Federal Programs and ESSER III

Our mission for Federal Programs in the Houston County School District is to provide supplemental resources and support systems to ensure that we produce high-achieving students.

Title I, Part A - Improving Achievement of the Disadvantaged

Title I, Part A is a part of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). This Act provides federal funds through the Georgia Department of Education to local educational agencies (LEAs) and public schools with high numbers or percentages of poor children to help ensure that all children meet challenging State academic content and student academic achievement standards.  

LEAs target the Title I, Part A funds they receive to public schools with the highest percentages of children from low-income families. These funds may be used for children from preschool aged to high school. Title I, Part A is designed to support State and local school reform efforts tied to challenging State academic standards in order to reinforce and enhance efforts to improve teaching and learning for students. Title I, Part A programs must be based on effective means of improving student achievement and include strategies to support parental involvement.

Title I, Part A – Academic Achievement Awards

The Georgia Department of Education’s Academic Achievement Awards Program honors and rewards K-12 Title I schools and school districts for significant progress in improving student achievement and/or making significant progress in closing the achievement gaps. Georgia’s ESEA Flexibility Waiver has allowed the state’s Title Programs Division to move from the ESEA’s Distinguished School and Distinguished District Awards Program to the Reward School and Reward District Program. 

Title I, Part A - Foster Care Provisions

The Foster Care Program focuses on school access, improved educational outcomes, and enhanced academic stability for children and youth in foster care. The provisions derived from the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) establish guidelines for recognizing and addressing the unique needs of foster care children and youth. The Foster Care Program has the responsibility of working closely with local child welfare agencies and local educational agencies to identify children and youth in foster care and to ensure the successful implementation of ESSA provisions.

Title I, Part A – Family-School Partnership Program

Parent and Family Engagement is an ongoing process that increases active participation, communication, and collaboration between parents, schools, and communities with the goal of educating the whole child to ensure student achievement and success.

The Georgia Department of Education’s Family-School Partnership Program ensures that Title I, Part A parent and family engagement regulations are met with meaningful and strategic actions to build parent and school staff capacity as mandated by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965, as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015. Schools and districts must ensure that strong strategies are in place to: 1) build capacity to engage parents/stakeholders in an effective partnership with the school; and 2) share and support high student academic achievement.

Title I, Part C – Education of Migratory Children

The Migrant Education Program (MEP) is a federally-funded program designed to support comprehensive educational programs for migrant children to help reduce the educational disruption and other problems that result from repeated moves.

Title I, Part D – Programs for Neglected or Delinquent Children

The purpose of Title I, Part D is:

1. to improve educational services for children and youth in local and State institutions for neglected or delinquent children and youth so that such children and youth have the opportunity to meet the same challenging State academic content standards and challenging State student academic achievement standards that all children in the State are expected to meet;
2. to provide such children an youth with the services needed to make a successful transition from institutionalization to further schooling or employment; and
3. to prevent at-risk youth from dropping out of school, and to provide dropouts, and children and youth returning from correctional facilities or institutions for neglected or delinquent children and youth, with a support system to ensure their continued education.

Title II, Part A – Supporting Effective Instruction

The purpose of the Title II, Part A grant is

• to increase student achievement consistent with challenging State academic standards,  
• to improve the quality and effectiveness of teachers, principals and other school leaders,  
• to increase the number of teachers, principals and other school leaders who are effective in improving student academic achievement in schools, and 
• to provide low-income and minority student greater access to effective of teachers, principals and other school leaders.

Title III, Part A – Language Instruction for English Learners and Immigrant Students

Title III is part of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act. It awards eligible Local Education Agencies with funding to provide language instruction educational programs to English Learners (ELs). School districts with large English Learner populations receive direct Title III allocations, while school districts with lower incidence populations are grouped into the “Georgia Title III Consortium”. The Title III Consortium allows these “low-incidence” districts to participate in Title III activities similar to districts with large numbers of ELs. Upon attainment of English language proficiency, as measured by the "ACCESS for ELLs 2.0" assessment, EL students exit from language support services.

Title IV, Part A – Student Support and Academic Enrichment (SSAE)

Authorized in December 2015, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) introduced a new block formula grant under Title IV, Part A with a wide range of allowable uses. Title IV, Part A, Student Support and Academic Enrichment (SSAE) grants are intended to improve students’ academic achievement by increasing the capacity of States, LEAs, schools, and local communities to:

1.  provide all students with access to a well-rounded education,
2. improve school conditions for student learning, and
3. improve the use of technology in order to improve the academic achievement and digital literacy of all students.

Title IX, Part A – McKinney-Vento for Homeless Children and Youth

The McKinney-Vento Education for Homeless Children and Youth program is designed to address the problems that homeless children and youth have faced in enrolling, attending, and succeeding in school. Under this program, State educational agencies must ensure that each homeless child and youth has equal access to the same free, appropriate public education, including a public preschool education, as other children and youth.

Homeless children and youth must have access to the educational and other services that they need to enable them to meet the same challenging State student academic achievement standards to which all students are held. In addition, homeless students may not be separated from the mainstream school environment.

States and districts are required to review and undertake steps to revise laws, regulations, practices, or policies that may act as a barrier to the enrollment, attendance, or success in school of homeless children and youth.