FY15 Title IIA and Title I Application Workbook Instructions for Completing Title I Forms June 2014 Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education 75 Pleasant Street, Malden, MA 02148-4906 Phone 781-338-3000 TTY: N.E.T. Relay 800-439-2370 www.doe.mass.edu This document was prepared by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Mitchell D. Chester, Ed.D. Commissioner The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, an affirmative action employer, is committed to ensuring that all of its programs and facilities are accessible to all members of the public. We do not discriminate on the basis of age, color, disability, national origin, race, religion, sex, gender identity, or sexual orientation. Inquiries regarding the Department’s compliance with Title IX and other civil rights laws may be directed to the Human Resources Director, 75 Pleasant St., Malden, MA 02148-4906. Phone: 781-338-6105. © 2014 Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Permission is hereby granted to copy any or all parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes. Please credit the “Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.” This document printed on recycled paper Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education 75 Pleasant Street, Malden, MA 02148-4906 Phone 781-338-3000 TTY: N.E.T. Relay 800-439-2370 www.doe.mass.edu Contents General information about the FY15 Title IIA and Title I Application Workbook 1 Obtaining the workbook 1 Workbook contents related to Title I, Part A 1 Step 1: Assemble Information 3 Step 2: Complete the Cover Page 3 Step 3: Complete the Required Narrative 4 Step 4: Complete the District Reservation Worksheet 4 Reserve funds not related to accountability and assistance levels – Step 1 5 Designate additional supports for Level 2, 3, 4, and 5 schools (Level 2-5 districts only) – Step 2 6 Confirm minimum per low-income pupil amount for school allocations 7 Step 5: Complete the School Funding Worksheet 7 Become familiar with the parts of School Funding worksheet 8 Select the source of the poverty data used to identify eligible schools 8 Enter data on children not attending public schools, if available 9 Select a method of qualifying Title I schools 9 Select eligible Title I schools Indicate schools to be served Indicate “Grandfathered” schools (if necessary) 11 11 12 Allocate funds to eligible Title I schools 13 Step 6: Complete the Budget Expenditures Worksheet 14 Step 7: Submit the FY15 Title IIA and Title I Application Workbook to ESE 14 Amending the Grant 15 Appendix A: Calculation of District Reservation Amounts 17 Appendix B: Guidance on Responding to Narrative Question 4 for Levels 2-5 Districts 18 Appendix C: Rubric for Assessing Narrative Responses 21 FY15 Title IIA and Title I Application Workbook: Instructions for Completing Title I Forms June 2014 General information about the FY15 Title IIA and Title I Application Workbook The FY15 Title IIA and Title I Application Workbook contains the Title I and Title IIA specific forms that a local school district must submit to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE) in support of the district's application for Title I and Title IIA funds for FY15. Note that districts eligible for both Title IIA and Title I funds must submit applications for both grants at the same time. Instructions for completing the Title IIA forms are contained in a separate document. The workbook is a Microsoft Excel file (*.xls) which includes macros that enable the workbook to compute totals and summary tables. Users of Microsoft Office 2000/2003 may need to change your security settings in Excel before opening the file: In Excel, select Tools > Macro > Security. When the dialogue box appears, change the security settings to Medium and click OK. Reopen the file. Users of Microsoft Office 2000/2003 should enable macros when opening the file for the first time by clicking the Enable Macros button in the dialogue box that appears. Users of Microsoft Office 2007 may need to change the security settings in Excel. In Excel, click on the 'Office Button' located on the upper left of Excel. Click on the 'Excel Option' button located at the bottom of the dialogue box. Select 'Trust Center' located on the left panel. Click on 'Trust Center Setting'. Select 'Macro Settings' and then select 'Enable all macros (not recommended, potentially dangerous code can run)'. Close the Excel application. You must save the workbook as an earlier version of Excel (.xls not .xlsx). To do this, select “Save As” and select “Excel 97-2003 Workbook.” District staff must upload complete applications to the Title I & Title IIA Grants Drop Box in Drop Box Central in the ESE Security Portal. If you do not have access to this drop box, contact your district’s Directory Administrator. A list of Directory Administrators is available at www.doe.mass.edu/InfoServices/data/diradmin/list.aspx. For additional questions concerning the submission process see Step 7 within this document or contact ESE at (781) 338-6230 / titlei@doe.mass.edu. Obtaining the workbook The FY15 Title IIA and Title I application workbook is available for download at: http://www.doe.mass.edu/apa/titlei/grant-applications/. 1. Locate the Excel icon entitled, Title IIA and Title I Application Workbook (Fund Code 140 and 305) 2. Right-Click the Excel icon and select Save Target As (or Save Link As using some browsers) 3. Save the file to your computer 4. Rename the file by replacing the words “leacode” in the filename with your 4-digit district code. For example, Abington (0001) would rename the file as “FY15TIIA_TI_0001.xls.” Do not change the filename except for your district’s 4-digit code. Workbook contents related to Title I, Part A Read First: The first worksheet of the application workbook provides an overview, including how to name and save the file, and a description of each worksheet in the workbook. Review this worksheet first. Page 1 of 22 FY15 Title IIA and Title I Application Workbook: Instructions for Completing Title I Forms June 2014 Table of Contents: Lists all worksheets contained in the workbook and allows a user to navigate between worksheets by clicking a worksheet name. Cover Page: Districts must select their district name from the dropdown list and fill in all contact information. Allocation amounts must be entered in the yellow cells. On the cover page, and in general throughout the entire workbook, all yellow boxes should be filled in by the applicant. The gray shaded areas on the cover page will automatically populate once the budget pages are filled in. Indirect Cost Calculator: Automatically calculates the amount of funds that can be used by a school district for indirect costs. Your district’s indirect cost rate can be found under the second bullet in the School Business Services Information at http://www.doe.mass.edu/Grants/essential.html. Note that charter schools must apply for an indirect rate each year; consult with your business office for updated information. Non-Public School worksheet: ESEA grants require the equitable participation of students and educators in non-public non-profit schools for federally funded programs and services. Public school districts are required to have "timely and meaningful consultation" with non-public school officials regarding the participating of non-public school students and educators in ESEA funded programs and services. TI Required Narrative worksheet: Used to describe your district's uses of Title I, Part A funds. TI District Reservation worksheet: Used to reserve funds prior to school allocations. This form will also be used to reserve a portion of Title I, Part A funds to target low-achieving students in low-performing schools in district levels 2-5. TI School Funding worksheet: Used to identify eligible Title I schools, qualify school attendance areas, select eligible Title I schools, and allocate funds to eligible Title I schools. TI Budget Expenditures worksheet: Data entry template for detailed line item expenditures. Schedule A: Used if your organization operates and administers a grant project using funds assigned to more than one agency. Fill in the name of each participating agency; include LEA code and amount of assigned funds. Print the Schedule A worksheet and obtain authorized signatures. A signed original must be mailed to: Melissa Williams, Title I Grants Specialist, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, 