Texas Accelerated Science Achievement Program Texas ASAP, Cycle 1

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Texas Accelerated Science Achievement Program
(Texas ASAP), Cycle 1

• Applicant Conference
• February 3, 2005
• TETN Event 10819

Gina S. Day Program Manager Office of Education
Initiatives Texas Education Agency
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Authorization

• The Texas ASAP grant is authorized by House Bill
  1, General Appropriations Act, Article III, Rider
  45, Texas Reading, Math and Science Initiative,
  and section 29.089 of the Texas Education Code.
  See Appendix 1 and 2 in the RFA for copies of
  this legislation.

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Program Goals

• Texas ASAP is an intensive intervention grant
  which seeks to achieve the following goals
• Improve student achievement in science and on the
  10th and 11th grade science TAKS

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Program Goals

• Improve student performance those in danger of
  not graduating within 4 years after entering 9th
  grade as a result of not passing the required
  science portions of the TAKS tests or not
  successfully completing a science course and

5
Program Goals

• Target student groups, such as students with
  limited English proficiency or female students,
  with persistent performance gaps in science
  courses and on statewide assessments.

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Funding

• Approximately 10,000,000 is available for
  funding Texas ASAP grants during the April 1,
  2005 through December 31, 2005 project period.
  Eligible entities may not apply for multiple
  grants but may apply on behalf of as many
  campuses as they wish.

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Funding

• Each application may reflect a maximum budget of
  no more than 50,000 per campus represented.
  Final funding amounts will be based on number of
  campuses awarded under each application.

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Funding

• For example, if a district application includes 7
  campuses and only 5 of those campuses are ranked
  above the funding level, the application will be
  awarded for only those 5 campuses and the budget
  will be reduced by 100,000.

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Funding

• It should be clearly understood that the
  applicant will not necessarily receive the amount
  requested, if a lesser amount is determined to be
  appropriate. For example, if a campus is very
  small and serving less than 50 students total,
  the amount may be negotiated down below 50,000,
  as appropriate.

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Funds Transfer

• Campus budgets should be managed as discreet
  amounts without transferability among campuses.
• Amendments to transfer funds among campuses will
  only be approved in the event the campus over
  budgeted and is unable to make effective use of
  remaining funds.

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Continuation Funding

• If continuation funding becomes available,
  grantee campuses will be ranked according to
  success in relation to standard performance
  measures and will be awarded continuation grants
  in rank order until funds are exhausted.
• Performance measures will be based on the
  percentage of students and student subgroups who
  are unsuccessful on the Spring 2005 TAKS and
  become successful in passing the re-examination.

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LEA Eligibility Criteria

• One or more high schools identified as
  underperforming at which 64 or fewer 10th grade
  or 85 or fewer 11th grade students met the state
  standard on the science portion of the Spring
  2004 TAKS
• and

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LEA Eligibility Criteria

• The LEA has entered into a partnership or commits
  to entering into a partnership with the science
  department of an Institution of Higher Education
  (IHE), as described in RFA, page 9.
• The contract/agreement with the IHE need not be
  signed by submission of the application, but must
  be in place prior to service delivery.

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Campus Eligibility

• Each participating high school campus must also
  meet the criteria above.
• Consult the eligible campus list
• at
• http//www.tea.state.tx.us/opge/disc/tasap

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Targeted Students

• Grantees will target the following categories of
  students in 9th through 12th grade, including
  incoming 9th grade, on participating campuses,
  who
• 1) Are not performing at grade level in science,

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Targeted Students

• 2) Are not performing successfully in a science
  course, or
• 3) Students other than those described above, as
  determined by the district

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Eligibility Policy Adoption

• Before providing a program under this section,
  the board of trustees of an LEA must adopt a
  policy for determining student participation
  eligibility that
• Prescribes the grade level or course in which an
  eligible student must be enrolled, and
• Provides for considering teacher recommendations
  in determining eligibility

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Due Dates and Critical Dates
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Recent Research Findings

• Recent TEA research reports identify
  implementation challenges and promising practices
  for after-school program implementation.
• Please see specifically
• Texas Study of Students at Risk Case Studies of
  Initiatives Supporting Ninth Graders Success
• Texas Study of Students at Risk Efficacy of
  Grants Supporting Academic Success from
  Elementary Through High School
• Both available http//www.tea.state.tx.us/opge/.ht
  ml.

