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Monitoring Review: What Every New Coordinator Should Know

Victoria Rankin and Greta Colombi, NDTAC

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Overview

• Introduction to Monitoring Reviews– What is monitoring review? Which programs are

monitored? Why is monitoring beneficial?• Monitoring Review Processes

– Federal, subgrantee, program/facility• Conducting Monitoring Reviews

– Onsite, off-site• Challenges to Subgrantee Monitoring Reviews• Resources

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Introduction: What is Monitoring Review?

• Program monitoring involves the regular and systematic examination of program implementation and administration.

• Monitoring of Title I, Part D (Part D)-funded programs is conducted to ensure compliance with applicable State and Federal laws.

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Introduction: Which Programs Are Monitored?

Monitoring reviews occur at three levels:• The U.S. Department of Education (ED) monitors State

education agencies (SEAs) that receive funds (Federal monitoring).

• SEAs monitor their State agency (SA) and local educational agency (LEA) subgrantees (subgrantee monitoring).

• SA and LEA subgrantees monitor the facilities and programs to which they allocate funds (facility monitoring).

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Introduction: Why Is Monitoring Beneficial?

• Allows administrators at all levels to ensure that students receive a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education.

• Provides a mechanism for collecting information about State and local needs to enable administrators to target assistance and other resources more effectively.

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Monitoring Review Processes: Federal Monitoring

• Student Achievement and School Accountability Programs Office (SASA) within ED monitors SEA administration of the Title I, Part D, program.

• SASA examines the State’s Part D program against a set of consistent, program-specific criteria or "indicators."

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Federal Indicator Areas

• Three areas of focus: – Standards, assessment, and accountability– Instructional support– Fiduciary

• Frequency of review– Typically, every 2˗3 years

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What Is Involved?

Each Federal monitoring review involves:• A comprehensive desk review of documents the

SEA/coordinator is asked to submit. • Interviews with the SEA, all SA subgrantees, and a

selection of LEA subgrantees. – Interviews occur remotely via video conference or in-

person during an onsite review that occurs simultaneously with the Title I, Part A, onsite review.

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Pre-SASA Contact Preparation Tips

Things to do before you receive SASA’s call:• Become familiar with each monitoring indicator.• Check when your State was last reviewed (available at

http://www.ed.gov/admins/lead/account/monitoring/index.html).

• Identify your program’s team at each level (SEA, SA, and LEA, if there is a Subpart 2 program).

• Locate the materials that SASA will request at least 2 months before your review.

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Tips To Facilitate SASA’s Review

Some factors to remember: • Logistics—Who will be the contacts? Where and when

will they meet? How and when will they communicate?• Documentation—Organize by indicators and refer to

SASA monitoring indicators for lists of documents by indicator that you will need to prepare.

• Interviews—Review the questions included in the SASA monitoring guide and prepare yourself and appropriate staff to answer all questions that are outlined.

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Federal Monitoring Results

Postreview, SASA prepares a report that includes one or more of the following three status assessments for each indicator: • Met Requirements—State has fulfilled all requirements

for this indicator, and no action is required.• Recommendation—SASA recommends a certain action

to improve programming, but not required.• Finding—State is not fulfilling a requirement of the

Title I, Part D, law and must take action to rectify the problem.

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What Comes Next?

• States usually receive the SASA monitoring report a few months postreview.

• For findings, the State must:– Project a timeline for SASA regarding the completion

of corrective actions.– Describe how corrective actions will be taken within

1 year.

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Postreview Tips

• If, after 2 months, you have not received your report, follow up with your State Title I director.

• DO NOT contact the Federal program manager or Title I, Part D, monitor about the review before receiving your report unless he or she asks followup questions.

• Use information from your exit conference and monitoring report in your response to any findings and required actions.

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Federal Monitoring: Your Responsibilities

• Review the indicators and documentation that Federal monitors typically require to assess SEA program compliance.

• Communicate with ED. • Review past monitoring reports for your State. • Prepare your SAs and LEAs for Federal

monitoring reviews and involve them in planning.

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Questions About Federal Monitoring?

