Dec 28 -- The U.S. Department of Education invites public comments to OMB by January 27, 2022 regarding its request to collect data annually from school districts about how Title II, Part A funds are used to support authorized activities and improve equitable access to teachers for low-income and minority students; including professional development for teachers, principals, and other school leaders. The reporting requirements are outlined in Section 2104(b) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as reauthorized by the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 (ESSA).
The annual survey will include a state representative sample of traditional school districts, a nationally representative sample of charter school districts, and an annual request for each state to provide a list of districts that receive Title II, Part A funds and each district's allocated Title II, part A amount. The survey will be sent to district Title II, Part A coordinators and administered using an electronic instrument.
ESSA places a major emphasis on teacher quality as a significant factor in improving student achievement. Under the ESEA, Title II, Part A (Supporting Effective Instruction) provides funds to state education agencies (SEAs) and school districts to support effective instruction through preparing, training, and recruiting high-quality teachers, principals, and other school leaders. School districts are provided Title II, Part A state activities funds for this purpose, allowable uses of which include the following:
Provide high-quality, evidence-based professional development for teachers, principals, and other school leaders.
Develop and implement initiatives to assist in recruiting, hiring, and retaining effective teachers.
Recruit qualified individuals from other fields to become teachers, principals, or other school leaders.
Reduce class size by recruiting and hiring additional effective teachers.
Develop and implement evaluation systems for teachers, principals, and other school leaders.
Develop programs to improve the ability of teachers to teach children with disabilities and English learners.
Provide training to assist teachers, principals, and other school leaders with selecting and implementing assessments, and using data from those assessments.
Carry out in-service training for school personnel.
Provide training to support the identification of gifted and talented students.
The survey asks districts about the funds they received and how they used Title II, Part A funds to support these activities: hiring, recruiting, and retaining effective teachers; designing or revising educator evaluation systems; reducing class size; and providing professional development.
The target respondent universe for the Use of Funds District Survey is Title II-A subgrant recipients. For the 2022 survey administration, we will draw the sample from a list sampling frame constructed from a pre-release version of the 2020–21 National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Common Core of Data (CCD) Public Elementary and Secondary Agency Universe File, which is expected to be available in late 2021. Our approach for 2022 will follow the sampling method used for previous years. The sample frame for the 2021 survey administration (based on the 2019–20 CCD) included approximately 17,300 traditional school districts and charter school districts, of which about 13,300 (or 77%) were classified as traditional school districts and about 4,000 (23%) as charter school LEAs. To be eligible for inclusion in the frame, school districts must be operational during the school year, have students enrolled, and be located in one of the 50 states, the District of Columbia (DC), or Puerto Rico (collectively referred to as states). Because the poverty measure aligns well with the measure used to assign Title II-A funds, the sample design uses child poverty data from the 2019 U.S. Census Bureau Small Area Income and Poverty Program (SAIPE). Specifically, we will use the estimated percentage of children ages 5 to 17 years old living in poverty. To ensure the sample is representative of Title II-A recipients, we will stratify by poverty status (high/not high) to sample both higher and lower poverty districts.
The sample approach includes a target response rate of at least 80 percent, a response rate in line with the achieved response rates in past administrations of this survey. Based on those estimates and the target response rate, we expect to sample approximately 5,000 traditional school districts, representing each of the 50 states, DC, and Puerto Rico and a nationally representative sample of approximately 500 charter school districts. By including roughly 33 percent of all traditional and charter school districts, this sample total of 5,500 local education agencies (LEAs) limits respondent burden while still allowing the Department to produce reliable descriptive statistics such as means, proportions, and totals at both the state level (traditional school districts) and national level (traditional and charter school districts).
Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants—Title II, Part A:
https://oese.ed.gov/offices/office-of-formula-grants/school-support-and-accountability/instruction-state-grants-title-ii-part-a/
Results of prior surveys:
https://oese.ed.gov/offices/office-of-formula-grants/school-support-and-accountability/instruction-state-grants-title-ii-part-a/resources/
Submission to OMB:
https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAViewICR?ref_nbr=202109-1810-005 Click IC List for survey instrument, View Supporting Statement for technical documentation. Submit comments through this site.
FR notice inviting comment to OMB:
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/12/28/2021-28106/agency-information-collection-activities-submission-to-the-office-of-management-and-budget-for
For AEA members wishing to submit comments, "A Primer on How to Respond to Calls for Comment on Federal Data Collections" is available at
https://www.aeaweb.org/content/file?id=5806