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Adult Education Administrator's Manual

Policy
Federal Laws

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Legislation for the Elementary and Secondary Education Act

Since the entire act is significantly large, here are the provisions that apply to Adult Education Programs. These following special provisions apply to all programs funded under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as amended by P. L. 103-382, Title XIV, Section 14306. No Child Left Behind Act, 2001-Title 1, Part B

1. Each such program will be administered in accordance with all applicable statutes, regulations, program plans, and applications.
2. The control of funds provided under each such program and title to property acquired with program funds will be in a public agency or in a nonprofit private agency, institution, organization, or Indian tribe, if the law authorizing the program provides for assistance to such entities.
3. The public agency, nonprofit private agency, institution, or organization, or Indian tribe will administer such funds and property to the extent required by the authorizing statutes.
4. The applicant will adopt and use proper methods of administering each such program, including the enforcement of any obligations imposed by law on agencies, institutions, organizations, and other recipients responsible for carrying out each program and the correction of deficiencies in program operations that are identified through audits, monitoring, or evaluation.
5. The applicant will cooperate in carrying out any evaluation of each such program conducted by or for the Texas Education Agency, the Secretary of Education or other federal officials.
6. The applicant will use such fiscal control and fund accounting procedures as will ensure proper disbursement of, and accounting for, federal funds paid to such applicant under each such program.
7. The applicant will make reports to the Texas Education Agency and the Secretary of Education as may be necessary to enable the Agency and the Secretary to perform their duties under each such program and maintain such records, provide such information, and afford access to the records as the Agency or the Secretary may find necessary to carry out the Agency's or the Secretary's duties.
8. Before the application was submitted, the applicant afforded a reasonable opportunity for public comment on the application and has considered such comment.
9. The contractor will provide that adults enrolled in Adult Basic Education programs, including ESL and English Literacy and Civics, will not be charged tuition, fees, or any other charges, or be required to purchase any books or any other materials that are needed for participation in the program.
10. The contractor will coordinate with and not duplicate other programs, services, and activities made available to adults under other Federal, State, and local programs, including the Workforce Investment Act, the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, the Higher Education Act of 1965, the Family Support Act of 1988, and the Domestic Volunteer Service Act.
11. If the contractor purchases capital outlay to accomplish the objective(s) of the program, title will remain with the applicant for the period of the contract. Agency reserves the right to transfer capital outlay items for contract non-compliance during the contract period or as needed after the ending date of the contract.
12. The contractor will provide the agency with an annual financial audit report of the project.
13. The contractor will provide supervision and staff development for all personnel.
14. The administration and fiscal procedures for this proposal and program operations are developed for full compliance with the requirements as established in 34 CFR 74, 34 CFR 75-80, 34 CFR 460, 34 CFR 461, TEC 29.252, Title 19, Chapter 89, Subchapter B.
15. Each quarter of the program, the contractor will enter complete and accurate program data into the adult education management system (TEAMS).
16. The contractor will assess students using the standardized assessments required by Texas Education Agency (TEA).

Who is Behind the Elementary and Secondary Education Act?

The United States Congress is a body of elected officials from each state across the nation that consists of two chambers: the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. Two United States Senators represent each state on the federal level and the number of the U.S. House of Representatives for each state varies according to the population in each state. Since 1934, the legislative sessions of Congress convene on January 3 of odd-numbered years and adjourn on January 3 of the following odd-numbered year. Congressional members from Texas.

The U.S. House Committee on Education and Labor is the federal House of Representatives’ committee that created the Workforce Investment Act and continues to amend the act. The link to the list of all the members is: http://edworkforce.house.gov/about/index.shtml

On the senate side, the federal senate committee in charge of education policy and the reauthorization of Workforce Investment Act is the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Summary of the Changes from the No Child Left Behind Act

Public Law 107-110, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 [ PDF Version] [PDF format - Download Adobe® Acrobat® Reader]

The No Child Left Behind Act is the most sweeping reform of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) since it was enacted in 1965. It redefines the federal role in K-12 education to help improve the academic achievement of all American students.

On January 23, 2001, President Bush sent his No Child Left Behind (NCLB) plan for comprehensive education reform to Congress. At that time, he asked members of Congress to engage in an active bipartisan debate on how we can use the federal role in education to close the achievement gap between disadvantaged and minority students and their peers. The agreements resulted in fundamental reforms in classrooms throughout America.

The NCLB Act, which reauthorizes the ESEA, incorporates the principles and strategies proposed by President Bush. These include increased accountability for States, school districts, and schools; greater choice for parents and students, particularly those attending low-performing schools; more flexibility for States and local educational agencies (LEAs) in the use of Federal education dollars; and a stronger emphasis on reading, especially for our youngest children.

Increased Accountability

The NCLB Act will strengthen Title I accountability by requiring States to implement statewide accountability systems covering all public schools and students. These systems must be based on challenging State standards in reading and mathematics, annual testing for all students in grades 3-8, and annual statewide progress objectives ensuring that all groups of students reach proficiency within 12 years. Assessment results and State progress objectives must be broken out by poverty, race, ethnicity, disability, and limited English proficiency to ensure that no group is left behind. School districts and schools that fail to make adequate yearly progress (AYP) toward statewide proficiency goals will, over time, be subject to improvement, corrective action, and restructuring measures aimed at getting them back on course to meet State standards. Schools that meet or exceed AYP objectives or close achievement gaps will be eligible for State Academic Achievement Awards.