75 Pleasant Street, Malden, MA 02148. Amendment Form: Standard Amendment Request Form (Form AM 1). Summary: Summarizes your district’s proposed allocation of funds across line items and activities. When the Title I and Title IIA budgets are complete, the primary contact person should review this worksheet. You cannot enter data on this worksheet. The Required Narrative worksheet lists the questions to which the district must respond, based on the district’s accountability and assistance level. The District Reservation worksheet of the Title I grant lists the district-wide funds to be reserved prior to calculating school-level Title I allocations and calculates minimum per-pupil expenditure amounts for schools that will be directly funded. The School Funding worksheet of the Title I grant application lists the schools in the district that will and will not receive Title I, Part A funds in the upcoming fiscal year, and the amount of funds allocated to each Title I school. The Budget Expenditures worksheet is where the district accounts for all FY15 (SY2014-15) Title I funds, including the portion of Title I funds that will be used for additional supports to Level 2-5 schools, if applicable. The Required Narrative, District Reservation and School Funding worksheets should be completed before the Budget Expenditures worksheet is completed. The primary purpose of this guide is to explain how to complete the Required Narrative, District Reservation, School Funding, and Budget Expenditures worksheets, and how to submit the workbook to ESE. Page 2 of 22 FY15 Title IIA and Title I Application Workbook: Instructions for Completing Title I Forms June 2014 Step 1: Assemble Information Before completing the Title I worksheets, assemble the information below: A. From the Department’s FY15 Grant Applications website (http://www.doe.mass.edu/apa/titlei/grantapplications), obtain: 1. The district’s FY15 Title I allocation amount, which also includes the percentage of the district’s Title I, Part A allocation that must be spent on interventions and supports for the district’s lowest achieving students in its lowest performing schools; 2. The FY15 Title IIA and Title I Application Workbook; and 3. These instructions. From district records, obtain: 4. The district’s final 2013 accountability and assistance level. 5. A list of all non-public schools within or beyond district boundaries that enroll students who reside in the district and who would have attended a Title I served school had they attended the district’s public schools. 6. Data on school-age children, including data on children from low-income families, who reside in Title I served school attendance areas in the district but who are not attending public schools. 7. Information about the Title I funds the district will reserve prior to calculating school-level allocations, including reservations that are optional and those that may be required, such as funds that will be spent on interventions and supports for the district’s lowest achieving students in its lowest performing schools. Step 2: Complete the Cover Page Access the Cover Page within the FY15 Title IIA and Title I Application Workbook by selecting the appropriate worksheet tab at the bottom of the Excel window. You can also quickly navigate between all tabs by right-clicking anywhere over the arrows on the lower-left of your screen. (If you do not see a row of tabs or arrows at the bottom of the window, you may need to adjust the size of the window on your screen.) A. Select the name of your district from the drop-down menu. You will see a message box notifying you that information will be automatically populated. Please click OK. The screen may flicker for a moment as the workbook is populated with information and data for your district. If you do not see this message, macros are not enabled. Please see the instructions for enabling macros on page 1 of this document and try again. B. Enter contact information for the district’s Title IIA and Title I coordinator. This is the person responsible for completing the grant and to whom ESE may direct questions about its contents. Note that throughout the workbook, gray cells display information that is populated automatically, either from ESE data or from elsewhere in the workbook; light yellow cells are for inputting information. C. Enter the district’s FY15 Title I, Part A allocation amount. Page 3 of 22 FY15 Title IIA and Title I Application Workbook: Instructions for Completing Title I Forms June 2014 Step 3: Complete the Required Narrative The Required Narrative is where the district responds to questions about the use of Title I, Part A funds: Question Audience 1 2 Continuing, New, or Discontinued Title I Activities & Monitoring in FY15 (SY2014-15) All Districts 3 4 5 6 7 Topic How Title I Funds Will Supplement, Not Supplant Local Funding; Support Students who are Homeless District Standards & Indicators / State Priorities Supported by Title I Level 2-5 Districts Interventions/Supports for Low-Achieving Students in Low-Performing Schools & Impact Level 3-5 Districts Accelerating Student Achievement in Unfunded Title I-Eligible Schools Interventions/Supports - Conditions for School Effectiveness Addressed Interventions/Supports - Consultation with DSAC/ESE Liaison Step 4: Complete the District Reservation Worksheet1 Some districts are required to reserve certain percentages of their Title I allocations for specific purposes. For example, any district with an allocation greater than $500,000 must reserve at least one percent of its allocation for family engagement activities. If applicable, a district must also set aside Title I, Part A funds for services to locally operated institutions for neglected or delinquent children and youth. Districts may also reserve funds for administrative services, professional development, and other activities, as needed. Reservation of funds by a district will reduce the funds available for distribution to participating areas and schools. Therefore, the district must consult with teachers, pupil services personnel (where appropriate), principals, and parents of children in participating schools in determining, as part of its district plan, what reservations are needed. This issue must also be part of the consultation with non-public school officials before a district makes any decisions that affect the opportunities of eligible non-public school children to participate in Title I, Part A programs. First, check that your district’s name and total allocation amount are populated at the top of the form. If they are not, go to the cover page and select your district’s name from the drop down list and enter the district’s allocation amount in the yellow Total Allocation box located on the right hand side of the sheet. 1 For further details on Title I funding requirements, see the U.S. Department of Education’s non-regulatory guidance on local educational agency identification and selection of school attendance areas and schools and allocation of Title I funds to those areas and schools at: http://www.ed.gov/programs/titleiparta/wdag.doc. For further details on Title I accountability requirements, please refer to the School Leader’s Guide to the 2013 Accountability Determinations on the Department’s website at: http://www.doe.mass.edu/apa/accountability/default.html. Page 4 of 22 FY15 Title IIA and Title I Application Workbook: Instructions for Completing Title I Forms June 2014 Reserve funds not related to accountability and assistance levels – Step 1 The district reserves funds not related to accountability and assistance levels in Step 1 of the District Reservation worksheet. Generally speaking, district reservations are funds set-aside for program-wide activities that are not associated with a particular school or schools or for activities that are required to serve a particular purpose or student population. The options for district reservations not associated with accountability requirements include: 1. Family engagement. A district with a total Title I, Part A allocation greater than $500,000 must reserve not less than 1 percent of its allocation for parental involvement; 95% percent of this expenditure must be directed to schools receiving Title I funds. If the district is required to reserve funds for this purpose, enter the amount in the cell adjacent to this reservation category on the District Reservation worksheet. Nonpublic school equitable participation requirements apply to this program-wide reservation. When lowincome counts are provided for non-public school students per public school attendance area, non-public schools’ equitable share of spending from this reservation is shown on the School Funding worksheet, Column 13. For detailed guidance, see http://www.doe.mass.edu/apa/titlei/parta/family-engagement/. 