The U.S. Secretary of Education has
published revised final requirements for the School Improvement
Grants (SIG) program in the Federal Register on February 9, 2015,
authorized under section 1003(g) of title I of the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended (ESEA), to implement
language in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014, that allows
local educational agencies (LEAs) to implement additional
interventions, provides flexibility for rural LEAs, and extends the
grant period from three to five years. Additionally, the final
requirements make changes that reflect lessons learned from four
years of SIG implementation. The Secretary published proposed
requirements for public comment on September 8, 2014 and responded
to comments as part of these final requirements. These final
requirements contain information collection activities covered
under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) and cause revisions to the
currently approved Office of Management and Budget (OMB) data
collection under control 1810-0682. The activities that are
currently approved by OMB consist of: (1) the state educational
agency (SEAs') preparation of applications to submit to the
Department to apply for SIG funds and the SEAs' posting of the
LEAs' applications on the SEAs' Web sites; (2) the reporting of
specific school-level data on the use of SIG funds and specific
interventions implemented in LEAs receiving SIG funds that the
Department currently collects through EDFacts (OMB Control
1875-0240); and (3) the application an LEA must submit to apply to
its SEA for SIG funds. The following is a summary of how the final
requirements would change these activities and the effect they
would have on the total annual approved burden. The Consolidated
Appropriations Act, 2014, included changes to the SIG requirements
that require changes to the current approved data collection. These
changes are addressed in these final requirements and allow LEAs to
implement additional interventions, provide flexibility for rural
LEAs, and extend the grant period from three to five years. The
final requirements also reflect lessons learned from four years of
SIG implementation. Additionally, the final requirements reflect
the fact that, since the original requirements for the SIG program
were published in 2010, 44 SEAs received approval to implement ESEA
flexibility, pursuant to which they no longer identify Title I
schools for improvement, corrective action, or restructuring. To
reflect this change, the final requirements make an LEA with
priority schools, which are generally a State's lowest-achieving
Title I schools, and focus schools, which are generally the schools
within a State with the largest achievement gaps, eligible to
receive SIG funds.
The Consolidated Appropriations
Act, 2014 included changes to the SIG requirements that require
changes to the current approved data collection. These changes are
addressed in the NPR and NFR and allow LEAs to implement additional
interventions, provide flexibility for rural LEAs, and extend the
grant period from three to five years. The amendments to the
requirements also reflect lessons learned from four years of SIG
implementation. Additionally, the amendments reflect the fact that,
since the final requirements for the SIG program were published in
2010, 44 SEAs received approval to implement ESEA flexibility,
pursuant to which they no longer identify Title I schools for
improvement, corrective action, or restructuring. To reflect this
change, the amended requirements make an LEA with priority schools,
which are generally a State's lowest-achieving Title I schools, and
focus schools, which are generally the schools within a State with
the largest achievement gaps, eligible to receive SIG funds. Under
proposed requirement section II.B.1(b), each SEA may submit, as
part of the required application it submits to the Department to
receive SIG funds, one State-determined intervention model for
review and approval by the Secretary. These proposed requirements
would require an SEA to submit a proposed State-determined
intervention model as part of its application, if a State choses to
implement this model. The proposed requirements also make a number
of clarifications to the reporting requirements. First, proposed
requirement section III.A.3 eliminates the metric for "Truants" and
replaces it with "Chronic absenteeism rates." Second, proposed
requirement III.A clarifies the correct source for each of the
required metrics and removes references to the SFSF previously
approved under OMB data collection 1810-0695. Finally, proposed
requirements in section III.A.3 would require an SEA to report,
with respect to schools receiving SIG awards, the number of schools
implementing models with a modified element pursuant to proposed
section I.B.6 and which models are being implemented in those
schools. There is a program change increase of +3,640 annual burden
hours due to new statutory requirements.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
Elementary and Secondary Improvement Formula Grants
1810-0682 SIG_supporting_statement_FINAL 1-27-15.docx
Elementary and Secondary Improvement Formula Grants