Laws and Mandates: Your Responsibilities

Federal: No Child Left Behind

♦ Section 3115 (g) [Supplement not supplant]

• Title III can only be used as a supplement, not as the main budget to fund a program.
• It should not be used to hire FTEs or run programs that have no other funding source.
  

♦ Section 3122 (a)(3)(A) [AMAOs]

• We need to show that: our ELL students are learning English better each year, an increasing percentage of them are becoming fluent each year, and that they are making AYP each year.

♦ Section 3211 (b) [Improvement plan]

• If a school fails to meet AYP for 2 consecutive years, it must develop an improvement plan to show how they will overcome said failure.

♦ Section 3215 [Capacity building]

• The district and schools cannot count on continued financial support for ESL programs. We should plan how to fund ESL programs with existing funds or find funding through the ICSD Board of Education.

♦ Section 3302 (a) [Parental notification]

• The parent must be notified before the child is inducted into the ESL program. Most of what is mandated in this section is covered by sending the parent notification form provided by the district. The only thing it doesn’t cover is expected rate of transition as this will be different for each school and graduation rates for secondary education as that will be determined on a school site basis.

♦ Section 3302 (b) [Notification of failure to meet AMAOs]

• Each school must inform the parents of ELL students when they have failed to meet the Annual Measurable Achievement Objectives each year.

♦ Section 3302 (c) [Understandable parent notices]

• Schools must do their best to make parent notices understandable to the parent.  Spanish translation should become a priority.

♦ Section 3302 (d) [ELL latecomers]

• The school has to notify the parents of their student’s participation in the ESL program within 2 weeks if they did not enroll at the beginning of the year.

♦ Section 3302 (e) [Parent participation]

• Schools should proactively reach out to the parents of ELL students to try to involve them in the academic process of their children. Schools should send notices and hold regular meetings to allow these parents a venue to have a say in their child’s education.

♦ Section 3302 (f) [Surname admission or exclusion]

• The practice of placing a student in the ESL program based on their surname is against the law. Neither should they be excluded from programs based solely on their surname.

Title III- funding from the government under NCLB

The Kentucky Title III Program provides support to districts as they work with their English Learners and Immigrant students to:

• Choose an educational approach
• Identify and assess the students
• Provide a research-based program of services
• Provide staffing and resources
• Implement state criteria for transitioning students from services
• Maintain accurate data and reporting in order to:
  • Monitor transitioned students
  • Periodically evaluate and revise their program
  • Receive funding allocations

 

Title III Data Collection and Reporting for Immigrant and LEP (EL) in Infinite Campus

MONTH	TASK
January	ACCESS Testing Window opens
	Deadline to order extra materials
	Declaration of Participation for Federal Programs (Title III) is mailed to Superintendents
February	Deadline for districts/consortia in Year 2 Improvement Status to revise, re-post and notify KDE of revisions to the Comprehensive District Improvement Plan (CDIP) and communicate changes to the local board of education, district and school leadership, and all school councils
	ACCESS Testing Window closes
	Districts pack completed materials
	Districts ship completed materials to MeriTech
March	Deadline for schools in districts/consortia that did not meet AMAO for two or more consecutive years to modify their Comprehensive School Improvement Plan (CSIP) to reflect CDIP revisions
April	ACCESS Reports shipped to districts
	Correction Window for ACCESS opens
	KDE will pull EL and Immigrant data from the Infinite Campus state database on April 16 for Title III funding
	Correction Window for EL and Immigrant data in Infinite Campus opens
May	Correction window for ACCESS closes
	Final ACCESS data due to KDE
	Annual Performance Report (APR) Due to KDE by May 15
June	Division of Budgets calculates tentative Title III Funding based on Infinite Campus data
July	US Department of Education notification of Title III grant award to KDE
	Districts participating in Title III Funding will be mailed a sub grant packet with their tentative allocation
August	Administer W-APT screener to students identified by Home Language Survey within 30 days of start of school year
	Develop Program Services plans for ELs
	Final calculations for Title III funding are prepared and notification of final allocation is sent to superintendent and finance officer
September	Administer W-APT screener to students identified by Home Language Survey within 30 days of start of school year
	Develop Program Services Plans (PSP)for ELs
	AMAO Reports Released; Districts/consortia in Title III Improvement Status (Year 1 to Year 4) must notify parents of ELs within 30 days of notification of failure to meet AMAO
	Within two weeks of receiving notification of Title III allocation, districts must complete the Title III Application and Budget and return it to KDE
October	Deadline for parent notification of failure to meet AMAO
	Order Pre-ID Labels
	Order ACCESS Test materials
	Annual Title III/EL District Coordinators Meeting
	Kentucky Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (KYTESOL) Conference
November	ACCESS Test Administration Training & Certification
December	ACCESS Test Administration Training & Certification
	ACCESS Test materials shipped to Districts
	Districts receive ACCESS test materials