2. Services for locally operated institutions for Neglected or Delinquent (N or D) children and youth. A district with a Title I eligible N or D facility located within its boundaries will have N or D allocation amount indicated on the district’s allocation notice. A district reservation must be made for that amount to make funds available for supplemental educational services for eligible students at the facility. The district must consult with the facility and complete a formal agreement to either transfer funds or provide services equal to the amount allocated for the N or D facility. For detailed guidance, see http://www.doe.mass.edu/apa/titlei/partd/. 3. Homeless children. A child who is homeless and attending any school in the district is eligible for Title I services. Where needs are established, comparable services, including educationally related support services to children in shelters and other locations where homeless students may live, are required by Title I regulation. For detailed guidance, see http://www.doe.mass.edu/apa/titlei/parta/programdesign/default.html?section=HTI. 4. Administrative services. Costs for administering activities funded by Title I, including equitable services provided to participating non-public schools, may be reserved at the district level before allocating funds to eligible schools. 5. Professional development. Funds may be reserved to support Title I professional development activities organized at the district level for teachers who teach Title I students or students who may be Title Ieligible. All participants must have access to these activities, including teachers of participating non-public school students. Non-public schools’ equitable share of spending from this reservation is shown on the School Funding worksheet, Column 14. 6. Preschool programs. Costs attributable to providing supplemental academic services to preschool children may be reserved at the district level before allocating funds to eligible schools. For detailed guidance, see http://www.doe.mass.edu/apa/titlei/parta/program-design/default.html?section=PP. 7. Indirect costs. If the district is taking indirect costs out of this grant, the amount taken is reserved at the district level before determining amount of funds available for school allocations. For a list of current indirect cost rates per district, see http://www.doe.mass.edu/Grants/essential.html. Page 5 of 22 FY15 Title IIA and Title I Application Workbook: Instructions for Completing Title I Forms June 2014 Designate additional supports for Level 2, 3, 4, and 5 schools (Level 25 districts only) – Step 2 A district with low performing Title I schools is obligated to prioritize those schools based on need and spend a portion of the district's Title I, Part A allocation on interventions and supports that will address the achievement of the lowest achieving students in those schools. In addition, a district may reserve funds at the district level to provide support for low-achieving students district-wide. Funds reserved or directed for these purposes are accounted for in Step 2 of the District Reservation worksheet. Massachusetts' approved ESEA/NCLB flexibility waiver makes it possible for the district to use Title I funds more strategically to meet identified needs. The district has the opportunity to use any combination of the options below to allocate Title I funds to support its lowest achieving students in its lowest-performing schools. The applicant will describe the activities funded through these options on the Required Narrative worksheet, and will use the Budget Expenditures worksheet to connect these activities to line items in the district’s budget. Option A: Use a reservation to provide additional Title I resources to Title I-served schools (boost). This option gives the district the flexibility to provide additional support to Title I schools that (A) are lower achieving than other Title I schools in the district but may not have the highest low income populations; or (B) schools that require a higher level of investment of Title I dollars than would be possible using any of the existing methods of qualifying and directly funding Title I schools with amounts per low-income pupil (i.e., additional to amounts shown in Column 10a of the School Funding worksheet). Option B: Use a reservation to provide support to the teachers who work with the district's lowestachieving students (e.g., district-wide professional development; coaching initiatives, etc.) Option C: Use a reservation to provide direct services to low-achieving students district-wide outside of the school day (e.g., before-or after-school, during vacations, on weekends, etc.) Option D: Flexibility opportunity to spend a portion of school formula allocation(s) on interventions and supports. This option gives the district the flexibility to use an existing method of qualifying Title I schools (e.g., 35% rule, district-wide low-income percentage, grade span grouping, etc.) to serve Title I schools based on the school’s accountability and assistance level. This option is most appropriate for districts with smaller Title I allocations. The district must demonstrate that its Title I-served schools are also its lowestperforming schools and describe the interventions and supports that will rapidly improve outcomes for the lowest achieving students in those schools. In the Required Narrative worksheet, be sure to name the school(s) whose portion of school formula allocations are being applied to the required reservation amount, and describe how the funds will be used to provide interventions and supports for lowperforming students and their teachers, if applicable. Salaries Applicable to MTRS: Below Option D, enter in the yellow shaded area the total amount of MTRS participant salaries contained in reservation spending made in Options A-D. The applicable MTRS contribution will automatically calculate and will be included in the total amount (and percentage of allocation) reserved for additional supports and interventions. Option E: Flexibility opportunity related to schoolwide programs. This option gives the district the flexibility to designate a Level 3, 4, or 5 school as a Title I schoolwide program school, even if the school does not have a poverty percentage of 40% or more. This option gives the district the flexibility to provide Page 6 of 22 FY15 Title IIA and Title I Application Workbook: Instructions for Completing Title I Forms June 2014 additional support to a targeted assistance school or Title I-eligible school that without this flexibility would be ineligible for designation as a Title I schoolwide program school.2 The total amount of funds reserved at the district level for required interventions and supports is automatically calculated. This total includes any amounts entered in Options A, B or C. (The total does not include any amount entered in Option D since those funds will be accounted for in the school-level allocations indicated on the School Funding worksheet.) The percentage next to the total for Step 2 is the percent of the district’s total allocation that the accountabilityrelated reservations represent. The percentage includes amounts entered in Options A, B, C, and D. Step 1 and Step 2 district reservation amounts are automatically subtracted from the district’s total allocation to calculate the balance remaining for school-level allocations. This balance represents the amount that must be allocated to schools on the School Funding worksheet. The cell will remain red until the total of school-level allocations matches this number. Confirm minimum per low-income pupil amount for school allocations Once schools are designated to be served in Column 3b of the School Funding worksheet, the minimum per lowincome pupil amounts displayed in Step 3 of the District Reservation worksheet will be calculated automatically. All schools except for the last-served school must be provided an allocation that meets or exceeds this amount per low-income pupil. For districts that serve only schools that are above 35% poverty, a