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Monitoring Review Processes: Subgrantee Monitoring Review

• Per the Federal statute and regulations, SEAs—represented by State coordinators are required to:– Monitor SA and LEA subgrantees’ implementation of

Title I, Part D (Part D)-funded programs. – Implement a monitoring process that involves

conducting reviews on a set schedule and developing related monitoring protocols and tools.

• In turn, SAs and LEAs are responsible for monitoring the facilities and programs to which they allocate funds.

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Conducting Subgrantee Monitoring Reviews

• Often done through:

– Offsite review

Review documents (e.g., desktop review)

Administer self-assessment

– Onsite review

Review documents

Interview SAs, LEAs (if SEA administers Subpart 2), and facilities

Conduct onsite reviews at facilities (e.g., classroom observations)

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Conducting Offsite Monitoring

• Two primary methods:– Desktop review

SEA requests information/data, subgrantees submit, and SEA determines compliance.

– Self-assessment Subgrantees complete and inform SEAs of compliance.

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Steps Within the Offsite Monitoring Process

1. Set your offsite monitoring schedule.

2. Develop your tools/protocols.

3. Gather information/data.

4. Review information/data.

5. Respond to information/data provided.

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1. Set Offsite Monitoring Schedule

• In light of the onsite monitoring schedule, determine how often you need to conduct offsite monitoring.

• Consider the method(s) you plan on using and when.

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2. Develop Tools/Protocols

• Tools you will use:– Forms – Checklists

• Vehicles you will use:– E-mail

– Online system

– Web-based survey

– State system

– Video/phone conference

– Other

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• Know the requirements you want to review.• Consider what else you may want to know:

– Do you have questions based on your review of their data and onsite monitoring results?

– Are there broader issues that you want to investigate?

3. Gather Information/Data

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4. Review Information/Data

• Check the information/data:– Confirm receipt– Confirm completeness– Confirm quality

• Analyze the information/data:– Identify problematic patterns– Identify good examples that can be shared

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5. Respond to Submitted Information/Data

• Response to identified findings:

− SEA writes official response/corrective action plan.

− Subgrantee submits plan to address areas of noncompliance.

• Response to findings and other identified issues:

− Develop a tiered technical assistance (TA) approach based on analyses of results:

Tier 1: TA for all

Tier 2: TA for some

Tier 3: TA for a few

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Conducting Onsite Monitoring

• Primary activities:– Document review

SEA reviews subgrantee information/data and SEA determines compliance.

– Interviews SEAs meet with subgrantees and discuss compliance.

– Site Visits Visit subgrantee facility to confirm what the

subgrantees have shared.

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Onsite Monitoring– State Agencies

• Easier because usually have just a couple of SAs and they tend to be physically close to SEAs.

• Ideally coordinate with other SEA offices (e.g., special education)

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Onsite Monitoring– LEAs

• SEAs tend to coordinate onsite reviews with other federal programs: “Consolidated Reviews”.

• Set monitoring cycle over a few years, where SEAs review a selection of LEAs and a couple of facilities among those selected LEAs.

• The frequency of onsite monitoring reviews depends on the size of the state, number of funded LEAs, and SEA resources.

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• Onsite monitoring reviews tend to be short and infrequent.

• Staff turnover tends to be high.• Title I, Part D, requirements can be challenging to

understand.• Offsite monitoring is often necessary, but can be

challenging without effective communication and tools that help to – Coordinate the receipt of appropriate materials– Coordinate between your team of reviewers– Address issues as they arise

Subgrantee Monitoring Challenges

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Subgrantee Monitoring: Your Responsibilities

• Create subgrantee monitoring protocols and guidelines.

• Establish consistent monitoring “cycles” or schedules.

• Require corrective actions for subgrantees not in compliance.

• Ensure that LEAs and SAs are monitoring every facility with which they have contracted for services.

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Questions About Subgrantee Monitoring?

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Resources

• Guide to Meeting Compliance Requirements for the Title I, Part D, Program, available on the NDTAC Web site.

• ND Communities’ Monitoring and Compliance topic page for examples of subgrantee monitoring forms and protocols from many States.

• Federal Monitoring Forms—available under “Monitoring Indicators” on the ED Web site (http://www2.ed.gov/admins/lead/account/monitoring/index.html).

• Your NDTAC State Liaison!