2015 was a very busy year for education but one of the biggest stories was the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Act. This new authorization revamps the No Child Left Behind Act that was passed in 2001. On December 10, 2015, President Obama signed the new act into law.

While there are still remnants from that 2001 reauthorization, the new act gives states wide discretion in setting goals, determining how to make schools and districts accountable, and deciding how and when to intervene in low-performing schools. There are still going to be tests, as was required under the No Child Left Behind Act; however, now the states will be using other factors to measure accountability, including locally oriented and evidence-based interventions, school climate, opportunities students have to learn, teacher engagement, and access to advanced coursework. The bottom line is the power of the Department of Education has been tempered under this new law.

One important change is that the performance of every sub-group, such as English-language learners, students in special education, racial minorities, and children in poverty, will be measured separately. This will have an effect on the accountability plans that states have to submit starting in the 2017-2018 school year. States can now pick their own goals regarding English-language proficiency (now one of the top three academic indicators), tests, and graduation rates.

There are some slight changes for Title I and Title III funding as well as budget increases in both titles. Title I, under the new law, changes from “improving the academic achievement of the disadvantaged” to “improving basic programs operated by state and local agencies.” Spending under Title I, Part A, increases from the current level of $14.4 billion to $15 billion in 2017, and to $16.2 billion by 2020. Funding for reading programs (Part B), migrant education (Part C), and intervention programs for at-risk children (Part D) will remain the same. Right now, states can set aside 4% of Title I funding for school improvement purposes and that will be increased to 7% under the new law. For Title III, which covers instruction for English-language learners (similar to what it did under No Child Left Behind), the funding will increase for the Title’s three subparts from $737 million per year in 2015 to $885 million annually by 2020.

The Latino Family Literacy Project provides workshops for teachers to help Spanish speaking parents learn to read with their children and learn English together with their children. We can go right to your school district. Find out more about workshop options.

The post The Every Student Succeeds Act: ESEA Reauthorization appeared first on The Latino Family Literacy Project.

This has been the bedrock strength of this country and we can’t afford to lose it. Children model their parents and it’s up to parents and teachers to show children the beauty and power of reading. If you can read, you can do almost anything because you can imagine almost anything. The time has come to provide an infrastructure for real parent involvement to provide the necessary skills for parents so they can offer reading and learning opportunities to their children in their homes. The reading routine developed in the home will transfer to the school. Reading is the first educational skill, the first principle and foundation of everything else from math to science to history and to writing.

We can’t afford to wait another generation before we have a true infrastructure for parent involvement and the development of a home reading routine. The time is now. Too many parents are living in survival mode and there’s no time to waste. They need our help to develop the next generation of engineers, scientists, teachers, businesspeople and innovators. It doesn’t have to be difficult or a mystery. It’s simple. That is, once they learn specific strategies about how to do it. It starts with the parents’ attitudes. Reading should always be approached as an enjoyable activity, not a chore.

The Latino Family Literacy Project uses curriculum that is simple to follow, that is based on state standards for reading and meets the parents where they are at now. We also base our curriculum on books that are fun to read, easy to follow and filled with colorful and engaging illustrations. The early years are the most critical years for young children. One of America’s favorite and most beloved presidents, Abraham Lincoln, would read anything he could get his hands on as a child. He particularly loved fables and famously plowed the fields of his family farm with a book in his back pocket.

Oprah Winfrey once said that books were her “pass to freedom.” She grew up on a farm in Mississippi and books showed her that there was a whole world beyond her everyday life. Books opened her eyes to all of life’s possibilities.

Parents can start with what they know and build on their own skills. The key is our support for supporting language and literacy development in the family setting. When children see their parents with books in hand and get to sit in their parents’ lap and turn the pages of a book together, we witness the beginning of reading and a good education. Creating a language rich home environment is The Latino Family Literacy Project’s main goal.

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Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) is the largest federal assistance program in our nation’s schools providing over $14 billion to schools with high percentages of children living in poverty. Funds are distributed through state departments of education according to the number of students living in poverty in school districts. Schools with 15% or more of children in poverty may be selected as Title I schools. Those with 40% or more can operate school-wide programs. Those with 75% or more must receive Title I funds.

Given its importance to public schools, we are providing some news updates regarding Title I for 2015.

– New York State is using Title I School Improvement Grants to pilot a Socioeconomic Integration Program to help increase student achievement in up to 25 low-performing Priority and Focus schools beginning with fiscal year 2015. According to the New York Education Department, Title I Focus Districts with poverty rates of at least 60% and at least 10 schools in that district are eligible to apply for the new grants. Program design for these grants include dual language programs designed to meet the needs of English Language Learners (ELLs) living near the school.

– The National Title I Conference will take place in Salt Lake City from February 5-8, 2015. The conference theme is “Leading with Wonder,” and will celebrate 50 years of Title I. The theme comes from comes from President Johnson’s comments at the signing of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, creating Title I: “Remember the magic time when the world of learning began to open before our eyes.” The National Title I Association is made up of Title I Directors and it’s website notes that it “is dedicated to improving and implementing the Title I program so that more children reach their academic potential. The Association provides educational leaders at the state and local levels with the opportunity to work together to share ideas on effective and innovative programs, identify problems and solutions, and represent the needs of Title I families.” Click here for more on the conference.

– The SEDL National Center for Family and Community Connections with Schools offers a toolkit for Title I. In this toolkit, SEDL provides detailed explanations of the Title I, Part A parental involvement provisions as well as thirty-three tools to assist state departments of education, districts, and schools in meeting these requirements. Both the explanations and the tools are designed to help educators increase parental involvement and provide opportunities for parents to engage in and support their children’s academic achievement. Learn more.

The Latino Family Literacy Project can help you meet your districts’ goals for Title I Programs for Parent Involvement with Hispanic parents.

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