district-determined method for calculating the minimum per low-income pupil amount may be used. If a district-determined amount is used, describe the method used to arrive at the amount in the text box below the figure. Review: Is my district’s name and total allocation amount populated at the top of the District Reservation worksheet? If applicable, did I indicate reservations in Step 1 not related to accountability and assistance levels, including those that may be required? If taking indirect costs, am I using the most current rate published on the Department’s website (http://www.doe.mass.edu/Grants/essential.html)? If I have one or more schools in Levels 2, 3, 4, and 5, did I select in Step 2 one or more flexibility options A-E to indicate how my district will address the needs of its lowest achieving students in its lowest performing schools? If I used a district-determined method for calculating the minimum per low-income pupil amount may be used for school formula allocations, is that amount large enough to provide a reasonable assurance that a school can operate a Title I program of sufficient quality? Is the method described below the amount entered? Step 5: Complete the School Funding Worksheet Identifying, selecting, and allocating funds to eligible Title I schools for the upcoming school year is the culmination of a comprehensive planning process based on district-wide and school-level needs assessments and an evaluation 2 In a targeted assistance school, only a subset of the students benefit from Title I resources; in a schoolwide program school, Title I resources are used in combination with other federal, State, and local funds to upgrade the school's entire educational program. Page 7 of 22 FY15 Title IIA and Title I Application Workbook: Instructions for Completing Title I Forms June 2014 of current Title I activities. Using low-income data and overall Title I allocations, the district allocates funds to its priority schools. Become familiar with the parts of School Funding worksheet The School Funding worksheet has three sections: Step 1: The district selects the date and type of the low-income data the district is using to determine schools eligible to be served with Title I funds. Click the OK button to proceed. Step 2: The district chooses a method for qualifying Title I schools. Click the OK button to proceed. Step 3: Lists the schools in the district. In this section the district designates schools as Title I and enters additional data for the district’s schools. 3 Select the source of the poverty data used to identify eligible schools Federal law requires the district to rank all of its school attendance areas (the geographic area from which a public school draws its children) according to their percent of poverty. The first task is to select the source of the poverty data the district is using to identify eligible schools using the drop-down menu in Step 1. The default source of enrollment and poverty data that will automatically populate when the district name is chosen on the cover page is from the most recent Student Information Management System (SIMS) submission. The overwhelming majority of Massachusetts districts use Free/Reduced Price Lunch eligibility—as reported via the most current SIMS submission—to establish low-income percentages. Other sources (i.e., Census, TAFDC, or Medicaid data) may also be used. Selecting Free/Reduced Price Lunch as an option automatically populates Column 4 (Total Number of Children Enrolled in Schools in Column 1) and Column 6 (Low-Income Children Enrolled in Public Schools) If the district decides to use school attendance area counts to calculate school poverty percentages, as opposed to the more limited option of school enrollment counts, you must enter the information you have collected into Columns 5 and 7 (Number of Children Residing in Attendance Areas). The district must include in these figures all children enrolled in public and non-public schools, including out-placed students with disabilities, and students eligible to attend but who are not attending school (such as dropouts, home-schooled students, and other non-attendees).4 The School Funding worksheet automatically calculates the poverty percentage of each school. The district wide poverty average is also automatically displayed. 3 If the schools are not listed, return to the Cover Page and select the name of the district from the drop-down menu. The list of schools will be automatically sorted based on the qualifying method the district selects. If district schools have or will be substantially reconfigured from the previous school year, revised enrollment, grade configuration and lowincome data may be entered in separate lines. To do so, select the “insert additional row” button and enter each school’s revised information one at a time. 4 Data sources must be applied uniformly to each school attendance area and to the district as a whole. In other words, the district must use the same measure of poverty for identifying eligible school attendance areas, determining the ranking of each area, and determining the allocation of each area. A child who might be included in more than one data source may be counted only once in arriving at a total count. The purpose of these counts is to establish “headcounts” of low-income students residing in school attendance areas; accordingly, students attending part-day programs in kindergarten or other grades should be counted as if they were attending full-day programs. Page 8 of 22 FY15 Title IIA and Title I Application Workbook: Instructions for Completing Title I Forms June 2014 Enter data on children not attending public schools, if available5 Next, enter non-public school low-income data, and other non-public school data, if available, in Columns 5 and 7. Column 5 (Total Number of Children Residing in Attendance Areas) is not populated if the district used Free/Reduced Price Lunch eligibility as reported via SIMS to establish low-income percentages. The district should only enter information into this column if it elects to use school attendance area counts to calculate school poverty percentages. Districts using school attendance area counts to determine eligibility are required to include in these figures all children enrolled in public and non-public schools, including out-placed students with disabilities, and students eligible to attend but who are not attending school (such as dropouts, home-schooled students, and other non-attendees). In Column 7 (Number of Non-public School Children from Low-Income Families Residing in Attendance Areas) enter the number of non-public school students from low-income families by school attendance area as determined through consultation with non-public school officials or comparable measures. Information should be entered here for all schools served. Review: Have I used the drop-down menus to select and identify the primary source of data I used to determine eligible Title I school attendance areas? Have I included non-public school low-income student data in Column 7, gathered through consultation with non-public schools enrolling students who reside in my district? If I elected to use school attendance area counts to calculate school poverty percentages, did I enter information in Column 5? Select a method of qualifying Title I schools The district may use various methods of qualifying Title I school attendance areas. These qualifying methods give certain flexibility to districts in selecting the areas to be served, while also adhering to the general principle that higher-poverty schools are served first. In this section the difference between two common methods of qualifying school attendance areas is explained: (1) District-wide low-income percentage, and (2) Grade span grouping and district wide percentage. Using the drop-down menu in Step 2 of the School Funding worksheet, select a method of qualifying Title I schools that allows the district to appropriately allocate resources to the school attendance areas that would benefit most from Title I funds. Broadly speaking, the district may choose to use a district-wide ranking or rank school attendance areas by grade span groupings.6 5 The default method for determining poverty percentages for school attendance areas is to use school enrollment and public school low-income counts (data entered in Columns 4 and 6). If sufficient data are available, attendance area poverty percentages may be determined by using total attendance area count and total poverty count (data entered in Columns 5 and 7). 