More Choices for Parents and Students

The NCLB Act significantly increases the choices available to the parents of students attending Title I schools that fail to meet State standards, including immediate relief-beginning with the 2002-03 school year-for students in schools that were previously identified for improvement or corrective action under the 1994 ESEA reauthorization.

LEAs must give students attending schools identified for improvement, corrective action, or restructuring the opportunity to attend a better public school, which may include a public charter school, within the school district. The district must provide transportation to the new school, and must use at least 5 percent of its Title I funds for this purpose, if needed.

For students attending persistently failing schools (those that have failed to meet State standards for at least 3 of the 4 preceding years), LEAs must permit low-income students to use Title I funds to obtain supplemental educational services from the public- or private-sector provider selected by the students and their parents. Providers must meet State standards and offer services tailored to help participating students meet challenging State academic standards.

To help ensure that LEAs offer meaningful choices, the new law requires school districts to spend up to 20 percent of their Title I allocations to provide school choice and supplemental educational services to eligible students.

In addition to helping ensure that no child loses the opportunity for a quality education because he or she is trapped in a failing school, the choice and supplemental service requirements provide a substantial incentive for low-performing schools to improve. Schools that want to avoid losing students-along with the portion of their annual budgets typically associated with those students-will have to improve or, if they fail to make AYP for 5 years, run the risk of reconstitution under a restructuring plan.

Greater Flexibility for States, School Districts, and Schools

One important goal of No Child Left Behind was to breathe new life into the "flexibility for accountability" bargain with States first struck by President George H.W. Bush during his historic 1989 education summit with the Nation's Governors at Charlottesville, Virginia.

Prior flexibility efforts have focused on the waiver of program requirements; the NCLB Act moves beyond this limited approach to give States and school districts unprecedented flexibility in the use of Federal education funds in exchange for strong accountability for results.

New flexibility provisions in the NCLB Act include authority for States and LEAs to transfer up to 50 percent of the funding they receive under 4 major State grant programs to any one of the programs, or to Title I. The covered programs include Teacher Quality State Grants, Educational Technology, Innovative Programs, and Safe and Drug-Free Schools.

The new law also includes a competitive State Flexibility Demonstration Program that permits up to 7 States to consolidate the State share of nearly all Federal State grant programs-including Title I, Part A Grants to Local Educational Agencies-while providing additional flexibility in their use of Title V Innovation funds. Participating States must enter into 5-year performance agreements with the Secretary covering the use of the consolidated funds, which may be used for any educational purpose authorized under the ESEA. As part of their plans, States also must enter into up to 10 local performance agreements with LEAs, which will enjoy the same level of flexibility granted under the separate Local Flexibility Demonstration Program.

The new competitive Local Flexibility Demonstration Program would allow up to 80 LEAs, in addition to the 70 LEAs under the State Flexibility Demonstration Program, to consolidate funds received under Teacher Quality State Grants, Educational Technology State Grants, Innovative Programs, and Safe and Drug-Free Schools programs. Participating LEAs would enter into performance agreements with the Secretary of Education, and would be able to use the consolidated funds for any ESEA-authorized purpose.

Putting Reading First

No Child Left Behind [PDF format - Download Adobe® Acrobat® Reader] stated President Bush's unequivocal commitment to ensuring that every child can read by the end of third grade. To accomplish this goal, the new Reading First initiative would significantly increase the Federal investment in scientifically based reading instruction programs in the early grades. One major benefit of this approach would be reduced identification of children for special education services due to a lack of appropriate reading instruction in their early years.

The NCLB Act fully implements the President's Reading First initiative. The new Reading First State Grant program will make 6-year grants to States, which will make competitive subgrants to local communities. Local recipients will administer screening and diagnostic assessments to determine which students in grades K-3 are at risk of reading failure, and provide professional development for K-3 teachers in the essential components of reading instruction.

The new Early Reading First program will make competitive 6-year awards to LEAs to support early language, literacy, and pre-reading development of preschool-age children, particularly those from low-income families. Recipients will use instructional strategies and professional development drawn from scientifically based reading research to help young children to attain the fundamental knowledge and skills they will need for optimal reading development in kindergarten and beyond.

Other Major Program Changes

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 also put the principles of accountability, choice, and flexibility to work in its reauthorization of other major ESEA programs. For example, the new law combines the Eisenhower Professional Development and Class Size Reduction programs into a new Improving Teacher Quality State Grants program that focuses on using practices grounded in scientifically based research to prepare, train, and recruit high-quality teachers. The new program gives States and LEAs flexibility to select the strategies that best meet their particular needs for improved teaching that will help them raise student achievement in the core academic subjects. In return for this flexibility, LEAs are required to demonstrate annual progress in ensuring that all teachers teaching in core academic subjects within the State are highly qualified.

The No Child Left Behind Act also simplified Federal support for English language instruction by combining categorical bilingual and immigrant education grants that benefited a small percentage of limited English proficient students in relatively few schools into a State formula program. The new formula program will facilitate the comprehensive planning by States and school districts needed to ensure implementation of programs that benefit all limited English proficient students by helping them learn English and meet the same high academic standards as other students.

Other changes will support State and local efforts to keep our schools safe and drug-free, while at the same time ensuring that students-particularly those who have been victims of violent crimes on school grounds-are not trapped in persistently dangerous schools. As proposed in No Child Left Behind, States must allow students who attend a persistently dangerous school, or who are victims of violent crime at school, to transfer to a safe school.

States also must report school safety statistics to the public on a school-by-school basis, and LEAs must use Federal Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities funding to implement drug and violence prevention programs of demonstrated effectiveness.

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