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Student Transfer

• Only students legitimately enrolled in the
  qualifying campus may be served.
• If a student is legitimately transferred to an
  eligible campus, he or she may be served.
• Non-eligible students may receive services at the
  same place and time, but districts must provide
  additional funds to support the proportional
  percentage of students who are not eligible.

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Program Requirements

• Before providing a program under this section,
  the board of trustees of a school district must
  adopt a policy for
• Determining student eligibility for participating
  in the program that
• Prescribes the grade level or course in which a
  student must be enrolled to be eligible and
• Provides for considering teacher recommendations
  in determining eligibility.

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Program Requirements

• Ensuring that parents of or persons standing in
  parental relation to eligible students are
  provided notice of the program
• Ensuring that eligible students are encouraged to
  attend the program
• Ensuring that the program is offered at one or
  more locations in the district that are easily
  accessible to eligible students

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Program Requirements

• Ensuring that the program is offered at one or
  more locations in the district that are easily
  accessible to eligible students
• and
• Measuring student progress on completion of the
  program.

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Program Requirements

• Note Because local board schedules vary, the
  applicant must describe the proposed board policy
  in the application on Schedule 4ADistrict
  Program Description, Part 1 Student Eligibility
  for All Participating Campuses and Part 2
  Student Participation for All Participating
  Campuses.
• If application is awarded funds under this
  program, the board of trustees of the awardee
  will be required to adopt the policy and maintain
  evidence that the policy was adopted prior to the
  provision or delivery of any service.

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Review Criteria

• Campuses will receive individual scores based on
  TAKS data and will the be ranked based on campus
  score, not overall applicant (district) score.

• It will be possible for an application that
  includes multiple campuses to be awarded funding
  for only some of the campuses included.

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Review Criteria
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Review Criteria
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Review Criteria
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Review Criteria

• Funding will be awarded starting with the highest
  scoring campuses and continuing down the ranked
  list until funds are exhausted.
• In the event of tying scores near the end of
  available funds, applications will be evaluated
  based on the descriptions of the Campus
  Management Plan and the IHE partnership.

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Review Criteria in the Event of a Tie

• Quality of the Campus Management Plan with
  respect to
• Grant activities management and day-to-day
  monitoring to ensure successful implementation
  and operation of the grant program
• Assurance that activities will be conducted and
  completed according to stated timeline
• Process for soliciting ongoing feedback and
  continuous improvement and
• Frequent communication under all stakeholders,
  including management.

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Review Criteria in the Event of a Tie

• Description of the IHE Partnership with respect
  to
• Description of the partnering IHE or IHE
  participating in program planning, design and
  implementation and
• Quality of description of how and when it will
  partner or be involved in planning, designing,
  and carrying out grant activities and
• Description of the specific role(s) of each
  partner in planning, designing, and carrying out
  grant activities and
• Description of the campus management of the
  partnership and the ongoing progress monitoring
  of partnership activities and results.

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Schedule Instructions

• Each application will include schedules to be
  completed by the district and schedules to be
  completed by each participating campus.
• Each campus represented in the application will
  have its own set of campus schedules, and all
  campus schedules must be completed for each
  campus to be eligible for funding.

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District Level Schedule Instructions 1General
Information

• Six complete copies of the application, at least
  three with original signatures, must be received
  by 500 p.m., Thursday, February 17, 2005, in the
  
• Texas Education Agency
• William B. Travis Building
• Document Control Center
• Room 6-108
• 1701 N. Congress Ave.
• Austin, TX 78701

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Campus Level Schedule Instructions4BCampus
Level Program Abstract

• Campus level schedules must be completed for each
  applying campus, but each campus need not
  complete its own application.

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Campus Level Schedule Instructions4BCampus
Level Program Abstract

• To complete the needs assessment portion, the
  applicant must conduct the assessment and
  objective identification, but need not describe
  them.
• Applicants will indicate which strategies they
  will employ on Schedule 4BPart 5Curriculum and
  Instruction Activities.

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Campus Level Schedule Instructions4BCampus
Level Program Description

• Part 2 Description of the IHE Partnership
• If the campus is a participant in one or more of
  the ongoing IHE partnership activities listed on
  this schedule, please place a check in the box
  beside that activity.
• If the applicant is not participating in any of
  the listed activities, place a check in box I
  for Another formal partnership between the
  eligible campus and an IHE.

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Campus Level Schedule Instructions4BCampus
Level Program Description

• Part 2, continued
• Give, in the box and space provided, a
  description of the partnership between the campus
  and the IHE or in which campus has committed to
  participate.
• The description of the partnership MUST be
  completed, regardless of the activity checked.

