school district.
Title I, Part A – Improving Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged
Contacts – Christina Benassi, Claude Christian, Frank Crossman, Phillip Daugherty, Daniel Davison, Vicki Fosbender, Judy Littleton, Mary Marshall, Brenda McEntyre, David Millanti, Donna Tackett, Neil Watts (502) 564-3791
Description – Title I, Part A provides formula grants to districts. Districts then allocate funds to Title I schools based on their number of low-income children. The district must use Title I funds only in schools that have been selected for services through allowable procedures. Funds are used to improve student achievement in high poverty schools.
Title I, Part B - Reading First
Contact – Linda Holbrook (502)564-2106
Description – Reading First is a state-administered competitive grant. Districts must implement comprehensive reading programs based on scientifically based reading research, including the following five components: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.
Title I, Part B, Subpart 3 – Even Start Family Literacy
Contact – Annie Roonie French (502)564-7056
Description – Even Start provides low-income families with integrated literacy services for parents and their young children (birth-age 7). Even Start is a competitive grant awarded to partnerships of local districts and other organizations.
Title I, Part C – Education of Migratory Children
Contacts – Christina Benassi, Claude Christian, Judy Littleton (502) 564-3791
Description – The Migrant Education Program provides states with funding based on counts of migrant children between 3 and 21 years old. A migratory child is defined as a child under 22 years of age who is a migrant agricultural worker or fisher, or who has a parent, spouse or guardian who is a migrant agricultural worker and who has moved across school district boundaries within the previous 36 months to obtain temporary or seasonal employment in agricultural or fishing work. The state Migrant Program subgrants with districts to provide supplemental instruction and support services to eligible migrant children. The state also contracts with nine (9) regional administrative centers whose primary functions are the collection and transfer of pertinent student data.
Title I, Part D – Neglected and Delinquent (N & D) Programs
Contact – Brenda McEntyre, Neil Watts (502) 564-3791
Description – N & D programs provide financial assistance to educational programs for youths in state-operated institutions or community day programs. The program also provides financial assistance to support districts' programs involving collaboration with locally operated correctional facilities. Allocations are made to state agencies. Allocations are awarded to districts with high numbers or percentages of child and youth in locally operated juvenile correctional facilities, including facilities involved in community day programs.
Title II, Part A – Teacher and Principal Training and Recruitment (Quality)
Contact – Michael Dailey (502)564-1479
Description – Title II, Part A combined Eisenhower Professional Development and Class-size Reduction funds. Funds made available through formula allocations to districts must be used to supplement, not supplant, non-Federal funds. Districts must conduct a needs assessment to determine the activities needed to give teachers the subject matter knowledge and teaching skills and to give principals the instructional leadership skills to help students meet state and local academic achievement standards.
Title II, Part D – Education Technology
Contact – Scott Kane (502)564-2020 x 214
Description – Ed Tech supports improved student academic achievement through the use of technology in schools by supporting high-quality professional development; increases access to technology and the Internet; the integration of technology into curricula; and the use of technology for promoting parental involvement and managing data for informed decision-making. States distribute funds by formula to school districts based on each district's share of funds under Title I, Part A and to high-need districts or partnerships including high-need districts on a competitive basis.
Title III – Language Acquisition Program
Contact – Shelda Hale, (502)564-2106
Description – Title III assists school districts in teaching English to limited English proficient students (LEP) and in helping these students meet the same challenging state standards required of all students. Districts must use Title III funds to provide high-quality language instruction programs that are based on scientifically based research and that have demonstrated that they are effective in increasing English proficiency and student achievement. Districts are required to provide high-quality professional development to classroom teachers, principals, administrators and other school/community-based personnel in order to improve the instruction and assessment of LEP students.
Title IV, Part A – Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities
Contact – Libby Taylor (502) 564-4772
Description – Title IV provides districts with formula allocations. Districts must have a plan for keeping schools safe and drug-free that includes appropriate and effective discipline policies, security procedures, prevention activities, a student code of conduct, and a crisis management plan for responding to violent or traumatic incidents on school grounds.
Title IV, Part B – 21st Century Community Learning Centers
Contact – Linda Robinson (502) 564-3678
Description – The 21st Century grants are competitive and provide services, during non-school hours or periods, to students and their families for academic enrichment, including tutorial and other services to help students, particularly those who attend low-performing schools, to meet student achievement standards.
Title VI, Part B - Rural Education Achievement Program (REAP)
Contact – Judy Littleton (502) 564-3791
Description – The Rural Education Achievement Program (REAP) is designed to assist rural school districts in using federal resources more effectively to improve the quality of instruction and student academic achievement. REAP is divided into two sections: Small Rural School Achievement (SRSA) Program and Rural Low-Income Schools (RLIS) Program. To qualify for SRSA, a school district must have an average daily attendance of less than 600 students and only serve schools with a locale code of 7 or 8 as assigned by the USED's National Center for Education Statistics. To qualify for RLIS, the school district must have twenty percent (20%) or more of the children ages 5 to 17 served by the school district from families with incomes below the poverty line as determined by the USED's census data, all schools served must have a locale code of 6, 7, or 8, and the school district does not qualify for SRSA.
Title X, Part C – Education for Homeless Children and Youth
Contact – Mary Marshall (502) 564-3791
Description – Title X, Part C is intended to ensure that homelessness does not cause children to be left behind in school. Requirements regarding homeless students apply to all districts, regardless of whether the district receives a McKinney-Vento Homeless grant. All districts must adopt policies to ensure that homeless children and youths are not stigmatized or segregated and transportation is provided at the request of the parent or guardian (or in the case of an unaccompanied youth, the liaison) to and from the school of origin. Schools must immediately enroll homeless youth, even if the child or youth is unaccompanied by a parent or guardian and is unable to produce records normally required for enrollment.