Texas Even Start Administrative Manual
June 2004, (Revised January 2008)
Even Start Guidance
May 28, 2003
FOR INFORMATION ONLY
To Even Start Family Literacy Coordinators:
Due to the change in the Federal Law (LIFT Act Title XVI of Division
of H.R. 5666) the Texas Education Agency (TEA) is now responsible for
reporting program data to the United States Department of Education.
TEA is also required to implement Indicators of Performance Quality to
measure Even Start programs performance (Sec. 1240 [20 U.S. 6369a]).
The state coordinator uses these reports to prepare several State and
Federal reports. It is very important that the LEA and CBO Even Start
partners set forth an agreement and commitment that all children participating
in Even Start will be enrolled in the school district in which the child
or teen parent attends.
The Texas Even Start Program Information Reporting System (TESPIRS)
supports the reporting requirements of the Adult and Community Education
Even Start program. For information and specific instructions for entering
data into TESPIRS go to Texas
Even Start Program Information Reporting System (TESPIRS). Local
providers of Even Start services complete online forms to provide quarterly
and annual reports. For additional information, go to the Adult
and Community Education Management System Page.
The Family Section of the TESPIRS features information about individual
families receiving program services. For each quarterly reporting period,
this Section will be updated to reflect changes in participating families’ status,
numbers, level of participation and achievements, and departures from
or reinstatements for each locally funded Even Start program.
The Family Roster Section of TESPIRS is use to enter or update information
about individual families and family members. This system is unique in
that it links parents and children from the same family together in one
system-TESPIRS. The Family Roster is used to run queries against Public
Education Information Management System (PEIMS)
and TEAMS (the
Texas Educating Adults Management System)
in order to match both parents and children who are receiving services
from the public school system and the adult education system. The information
gathered from these two systems is used to determine the performance
of locally funded programs as well as for program accountability.
Data Verification:
1. All PEIMS Children and PEIMS Teen Parent program participants demographic
data is to be verified with the student’s demographic data on file
with the district PEIMS coordinator.
2. All TEAMS (Texas Educating Adults Management
System) Parent program participant
demographic data is to be verified with the local adult education program
that is providing adult education services to parents participating in
Even Start.
It is very crucial that all children participating in Even Start are
enrolled in your participating school district, especially the 0-3 early
childhood population which represents approximately 50% of the Even Start
population. The Even Start State Office is asking each of you for
your assistance and cooperation in enrolling all children participating
in Even Start in your school district or service delivery area.
This information is to be entered through TESPIRS and submitted electronically
to Texas Education Agency, at the end of each program quarter which became
effective September 1, 2001.
If you have any questions concerning TESPIRS please contact the Texas
LEARNS at Harris County Department of Education at (713) 696-0700 or
by e-mail at: sjefferson@hcde-texas.org
Thank you,
Robert Muller
Chief of Staff, Initiatives and Administration
GUIDANCE FOR THE
WILLIAM F. GOODLING EVEN START
FAMILY LITERACY PROGRAMS
PART B, SUBPART 3 OF TITLE I
OF THE
ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION ACT (ESEA)
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
WASHINGTON, DC
SEPTEMBER 2003
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
Background
Purpose of the Guidance
State Administration
State Plans
Committee of Practitioners
Membership
State-Level Activities
Administration
Technical Assistance
Developing and Using Even Start Indicators of Program Quality
Competition for Subgrants
Review Panel
Selection Criteria
Eligible Entity
Project Funding
Minimum Subgrant Amounts
Federal and Local Share
Indirect Costs
Duration of a Project
Start-Up Period
Continuing Eligibility
Insufficient Progress
Local Administration
Program Elements
Identification and Recruitment of Families Most In Need of
Even Start Services
Screening and Preparation of Participants
Flexible Scheduling and Support Services
High-Quality, Intensive Instructional Services
Staff Qualifications
Staff Training
Home-Based Instructional Services
Year-Round Services
Coordination with Other Programs
Instructional Programs Based on Scientifically Based Reading
Research
Attendance and Retention
Reading Readiness Activities Based on Scientifically Based
Reading Research
Continuity of Services
Providing Services to Families Most In Need
Local Independent Evaluation
Participant Eligibility
Parents
Children
Parents or Children in Private Schools
Other Family Members
Eligible Participants Enrolled in Other Programs
Migrant and Indian Families
Continuing Family Eligibility
Temporary Absence from the Project
Local Application
Fiscal Issues
Title I, Part A Collaboration
Allowable Costs
Unallowable Costs
Maintenance of Effort
National Evaluation,
Local Evaluation, and Indicators of Program Quality
National Evaluation
Classroom Literacy Interventions and Outcomes Study (CLIO)
Local Evaluation
Indicators of Program Quality
Additional Resources
for Family Literacy
Common Definition of Family Literacy
Title I, Part A
Early Reading First, Title I, Part B, Subpart 2
Migrant Education, Title I, Part C
Head Start
Adult Education
Bureau of Indian Affairs
Education for Homeless Children and Youth, (McKinney-Vento Act)
GUIDANCE
FOR THE WILLIAM F. GOODLING
EVEN START FAMILY LITERACY PROGRAMS
SEPTEMBER 29, 2003
INTRODUCTION
Even Start is an education program for the Nation’s low-income
families that is designed to improve the academic achievement of parents
and their young children, especially in the area of reading. Researchers,
teachers, and administrators alike now acknowledge the vital importance
of high-quality early childhood education for all children. Young children
who have good vocabularies and who are taught early reading skills before
they start school are more likely to become good readers and to achieve
academic success throughout their school careers. Education experts also
acknowledge that parents play a critical role in the language and intellectual
development of their children. Children who have parents who talk and
play with them and who read to them have an important advantage. And
parents who themselves are competent readers are more likely to have
good jobs and be able to help their own children in school. Even Start
provides educational services for the family, parents and children alike,
so that adults and their children will be able to take advantage of and
benefit from the tremendous opportunities available to them in this Nation.