Souce: KDE website

Title VI: Civil Rights Code

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to provide any alternative language programs necessary to ensure that national origin minority students with limited-English proficiency (LEP students) have meaningful access to the schools' programs.

A. Adequacy of Program

1. Soundness of educational approach
Castaneda requires districts to use educational theories that are recognized as sound by some experts in the field, or at least theories that are recognized as legitimate educational strategies. 648 F. 2d at 1009. Some approaches that fall under this category include transitional bilingual education, bilingual/bicultural education, structured immersion, developmental bilingual education, and English as a Second Language (ESL).

2. Proper Implementation

Castaneda requires that "the programs and practices actually used by a school system [be] reasonably calculated to implement effectively the educational theory adopted by the school."

a) Staffing

Districts have an obligation to provide the staff necessary to implement their chosen program properly within a reasonable period of time.

If a recipient has shown that it has unsuccessfully tried to hire qualified teachers, it must provide adequate training to teachers already on staff to comply with the Title VI regulation.

b) Exit Criteria for Language Minority LEP Students

Once students have been placed in an alternative language program, they must be provided with services until they are proficient enough in English to participate meaningfully in the regular educational program. Some factors to examine in determining whether formerly LEP students are able to participate meaningfully in the regular educational program include: (1) whether they are able to keep up with their non-LEP peers in the regular educational program; (2) whether they are able to participate successfully in essentially all aspects of the school's curriculum without the use of simplified English materials; and (3) whether their retention in-grade and dropout rates are similar to those of their non-LEP peers.

3. Program Evaluation

In return for allowing schools flexibility in choosing and implementing an alternative language program, Castaneda requires recipients to modify their programs if they prove to be unsuccessful after a legitimate trial. As a practical matter, recipients cannot comply with this requirement without periodically evaluating their programs.

Souce: http://www2.ed.gov

Assessment accommodations for LEP students in Kentucky: There are three criteria for determining appropriate assessment accommodations that must be strictly adhered to: 1. Must be allowed for state assessments by 703 KAR 5:070 Inclusions for Special Populations regulation; 2. Must have been part of ongoing classroom instruction; 3. Must be listed in the student’s Program Services Plan (PSP) Excluding W-APT, assessment accommodations include: · Reader in English · Simplified language · Bilingual or English dictionary · Small group/single test form admin. · Reader in primary language · Oral native language support · Extended time · Assistive technology · Scribe responses · Bilingual or English glossary · Prompting/cueing

Souce: http://www.education.ky.gov/KDE/Instructional+Resources/English+Learners/Title+III+Data+Collection+and+Reporting+Immigrant+and+LEP%28EL%29.htm

OTHER NOTES:

*All immigrants, legal or illegal, are entitled to Title VI rights

*If students are receiving accommodations in the classroom, they should receive the same accommodations on state tests

*Every mainstream teacher is responsible for their ELLs. The ESL teacher is a resource to help guide the core content teachers

*It is extremely important to collect data on ELLs in order to calculate the effectiveness of the program for legal reasons

**If a violation occurs, school is in danger of losing federal (Title III) funding!