District coordinators are encouraged to share this newsletter with others in their district.
Title III Intent to Participate
The Title III Intent to Participate will be available in GMAP April 13-30, 2021.
All districts must complete the Intent to Participate and indicate if they want to receive funding, join a consortium or have their funds released and reallocated to other districts. FY2022 Preliminary Allocations are available on the Federal Grants webpage.
An email reminder and step-by-step instructions on completing the Intent to Participate will be sent to district Title III coordinators when the Intent to Participate window opens.
Updated Exit Criteria
The Kentucky Department of Education’s Office of Standards, Assessment and Accountability shared an update to Kentucky’s English learner (EL) program exit criteria during the March 11 District Assessment Coordinator (DAC) webcast.
Beginning with the 2021 ACCESS test and moving forward, kindergarten students will be able to exit the EL program with an overall composite score of 4.5 or higher. Kindergarten students who exit EL status based on the 2021 ACCESS test will enter the four-year monitoring period required by the Every Student Succeeds Act.
Districts should follow the procedures outlined in the English learner data standards regarding updating the EL status and end-dating the EL services and EL accommodations for students exiting the program.
Kentucky’s Identification and Placement Guidance has been updated on the state WIDA webpage and KDE is in the process of updating all resources to reflect this change.
Data Quality Reminder: Ensuring Accurate Student Counts
The Infinite Campus EL extract is used to determine the EL counts for every district. KDE runs this extract multiple times throughout the year for federal reporting requirements, as well as determining Title III allocation amounts.
Information and step-by-step instructions regarding the creation and maintenance of EL student records are located in the English learner data standards. The following common data quality issues will cause errors and result in the student not appearing on the EL extract and therefore not included in the district’s EL student count:
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Home Primary Language – Students whose home primary language is left blank or listed as English will not be included in the extract. The home primary language is based on the information provided on the Home Language Survey completed upon the student’s initial enrollment in a Kentucky public school district. This information should not be changed if the student transfers to another district within Kentucky or when the student exits the EL program.
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EL Services – Students must have at least one active EL service type to be considered an EL student for reporting purposes. Services should not be end-dated each year. EL services should only be end-dated if the student exits EL program status or the student no longer needs the service based on an update to the student’s learning plan. For students who exit EL program status, the end date should be 6/30 of the year in which the student exits the program.
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EL Instructional Accommodations – Students must have at least one active EL Instructional Accommodation to be considered an EL student for reporting purposes. Like EL services, instructional accommodations should not be end-dated each year. Instructional accommodations should only be end-dated if the student exits the EL program status or the student no longer needs the instructional accommodation based on an update to the student’s learning plan. For students who exit EL program status, the end date should be 6/30 of the year in which the student exits the program.
Data quality issues often arise when an EL student transfers between districts. The student records transfer process is summarized in Section F of the EL data standards and expanded guidance is available in the student records transfer data standards.
KDE extracts immigrant student data from Infinite Campus multiple times a year to determine Title III Immigrant subgrant eligibility as well as for end-of-year reporting requirements. The immigrant data standards should be used to ensure the “Date Entered U.S. School” field is completed accurately.
Districts are advised to run periodic data quality checks to ensure reports are error-free. Infrequent data quality monitoring could result in critical errors remaining unaddressed and inaccurate reporting.
Consolidated State Performance Reporting for Title III Districts
KDE collects data regarding activities serving EL students in districts receiving Title III funds each year for federal reporting requirements. This data is gathered using the 2020-21 Activities Serving ELs in LEAs Receiving Title III Funds survey. All districts that received Title III funds during the 2020-2021 school year should complete the survey by May 1, 2021.
Each district receiving Title III funds, including consortium members, should complete their own survey. Districts serving as a consortium fiscal agent are not responsible for completing surveys for consortium member districts.
The Consolidated State Performance Report Instructions document is available within the survey to ensure accurate completion. For more information, email Jessica Sanderson, Erin Sudduth or Margalee Conlee.
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