For adults and children with limited English proficiency, Even Start
helps them make progress toward acquisition of the English language and
attainment of a high level of literacy.
The Even Start Family Literacy program was first enacted in 1988 as
Part B of Chapter 1 of Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education
Act of 1965 (ESEA). Most recently, the program was reauthorized and amended
by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). With the enactment of
NCLB, two programs that complement Even Start are the Reading First and
Early Reading First programs. The Reading First program gives funds to
States to invest in scientifically based reading instructional programs
for the early grades; and the Early Reading First Program gives funds
to districts and other entities to support the early language, literacy,
and pre-reading development of preschool-age children.
Even Start started in FY 1989 with an initial $14.8 million appropriation
that supported 76 projects and 2,460 families. By FY 2000, the appropriation
was $150 million, and 860 projects served 36,000 families. In FY 2003,
the $248.4 million appropriation will fund some 1,200 projects that will
serve more than 50,000 families.
From the total Even Start appropriation, the majority of the funds go
to States for State-administered subgrants. With the remaining funds
set aside at the Federal level, the following activities are conducted:
(1) migrant, Outlying Areas, and Indian tribal programs; (2) a women's
prison demonstration project; (3) evaluation, technical assistance, program
improvement, and replication activities; (4) research on family literacy;
and (5) Statewide family literacy initiative grants (depending on the
appropriation level).
BACKGROUND
Even Start offers promise for helping to break the intergenerational
cycle of poverty and low literacy in the Nation. The program integrates
early childhood education, adult literacy (adult basic and secondary-level
education and/or instruction for English language learners), parenting
education, and interactive parent and child literacy activities into
a single, unified family literacy program. The design is based on the
premise that these components build on each other and that families need
to receive high-quality instructional services in all four areas -- not
just one or two -- in order to bring lasting change and effectively improve
parents’ and children's literacy achievement. Even Start supports
integrated family literacy services for parents and children, primarily
from birth through age seven, and has three interrelated goals:
- to help parents improve their literacy or basic educational skills;
- to help parents become full partners in educating their children;
and
- to assist children in reaching their full potential as learners.
The term “family literacy services” is defined in section
9101(20) of the ESEA as services provided to participants on a voluntary
basis that are of sufficient intensity in terms of hours, and of sufficient
duration, to make sustainable changes in a family, and that integrate
all of the following instructional activities:
- (A) Interactive literacy activities
between parents and their children.
- (B) Training for parents regarding
how to be the primary teacher for their children and full partners
in the education of their children.
- (C) Parent literacy training that
leads to economic self-sufficiency.
- (D) An age-appropriate education to
prepare children for success in school and life experiences.
At minimum, a successful Even Start project should: build on high-quality,
community resources; employ qualified staff; carry out instructional
activities grounded in scientifically based reading research; be able
to document significant literacy achievement results (for adults and
children) for the majority of families served; and make sufficient program
progress as defined by the State.
We have learned from the previous national evaluations of Even Start
that:
- The instructional focus must be on literacy and cognitive development.
- Intensity of services and duration of program participation are
correlated with participant achievement.
- Data must be used for program improvement.
- State and local programs must develop and implement a well-defined
system of ongoing program monitoring and evaluation that focuses upon
effective practices and program results.
PURPOSE OF THIS GUIDANCE
This Guidance for the William F. Goodling Even Start Family Literacy
Programs is written to assist States and local projects in understanding,
administering, and implementing the Even Start program. The Guidance
reflects changes made to the program by the Literacy Involves Families
Together (LIFT) Act of 2000 that are reinforced and further strengthened
by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Guidance in this document replaces
all prior nonregulatory guidance for Even Start and also addresses questions
raised by State and local officials regarding the law. States may refer
to this guidance when administering funds under the State-administered
portion of the Even Start program, and local recipients of Even Start
funds may refer to this guidance when administering or operating projects
supported by subgrants awarded by States or by direct grants from the
U.S. Department of Education. This document includes an explanation of
the statutory requirements authorized by NCLB and provides guidance for
carrying out these requirements.
Citations in the document, unless otherwise indicated, are to the ESEA.
This document does not impose any requirements beyond those in the Even
Start statute and other applicable Federal statutes and regulations.
While States may consider this guidance in developing their own guidelines
and standards, they are free to develop alternative approaches that are
consistent with applicable Federal statutes and regulations. In other
words, this document contains acceptable but not exclusive guidance concerning
Even Start. However, compliance with the guidance in this document will
be deemed by U.S Department of Education (ED) officials, including the
Inspector General, as compliance with the applicable Federal statutes
and regulations.
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