6 Only after the district has served all of its areas with a poverty rate above 75 percent may the district serve lowerranked areas. The district has the option to (1) continue on with the district-wide ranking or (2) rank remaining areas by grade span groupings. Grade span groupings may be utilized only after serving school attendance areas above 75 percent poverty, including any middle schools or high schools. Page 9 of 22 FY15 Title IIA and Title I Application Workbook: Instructions for Completing Title I Forms June 2014 Option 1 is the district-wide low-income percentage method. Under this qualifying method, schools at or above the district-wide poverty average are eligible for services; as such, money may run out before serving all of these schools. Option 2 is the grade span grouping/district-wide percentage method. Under this qualifying method, schools serving the same grades are grouped together, and any school at or above the district-wide poverty average in each group is eligible for services. Option 3 is the 35% rule. Under this qualifying method, all district schools at or above 35% poverty are eligible for services; as such, funds may be insufficient to serve all schools down to the 35% poverty level. Option 4 is the grade span grouping/35% rule. Under this qualifying method, schools with similar grade spans are grouped together and any school at or above 35% poverty in each group is eligible for services. Option 5 is the grade span grouping/group-wide percentage method. Under this qualifying method, schools serving the same grades are grouped together and any school at or above the group-wide poverty average in each group is eligible for services. Options 6 and 7 apply to smaller districts and single-school districts. If the district contains one school per grade span or if the total enrollment of the district is less than 1,000 students, then the district is not required to rank-order schools and consequently may serve any school. 7 Districts in this category with more than one school should be able to justify which schools will be served by Title I. For example, if the district contains one school per grade span, it may decide to use academic need rather than poverty percentage as the basis of selecting schools for Title I participation. Districts using Options 6 or 7 must follow the remainder of these instructions, including the calculation of non-public school allocations if applicable. Certain implications apply depending on whether the district elects to use district-wide ranking or the grade-span grouping method of qualifying Title I schools. If “district-wide low-income percentage” is selected as a method of qualifying Title I schools, the School Funding worksheet will automatically sort all schools in rank order by low-income percentage based on the data source used to determine eligible Title I school attendance areas. If “grade span grouping and district wide percentage” is selected as a method of qualifying Title I schools, the School Funding worksheet will automatically sort the schools by grade span and then by low-income percentage based on the data source used to determine eligible Title I school attendance areas. Because the district may only use the grade span grouping option after schools above 75% poverty are served regardless of grade span, the School Funding worksheet will always first rank schools above 75% poverty, regardless of grade span. A district that opts to serve schools at or below 75 percent poverty using grade-span groupings may determine higher or lower per-pupil amounts for different grade spans as long as those amounts do not exceed the amount allocated to any area or school above 75 percent poverty. Per-pupil amounts within grade spans may vary, but the district may not allocate higher per-pupil amounts to areas or schools with lower poverty rates within grade spans. 7 A district containing one school per grade span has more than one school building but no overlapping grades across buildings (e.g., a district may be organized into four schools containing grades PK-2, 3-5, 6-7, and 8-12 where each grade level is only found in one building). There is no limitation on the total number of grade spans, so long as each grade level is only found in one building. Page 10 of 22 FY15 Title IIA and Title I Application Workbook: Instructions for Completing Title I Forms June 2014 (The same method of qualifying schools must be used for all groupings. For example, if there are three grade span groupings, all three must use the 35% rule, or all three must use district-wide poverty average, or each must use its group-wide poverty average.) Review: Have I used the drop-down menu in Step 2 to select a method of qualifying Title I schools? Have I determined the method of qualifying schools that allows my district to best address the needs of its schools? Select eligible Title I schools Once the district has selected a method of qualifying school attendance areas, the district selects the schools it wishes to serve with Title I, Part A funds by entering information into certain columns in Step 3.8 Indicate schools to be served In Column 3a and 3b the district is required to indicate Title I service provision or non-provision for each school in the district by clicking a red cell and selecting from one of five options (select last year’s (FY14) program type in column 3a and this year’s (FY15) program type in column 3b): Select “SW” (schoolwide) if the school will conduct a schoolwide program as defined under federal regulations in the new school year. As a general rule, only schools with 40% or higher poverty percentages can implement schoolwide programs. For detailed information on schoolwide programs, see: http://www.doe.mass.edu/apa/titlei/parta/program-design/?section=SP. Select “TA” (Targeted Assistance) if the school will conduct a targeted assistance program in the new school year. Select “TAP” if the school will conduct a targeted assistance program during the new school year but is planning to conduct a schoolwide program in the following school year. Select this option if the school serves or anticipates serving in the next school year an eligible school attendance area in which not less than 40 percent of children are from low-income families or not less than 40 percent of the children enrolled in the school are from such families, AND the school is using new school year as a planning year for the implementation of a schoolwide program in the following school year. Select “NS” (Not Served) if the school will not receive Title I funding. Select “CL” (Closed) if the school will be closed in the coming school year. Skipping Eligible Schools: The district may elect to “skip” an eligible school attendance area or school that has a higher percentage of children from low-income families than a school that is served only if the following criteria are met: (1) The school meets the Title I comparability requirements; (2) The school is receiving supplemental funds from other State or local sources that are spent according to the requirements of Section 1114 or 1115 of Title I, Part A; and (3) The funds expended from such other sources equal or exceed the amount that would be provided under Title I, Part A. 8 When the mouse hovers over a cell with a red triangle in the right-hand corner, comments will appear explaining information particular to that cell. Red cells indicate that required data must be entered. Page 11 of 22 FY15 Title IIA and Title I Application Workbook: Instructions for Completing Title I Forms June 2014 Please note, however, that eligible non-public school children who reside in a “skipped” attendance area must be provided Title I services even though the public school attendance area is skipped. In implementing this provision, therefore, a district must determine which school attendance areas would have received Title I funds absent any skipping and what the per-pupil allocations for those areas would have been. The district must then determine the amount of funds that would have been allocated for non-public school children residing in those school attendance areas. This amount is included in the funds available for serving eligible nonpublic school children residing in the district. If the district skips one or more of its higher-ranked school attendance areas, enabling the district