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Campus Level Schedule Instructions4BCampus
Level Program Description

• Part 3 Campus Schedule and Program Structure
• In the space provided, indicate the number of
  instructional hours being provided in the
  program. Complete all sections as needed.
• If the campus schedule is of another type than
  those listed, please provide a description of the
  schedule, including total number of instructional
  hours provided to students in the box under
  Other types of programs, outside of normal
  school hours.

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Campus Level Schedule Instructions4BCampus
Level Program Description

• Part 4 Campus Schedule Management Plan
• See review criteria listed in Part 2 Program
  Guidelines, Section B. Application Organization,
  page 3. Use only space provided.
• Describe the plan for how grant activities will
  be managed and monitored on a day-to-day basis to
  ensure successful implementation and operation of
  the grant program.
• Describe the processes for ensuring that
  activities will be conducted and completed
  according to the timeline proposed in the
  application.
• Include processes for soliciting feedback on an
  ongoing basis and for ensuring continuous
  improvement in the operation of the project.

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Campus Level Schedule Instructions4BCampus
Level Program Description

• Part 5 Curriculum and Instruction Activities
• A series of allowable and proven activity types
  have been listed on this schedule, based on the
  allowable activities listed in Application
  Guidelines, Part 2Program Guidelines, Section G.
• Although this schedule will not be scored, it is
  required.

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Campus Level Schedule Instructions4BCampus
Level Program Description

• Part 5 Curriculum and Instruction Activities
• Place a check in the box of all activities that
  the campus will implement in course of the grant
  period. Not all activities must be carried out
  simultaneously, but should be coordinated to the
  effect for improving student performance.
• If the campus chooses to implement other
  research-based science instructional activities
  not listed, place a check in the final box and
  provide a concise and complete description of the
  activity, the underlying research and the
  rationale for selecting that activity for
  implementation.

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Campus Level Schedule Instructions4CCampus
Performance Assessment and Evaluation

• Part 1 Performance Targets
• Enter baseline data from spring 2004 TAKS
  performance (preferably 10th grade data).
• Enter the target/goal you expect to reach by the
  end of the grant period covered in this
  application.
• Actual Performance will be finalized at the end
  of the grant period as part of the final report
  and will determine rank order of campus for
  receiving continuation funding in the event that
  it becomes available.

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Campus Level Schedule Instructions4CCampus
Performance Assessment and Evaluation

• The grantee must agree to provide a final
  evaluation report in the format requested by TEA
  within 30 days after the end of the project.
• The grantee is not in compliance with grant
  conditions and requirements until such time as
  this report is received.
• Final payment may be withheld and future TEA
  grant eligibility may be impacted until report is
  received.

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Frequently Asked Questions

• May be found at http//www.tea.state.tx.us/opge/di
  sc/tasap.
• Q37.If our multi-district shared services
  arrangement is applying on behalf of 15 campuses,
  do we need 15 different sets of Campus Level
  Schedules?
• A37.Yes. The application may end up being large,
  but since this is a campus-based program that
  requires campus-level management, each campus
  must be represented by on complete set of Campus
  Level Schedules.

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Frequently Asked Questions

• Q38.May we use these funds for professional
  development?
• A38.Funds may only be used for professional
  development or training that is directly related
  to implementing the after-school or summer school
  programs. Activities such as college course
  enrollment, off-site professional development,
  professional conference attendance or unrelated
  in-service are not allowable.

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Frequently Asked Questions

• Q39.On Schedule 4C Campus Performance
  Assessment and Evaluation, what grades are
  included on numbers 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11
  for Spring 2004 TAKS?
• A39.Wed prefer 10th grade data. However, since
  we weren't clear on that, we'll accept a combined
  10th and 11th grade figure or one or the other.
  It would be best for the applicant to state
  somewhere on the application which data they are
  using, but we'll have another opportunity to
  clarify when we negotiate final applications.
  It's not an item that will be scored.

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Clarifying Information

• Any person wishing to obtain clarifying
  information about this request for application
  may contact
• Program Contact Funding Contact
• Gina S. Day Karen Harmon
• Division of Education Initiatives
  Division of Discretionary Grants
• Texas Education Agency Texas
  Education Agency
• William B. Travis Building
  William B. Travis Building
• 1701 N. Congress Avenue 1701 N. Congress
  Avenue
• Austin, TX 78701 Austin, TX 78701
• [phone] [phone]
• gina.day_at_tea.state.tx.us
  karen.harmon_at_tea.state.tx.us