FY2021: Title III, Part A: Immigrant Children and Youth

Fund Code: 186

Purpose:

The federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Title III Immigrant grant provides supplemental resources to local school districts to provide enhanced instructional opportunities for immigrant children and youth.

Priorities:

The priorities of Title III Immigrant grant are to provide enhanced instructional opportunities for immigrant children and youth that it serves. These include:

• Family literacy, parent and family outreach, and training activities designed to assist parents and families to become active participants in the education of their children;
• Recruitment of and support for personnel, including teachers and paraprofessionals who have been specifically trained, or are being trained, to provide services to immigrant children and youth;
• Provision of tutorials, mentoring, and academic or career counseling for immigrant children and youth;
• Identification, development, and acquisition of curricular materials, educational software, and technologies to be used in the program;
• Basic instruction services that are directly attributable to the presence of immigrant children and youth in the LEA, including the payment of costs of providing additional classroom supplies, costs of transportation, or such other costs as are directly attributable to such additional basic instruction services;
• Other instruction services that are designed to assist immigrant children and youth to achieve in elementary and secondary schools in the U.S., such as programs of introduction to the educational system and civics education; and
• Activities, coordinated with community-based organizations, institutions of higher education, private sector entities, or other entities with expertise in working with immigrants, to assist parents and families of immigrant children and youth by offering comprehensive community services.

In addition to the above priorities, the Title III program supports Massachusetts' goals and strategies (listed below) by enhancing grant recipients' capacity to increase students' academic achievement.

State Goal, Core Strategies, and ESSA Priorities

The goal of Massachusetts' public K–12 education system is to prepare all students for success after high school. Our five core strategies to accelerate the pace of school improvement are:

1. Strengthening standards, curriculum, instruction, and assessment
2. Promoting educator development
3. Supporting social-emotional learning, health, and safety
4. Turning around the state's lowest performing districts and schools
5. Enhancing resource allocation and data use

Additionally, Massachusetts has identified four priority focus areas under its plan for implementing the Every Student Succeeds Act:

• Early grades literacy
• Middle grades math
• High-quality college and career pathways for high school students
• Supporting historically disadvantaged subgroups of students

ESEA requires states and districts to implement "evidence-based" practices, activities, strategies and interventions with demonstrated evidence of effectiveness. Evidence-based practices refer to interventions for which there is evidence of significant positive impact that may be found in published research papers, literature reviews, or Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) research briefs. Alternately, evidence-based practices can be those local practices that a district or state has previously instituted, measured, and found to be effective.

Eligibility:

Funds will be awarded to eligible districts that have met the following criteria:

• Size of immigrant center: Needed to have 100 or more immigrant students in the district
• Level of need among the immigrant population: The district's percentage of immigrant students who are economically disadvantaged needed to exceed 20%.
• Increase in number: The number of immigrant students enrolled in school year 2021 must be at least 10 more than the average of the prior two years
• Increase in percentage: The percentage of immigrant students enrolled in school year 2021 must be at least 2.5% higher than the average of the prior two years

Please note: ESSA defines "immigrant children and youth" as individuals aged 3–21, who were not born in the United States of America, and who are in his/her first three years of schooling in the United States. (For making this determination, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico are considered states.) A student can be designated as both immigrant and EL for three years. After three years the student can still be designated EL, if they meet EL eligibility criteria, but can no longer be designated as an immigrant student.

Funding Type:

Federal funding CFDA 84.365

Funding:

An estimated $1,135,030 will be available for immigrant subgrants to eligible entities. The list of districts eligible for FY2021 Immigrant grant , and it can also be found on the Grants Management website. The grants will be awarded using a formula based on the number of immigrant students reported in October 2020 SIMS (see "Eligibility" above) and the number of districts eligible to apply.

Funding is contingent upon availability. All dollar amounts listed are estimated/approximate and are subject to change. If more funding becomes available it will be distributed under the same guidelines that appear in this RFP document.

Fund Use:

Under the statute, (ESEA Section 3115 (e)), a district must use the Title III Immigrant Grant to provide enhanced instructional opportunities for immigrant children and youth. Please see the list of activities in the section above labeled, "Priorities." We encourage a district that receives these funds to prioritize activities that will meet the unique needs of the immigrant children and youth enrolled in the district, as well as families of these students.

Title III funds, including the Immigrant grant, must be used to supplement the level of local, state, and federal funds that, in the absence of Title III funds, would otherwise be expended for programs for EL and immigrant children and youth and in no case supplant such federal, state, and local funds.

There is a maximum 2% cap on direct administrative costs, and suggested maximum 20% for supplies and materials, and 15% for travel.

Note: Applicants may only legally claim expenses from the grant starting from the date of final DESE approval. The start date for the grant is the date on which the district submits substantially approvable budget and information for the grant.

Project Duration:

Upon approval – 6/30/2021 (Year 1)*

*The period of availability for this grant award can be extended beyond Year 1 based on utilizing the multi-year feature for this Funding Opportunity in EdGrants. Extended period as follows: 7/1/2021–6/30/2022 (Year 2); 7/1/2022–9/30/2022 (Year 3)

Program Unit:

Resource Allocation Strategy and Planning

Contact:

Federal Grants

Phone Number:

(781) 338-6230

Date Due:

Wednesday, March 17, 2021

Required Forms:

FY21 Fund Code 186 Immigrant Children & Youth Application Workbook

• Please save the excel workbook as file name: FY21IMM-LEA CODE.xlsm. For example, Abington (0001) would rename the file as 'FY21IMM-0001.xlsm'

 

Signature Page — Standard Contract Form

• Please sign and date the cover page and ensure the amount matches the amount budgeted. We cannot approve any grant without a signed, properly dated and uploaded signature page. Electronic signatures cannot be accepted.

The Immigrant Grant budget must be entered both on the workbook tab as well as in EdGrants in the Budget Entry formlet. The budget tab in the workbook and the EdGrants budget should match.

Additional Information:

Non-Regulatory Guidance: English Learners and Title III of the ESEA, as amended by the ESSA .

Title III, Part A Quick Reference Guide on allowable and unallowable costs

Submission Instructions:

Submit all required grant materials through EdGrants. In EdGrants, districts are required to create and name the project. Please use the following naming convention for your "Applicant Project Name" in EdGrants:

FY21 FC186 Title III Applicant Number
Example, Abington (0001) would name the file as, FY21 FC186 Title III 0001

In EdGrants, district staff assigned the role of "control user" enter the Title III FC186 budget and attach a PDF of the Signature Page with an original signature of the Superintendent/Executive Director and a Schedule A form if it's applicable.

Upload the entire FY21 FC186 Title III, Part A Immigrant Children and Youth Workbook to EdGrants: This includes the Signed Signature Page, Workbook, which includes the Contact Information, Private School Services, Narrative, and Budget tabs.

For additional submission instructions, see the "Read Me First" tab of the FY21 Consolidated Addendum for Title III, Part A, Immigrant Children and Youth (Fund Code 186) Application workbook.

For Guidance Documents regarding EdGrants, visit EdGrants: User Guides and Information.

Please note: It is up to the district to determine who they want to add as EdGrants Front Office users in order to submit grant application as well as payment request information. Please review the EdGrants: User Security Controls to make informed decisions regarding assigning your district level users.

Last Updated: February 10, 2021