to use Title I funds to serve additional lower-ranked areas, low-income nonpublic school children residing in those additional areas would not warrant the allocation of funds. Under §200.79 of the Title I regulations, a supplemental State or local program meets the requirements of Section 1114 if the program— Is implemented in a school that meets the minimum 40 percent poverty threshold required to operate a schoolwide program; Is designed to promote schoolwide reform and upgrade the entire educational operation of the school to support students in their achievement toward meeting the State's challenging academic achievement standards that all students are expected to meet; Is designed to meet the educational needs of all children in the school, particularly the needs of children who are failing, or most at risk of failing, to meet the State's challenging student academic achievement standards; and Uses the State's assessment system described in §200.2 of the Title I regulations to review the effectiveness of the program. A supplemental State or local program meets the requirements of Section 1115 if the program— Serves only children who are failing, or most at risk of failing, to meet the State's challenging student academic achievement standards; Provides supplementary services designed to meet the special educational needs of the children who are participating in the program to support their achievement toward meeting the State's student academic achievement standards; and Uses the State's assessment system described in §200.2 of the Title I regulations to review the effectiveness of the program. Indicate “Grandfathered” schools (if necessary) Title I includes a “grandfather provision” allowing districts to designate and serve a school attendance area or school that is not eligible this year, but that was eligible and served in the preceding fiscal year, but only for one (1) additional fiscal year. Place an “X” in Column 1A for any school that will be served due to this “grandfather provision.” If no schools will be served this way, leave the column blank. Review: Have I selected the method of qualifying schools that allows the district to appropriately allocate resources to the schools that would benefit most from Title I funds? If I elected to “skip” an eligible school attendance area or school that has a higher percentage of children from low-income families than a school that is served, does the school meet the federally Page 12 of 22 FY15 Title IIA and Title I Application Workbook: Instructions for Completing Title I Forms June 2014 mandated criteria noted above? Column 3a/3b: Have I indicated how I intend to serve each school attendance area in the district for FY15, and also how each school was served in FY14, by clicking on each of the cells and selecting the appropriate option (“SW”, “TA”, “TAP”, “NS”, or “CL”)? Column 1A: Have I placed an “X” in Column 1A for any school that will be served due to the “grandfather” provision (schools, if any, which qualify for Title I due only to service in the previous year)? Allocate funds to eligible Title I schools Now that the district has made the appropriate reservations on the District Reservation worksheet, enter the actual Title I allocation per school in the appropriate cell in Column 10a. Keep in mind the two basic rules of allocation. First, all school allocations, except for the last served, must meet minimum per-pupil amounts as figured on the District Reservation worksheet. Second, barring allowable exceptions (i.e., districts containing one school per grade span or districts with a total enrollment of less than 1,000 students), higher poverty schools must receive the same or greater amount per-pupil than lower poverty schools in your rank order. The total amount allocated for schools in Column 10a must equal the balance of funds available for school allocations per Formula 1 or 2 on the District Reservation worksheet.9 Column 10b is where the district designates additional funds for Level 2-5 Title I schools if the district selected Option A on the District Reservation worksheet as a funding strategy to provide supports and interventions to low-achieving students in those schools. These funds are accounted for as a district reservation and do not figure into per-pupil funding amounts (as shown in Column 11). Column 11 automatically displays the actual per-pupil amount based on the allocation amounts and the total number of low-income children in Column 8. Column 12 automatically displays the total amount of funds that may potentially be used to provide Title I services for children from low-income families enrolled in non-public schools. This figure is based on the school per-pupil amount in Column 11 and the total number of low-income non-public school students in the attendance area in Column 7. Note: this amount is part of, not additional to, the total amount allocated to the public school (column 10a amount entered by the applicant). Column 13 automatically displays the total amount of funds that may potentially be used to involve parents of children enrolled in non-public schools in the district’s Title I program. This figure is based on the number of low-income non-public school students in participating attendance areas in Column 7 and the funds set aside for parent involvement in the District Reservation worksheet. Column 14 automatically displays the total amount of funds that may potentially be used to provide nonpublic school teachers with professional development. This figure is based on the total number of students from low-income families attending non-public schools in each participating school attendance area and on the non-required professional development funds set aside on the District Reservation worksheet. 9 Notice that as the allocation amounts are entered in Column 10a, the data in Columns 11 through 14 are automatically populated. Page 13 of 22 FY15 Title IIA and Title I Application Workbook: Instructions for Completing Title I Forms June 2014 The District-Wide Low-Income Percentage is displayed in the box above the columns on the right hand side of the worksheet. Remember that a district may rank its schools by either the district-wide lowincome percentage or low-income percentages within grade span groupings. Review: Are all of my per-pupil amounts either equal to the highest poverty school’s amount or descend in order of poverty percentage amount, barring allowable exceptions (i.e., districts containing one school per grade span or districts with a total enrollment of less than 1,000 students)? If any of my served schools fall below 35 percent low-income, do my per-pupil amounts meet or exceed the required minimum shown in Step 3 of the District Reservation worksheet? Does my balance remaining for school allocations on the District Reservation worksheet equal the total amount found in Column 10a on the School Funding worksheet? If the district selected Option A on the District Reservation worksheet to designate additional funds for Level 2-5 Title I schools (Column 10b), does the total for this column match the figure entered for Option A? Step 6: Complete the Budget Expenditures Worksheet After you have completed the Required Narrative, District Reservation, and School Funding worksheets, you will enter the detailed budget for the district’s overall Title I, Part A program on the Budget Expenditures worksheet. Note that cells at the top of the worksheet will automatically populate with certain information entered elsewhere on the workbook, including the district’s accountability and assistance level and district-wide low income percentage. Column A represents total expenditures for each line item. Column B is a subset of Column A and represents the portion of Column A that will be directed towards additional supports to Level 2-5 schools, if applicable. Note: Make sure that Column B totals to the amount allocated to targeted interventions for district levels 2-5. The total of column B in the Budget Expenditures worksheet should equal the total amount of targeted interventions (A + B + C + D) on the District Reservation worksheet. Cells will turn red if figures do not match. Most cells in the Budget Expenditures worksheet contain drop-down menus that allow you to select from common options. Selecting a cell adjacent to a line item will activate a drop-down menu that will allow you to select the primary function for that line item. Any funds that