Questions and Responses: New Joint Title III Guidance

U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Justice

Jointly Released: January 7, 2015

Office of Program Administration and AccountabilityVirginia ESL Supervisors Association (VESA) MeetingMay 8, 2015

New Title III Guidance

The U.S. Department of Education in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Justice released joint guidance on January 7, 2015, to assist states and school divisions in meeting their legal obligations to ensure that ELLs can meaningfully and equally participate in educational programs and services.

New Title III Guidance

The Guidance consists of the following documents:• Dear Colleague Letter

• Tools and Resources for Identifying All English Language Learners

• Information for Ensuring English Learner Students Can Participate Meaningfully and Equally in Educational Programs (Fact Sheet)

• Information for Limited English Proficient (LEP) Parents and Guardians and for Schools and School Districts that Communicate With Them (Fact Sheet)

New Title III Guidance• The Dear Colleague Letter reminds states, school divisions, and schools of their obligations under federal law to ensure that ELLs are provided:

1) equal access to a high-quality education; and

2) the opportunity to achieve their full academic potential.

New Title III Guidance The Information for Ensuring English Learner

Students Can Participate Meaningfully and Equally in Educational Programs (Fact Sheet) also reminds states, school divisions, and schools of their obligations under federal law to ensure that ELLs are provided:

1) equal access to a high-quality education; and

2) the opportunity to achieve their full academic potential.

New Title III Guidance•Tools and Resources for Identifying All English

Language Learners helps school divisions appropriately identify ELLs.

New Title III Guidance• Information for Limited English Proficient (LEP)

Parents and Guardians and for Schools and School Districts that Communicate With Them (Fact Sheet) reminds school divisions and schools

about their obligations under federal law to communicate information to limited English proficient (LEP) parents in a language they can understand.

Questions and Responses

Will the Standards of Quality (SOQ) requirement for ESL teachers change to increase allocations for hiring additional staff? Can consideration be given to the fiscal impact of the requirement to monitor level 6 and “opt-out” students?

The current SOQ requirement for ESL teachers of 17 per 1,000 was established by the General Assembly. Revising the SOQ is a function of the General Assembly and not the Department. Advocacy to decrease the teacher to student ratio, as well as other factors affecting local budgets, shouldbe directed to the General Assembly.

Staffing

What timeline is expected by the Department for implementingchanges based on the new guidance? Will the Department provide guidance on minutes of service, teacher caseloads, or other instructional programs?

The Department encourages divisions to develop a reasonable timeline for implementing necessary changes in an incremental fashion based on available resources.

Policies regarding minutes of service, teacher caseloads, and the content and delivery of instructional programs remain locally determined. The Department has no plans to provide guidance in these areas.

Instruction

What support is the Department able to provide with regard to interpretation and translation services?

The Department is currently soliciting a list of interpretation and translation resources that selected divisions across the state have reported using successfully. This list will be shared with Title III coordinators when completed.

Thus far, divisions have reported success in using Language Line and training existing division staff using Catholic Charities or other entities.

The Department welcomes other additions to the resource list.

Interpretation and Translation

What changes will occur to the 2015-2016 Title III application

based on the new guidance?

Minimal changes were made to the narrative boxes in the Program overview section of the Title III application to align more closely with the new guidance. Divisions are asked toprovide a more detailed description of their programs andservices to ELLs for core instruction (Title VI) and corelanguage instruction (Lau).

The 2015-2016 federal applications and technical assistancemodules can be located at:http://www.doe.virginia.gov/federal_programs/esea/applications/index.shtml

Changes to Title III 2015-2016 Application (Due July 1)

What changes will occur to the 2015-2016 Title III FPMprotocol based on the new guidance?

The Office of Program Administration and Accountability (PAA) will continue to monitor for specific Title III accountability requirements. In acknowledgement of the new guidance, discussion questions regarding division implementation of the new guidance will be included in the 2015-2016 Title III FPM Protocol.

The 2015-2016 Title III Federal Program Monitoring is anticipated to be posted in October 2015. 2015-2016 FPM monitoring will begin in January 2016.

Changes to 2015-2016 Title III Federal Program Monitoring (FPM) Protocol

How has the Department communicated information aboutthe new guidance?

• The new joint USED/DOJ guidance has been posted to the Title III Toolkit on the Title III Web page at: http://www.doe.virginia.gov/federal_programs/esea/title3/index.shtml

• A webinar on the major requirements of the new guidance was provided on February 24, 2015, and has been posted to the Title III Toolkit on the Title III Web page at the link above.

• A Superintendent’s memo 056-15, released March 13, 2015, provides links to Web page resources.

VDOE Communication about the New Guidance

How does the Department plan to communicate information about the new guidance in the future?

•A presentation on the new guidance will be provided at the 2015 Coordinators Academy in July.

• The Department will continued providing further guidance or clarifications to school divisions as it is released by USED/DOJ.

VDOE Communication about the New Guidance

Further Questions?Submit questions regarding the new Title III guidance to:

ESEA@doe.virginia.gov

Subject line: Title III Guidance

Link to New Title III Guidance Documents

http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/ellresources.html

Virginia Department of Education Title III Policy Contacts

Stacy Freeman Title III Specialist Stacy.Freeman@doe.virginia.gov

(804) 371-0778

Christopher Kelly Education CoordinatorChristopher.Kelly@doe.virginia.gov(804) 225-2122

Shyla VesitisTitle I/Title III SpecialistShyla.Vesitis@doe.virginia.gov

(804) 225-3711