the district will be flexing from Title IIA into Title I will automatically populate from the Title IIA budget if that line item is flexed on the Title IIA Budget Expenditures worksheet. Enter number of staff, FTE, rate, rate type for staffing and stipend categories when applicable. MTRS will automatically calculate if the MTRS box is checked. Step 7: Submit the FY15 Title IIA and Title I Application Workbook to ESE Please review all of the completed worksheets before submitting your district's FY15 Title IIA and Title I Application Workbook to ESE. Note that districts eligible for both Title IIA and Title I funds must submit applications for both Page 14 of 22 FY15 Title IIA and Title I Application Workbook: Instructions for Completing Title I Forms June 2014 grants at the same time. Instructions for completing the Title IIA forms are contained in a separate document. After doing a final check of all completed worksheets, submit the workbook to ESE as follows: 1. Mail one signed copy of the Cover Page with an original signature of the Superintendent/Executive Director to: Melissa Williams Title I Grants Specialist Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education 75 Pleasant Street Malden, MA 02148 2. Upload the FY15 Title IIA and Title I Application Workbook to the ESE Security Portal. The destination folder is entitled Title I and Title IIA Grants, located in Drop Box Central.10 a. Login to the ESE Security Portal at https://gateway.edu.state.ma.us/ b. From the list of applications (links), select Drop Box Central c. Scroll to the Drop Box entitled Title I and Title IIA Grants and click Next (see below) d. Select the name of your organization and click Next e. You are now in the Title I and Title IIA Grants Drop Box, where you can upload your grant application. Important: Prior to uploading the workbook to the Security Portal you must rename the file by replacing the words “leacode” in the filename with your 4-digit district code. For example, Abington (0001) would rename the file, “FY15TIIA_TI_LEACODE.xls.” Do not change the filename except for your districts 4-digit code. Note that the Drop Box will only accept filenames with the extensions *.doc and *.xls (Microsoft Word and Excel, respectively). f. When the file is uploaded, a message will tell you if your upload was successful. You will also see the file appear under Title I and Title IIA Grants \District Name\ESE Inbox along with the date and time of transmittal. The Department will be notified via email that a file has been uploaded and is ready for review. g. Click Logout to exit the Security Portal. Amending the Grant Grant amendments are required when there is: A significant change in program objectives; or An increase or decrease in the total amount of grant; or 10 Each district's Directory Administrator has the authority to assign specific "roles" that allows people to access resources on the Security Portal. A complete list of Directory Administrators is available at http://www.doe.mass.edu/infoservices/data/diradmin/list.aspx. Page 15 of 22 FY15 Title IIA and Title I Application Workbook: Instructions for Completing Title I Forms June 2014 An increase in a line of the budget that exceeds $100 or 10 percent of the line (whichever is greater), or exceeds $10,000. An amendment is only necessary once the budget has been approved by ESE. To amend the budget: 1. 2. 3. Make relevant changes to the grant application narrative and budget: a. Retrieve your approved budget workbook from the ‘ESE Outbox’ in your district’s Title I & Title IIA Grants Drop Box in the Department’s Security Portal. The file name will end in “_Final”. b. Click on the worksheet(s) that you would like to amend and modify the narrative and budget details as appropriate. c. Make changes to narrative responses to questions by adding new text after your original text. Begin the amended narrative with “[Date] Amendment:” d. Make budgetary changes to the budget worksheet. e. Make changes to the District Reservation worksheet and/or School Funding worksheet, as necessary. Complete the amendment form: a. Click on the amendment tab of the application workbook to open the amendment form. b. Complete the contact information in the yellow boxes. c. In the justification section, provide a description of the activities of the grant and line items of the budget that are being changed. d. Complete the signature section on the third page (yellow boxes). Submit the amendment: a. Save the file by changing “Final” to “AM1” to read, “FY15TitleIIA_TI_####_AM1.xls” where “####” is your district’s 4-digit LEA code. b. Print the amendment tab c. Have it signed by the Superintendent or designee d. Mail it to: Melissa T. Williams Title I Grants Specialist Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education 75 Pleasant Street Malden, MA 02148 e. Upload the entire workbook to the Title I and IIA Grants drop box in the security portal. Page 16 of 22 FY15 Title IIA and Title I Application Workbook: Instructions for Completing Title I Forms June 2014 Appendix A: Calculation of District Reservation Amounts Under Massachusetts’ approved ESEA/NCLB flexibility waiver, any district with one or more Title I schools classified in Level 2, 3, 4, or 5 of the state’s framework for district accountability and assistance must reserve a portion of its Title I, Part A grant funds for interventions and supports to address the needs of low-achieving students in lowperforming schools. Districts will reserve required percentage of funds based on their accountability and assistance level.11 District Level Percentage Level 1 0 Level 2 5, 10, 15, or 20 Level 3 20 Level 4 25 Level 5 25 In general, a district reservation amount reflects the scale of the identified performance issues within the district. The reservation amount for a Level 2 district is based on the percentage of students in district schools not yet proficient on either English language arts, mathematics, or science MCAS tests in the previous year (excluding outplaced students), the denominator being all students participating in MCAS tests that year. Percentage of Students Not Yet Proficient Level 2 Reservation Percentage 50% + 20 40-49% 15 30-39% 10 0-29% 5 The number and percentage of students not yet proficient in each school in the district is displayed in Columns 17 and 18, respectively, on the School Funding worksheet. 11 This is in contrast to prior NCLB requirements, which prescribed a 20 percent reservation for any district with one or more Title I schools identified for improvement, corrective action, or restructuring, to fund supplemental educational services (SES) and public school choice, and an additional 10 percent for certain districts and schools to fund professional development. Page 17 of 22 FY15 Title IIA and Title I Application Workbook: Instructions for Completing Title I Forms June 2014 Appendix B: Guidance on Responding to Narrative Question 4 for Levels 2-5 Districts Question 4 asks the district to report on the impact of interventions and supports funded by the required reservation amounts to meet the needs of low achieving students in your district. Please follow these guidelines when reporting on impact of activities: be as brief as possible the purpose is to provide justification for continuation of the activity - positive growth in results, indicators of impact on learning, and completion of steps in implementation of promising practices can all be used to justify continuation of activities use quantitative data such as pre and post formative/benchmark/summative data wherever possible use of qualitative data are acceptable where it can support quantitative data or where quantitative data is not applicable where activities are not yet complete (e.g., summer activities), interim judgments and indicators are acceptable reference to program evaluations by the district or outside entities, where available, is encouraged For additional resources on improvement planning and benchmarking, see our website. The following samples are provided to give you a guide as to how brief quantitative and qualitative evidence can be used to provide sufficient justification for continuation of your targeted interventions and supports. Page 18 of 22 FY15 Title IIA and Title I Application Workbook: Instructions for Completing Title I Forms June 2014 CONTINUED Interventions & Supports Continued Intervention/Support 1 Continued Intervention/Support 2 Continued Intervention/Support 3 Activity Instruction Extended Day/Year (K-12) High Quality Professional Development Instruction Extended Day/Year (K-12) Target Grade Span MS ES MS Target Area English Language Arts English Language Arts Mathematics Description After school tutoring program for middle school students who are not reading at grade level. Professional development for elementary teachers on guided reading practices. Summer program for middle school students who are performing below grade level proficiency in math. FY14 Planned Outcomes ELA A-Net assessment scores will show xx% increase in students scoring proficient and xx% decrease in students scoring in warning category. Learning walks will show evidence that guided reading is taking place in xx% of classrooms and DIBELS scores are used to determine student groupings. xx% attendance of recommended students. Ongoing formative assessments indicate progress and understanding of math concepts. FY14 Actual Outcomes Between the first and the fourth administration of ELA A-Net assessments: xx% increase in number of students scoring proficient; xx% decrease in number of students scoring in warning category. xx% of students reported that they liked reading more than before they began this afterschool program. Following professional development sessions, coaching, and model lessons on guided reading strategies, learning walk observations showed xx% of teachers employing guided reading strategies and using DIBELS to determine groupings. xx% attendance rate so far. At midpoint of program, interim common assessments showed an average of xx point increase over preassessment results. FY15 Intended Outcomes ELA A-Net assessment scores will show xx% increase in students scoring proficient and xx% decrease in students scoring in warning category. xx% increase of students reading at grade level. At the end of the summer program, xx% of students will be at grade level proficiency in math. Page 19 of 22 FY15 Title IIA and Title I Application Workbook: Instructions for Completing Title I Forms NEW Interventions & Supports New Intervention/Support 1 Activity High Quality Professional Development Target Grade Span ES Target Area Other Description Elementary teachers who work with at-risk students will receive professional development instruction in strategies for differentiated instruction in the classroom. FY15 Intended Outcomes xx% of teachers will exhibit the three selected differentiated instruction strategies in the classroom. Early Evidence of Change Based on learning walks, lesson plans, and observations: xx% of all teachers will exhibit the three selected differentiated instruction strategies by the end of November 2014, xx% by end of January 2015, and xx% by end of March 2015. (e.g. Benchmark Data) New Intervention/Support 2 June 2014 New Intervention/Support 3 Page 20 of 22 FY14 Title IIA and Title I Application Workbook: Instructions for Completing Title I Forms May 2013 Working Draft Appendix C: Rubric for Assessing Narrative Responses Application Section 1A-D Determining Activities 1E 2A 2B Monitoring Impact Ensuring Fiscal Appropriateness Support for Students who are Homeless Not Approvable Approvable Proposal does not clearly identify continued, new, or discontinued activities, and/or fails to provide a sufficient rationale for why activities are to be continued, added, or discontinued. Proposal clearly identifies continued, new, or discontinued activities and provides a sufficient rationale for continuing, adding, or discontinuing activities. Proposal shows insufficient evidence of reflection on data to make decisions and monitor progress regarding serving the lowest-achieving students and lowest-performing schools. Proposal shows evidence of a system or process for using appropriate data to guide and monitor decisions about how to serve the lowest-achieving students and lowest-performing schools. Proposal includes one or more expenditures that may fail to meet federal Title I, Part A supplement not supplant and/or other fiscal requirements. Proposal includes expenditures that are approvable, supplementing what would otherwise be provided using state or local funds. It is clear how expenditures will benefit Title I students/teachers, and/or the district's lowest performing students. Proposal includes district Title I reservation description of homeless services or description of other supports provided outside of Title I to adequately meet needs. Proposal includes neither district reservation for homeless services nor description of other supports provided by the district outside of Title I. Potential Exemplar Proposal clearly identifies continued, new, or discontinued activities, and provides a sufficient rationale for continuing, adding, or discontinuing activities. Information on strengths, gaps, and weaknesses is provided that relates directly to the rationales given. Proposal shows evidence that the district uses a cycle of continuous improvement, reflecting on data and making decisions and mid-course corrections based on what that data shows. Early evidence of change is specified for benchmarking. N/A N/A Page 21 of 22 FY14 Title IIA and Title I Application Workbook: Instructions for Completing Title I Forms Application Section 3 4 5 6 Strengthening District Standards and Addressing Priorities Identifying Supports and Interventions for LowPerforming Students and Schools & Impact Strengthening Conditions for School Effectiveness Ensuring Positive Outcomes for Highest Need Schools and Students Not Approvable May 2013 Working Draft Approvable Potential Exemplar Proposed supports are not (or are insufficiently) aligned to the District Standards and Indicators and state priorities. Proposed supports are connected to one or more of the District Standards and Indicators and state priorities. Proposed supports are well-aligned with one or more of the District Standards and Indicators and state priorities. Supports are high-leverage and are likely to strengthen the district's lowest performing schools. Some parts of Question 4 are left incomplete. Proposed supports and interventions are unlikely to address the needs of the lowest-performing students/schools. Interventions are inadequately described and are not tied to specific student populations. Insufficient data are provided to justify continuation or initial implementation of proposed intervention(s). All parts of Question 4 are complete. Proposed supports and interventions are prioritized based on leverage/need, and are likely to address the needs of the lowestperforming students/schools. Interventions and supports are described and are targeted toward specific student populations. Sufficient data are provided to justify continuation or initial implementation of proposed intervention(s). Proposed supports are connected to one or more of the Conditions for School Effectiveness in areas highlighted as directly relating to the root cause(s) of underperformance identified through self-assessment. Prioritized supports and interventions aggressively address the needs of the lowest-performing students/schools. The link between intervention(s) and targeted population(s) is clear. Interventions are coordinated within a larger system of supports for greatest impact. Convincing quantitative and qualitative data are provided to justify continuation or initial implementation of proposed intervention(s). Proposal is convincing when it comes to discussing schools served, and why in cases where the highest need schools and students do not receive extra allocation/reservation dollars, the likelihood of rapidly improving outcomes to meet new targets is still strong. Proposal shows true prioritization of schools and students when it comes to selecting supports (and level of support). There is evidence that all schools are being served appropriately, and that the district ensures rapidly improving outcomes for all. Proposed supports are not (or are insufficiently) aligned to the Conditions for School Effectiveness. Proposal is not convincing when it comes to explaining why, in certain cases, funds are not used to serve the highest need schools and students and how other funds/supports will ensure rapidly improving outcomes for those with high need. Proposed supports are well-aligned with one or more of the Conditions for School Effectiveness. Supports are likely to strengthen the highest-need schools in a number of key areas identified through self-assessment. Page 22 of 22