Family & Community Students & Families Student and Secondary Support
Innovative Program Grants (Title V)

Title V Innovative Programs - Massachusetts

March 2008

Local District Use of Funds:

Through Title V, Part A funds, approximately 315 districts spent $1.6M to help increase student success during 2006-2007 (FY07). Nearly one-half of the funds spent addressed these three locally identified needs:

(A) supplemental instructional and educational materials tied to high academic standards and used to improve student academic achievement, as part of an overall education reform initiative (Title V category 3);

(B) professional development activities that gave teachers, principals, and administrators the knowledge and skills to provide students with the opportunity to meet challenging state or local academic content standards and academic achievement standards (Title V category 1b); and

(C) programs to improve the academic achievement of educationally disadvantaged elementary school and secondary school students, including activities to prevent students from dropping out of school (Title V category 5).

These expenditures were used to support public school students and teachers, as well as private school students and teachers on an equitable basis when requested by eligible private schools.

A few specific examples of ways district are using funds during this 2007-2008 (FY08) school year:

• Boston ($185K) - for a number of education reform efforts, including but not limited to Comprehensive School Age Parenting (Title V Category 4).

• Worcester ($74K) - for several locally identified needs including furthering career and workplace readiness, financial literacy, student postsecondary planning (Title V category 11).

• Fall River ($37K) - for drop-out prevention efforts, including but not limited to after-school and Saturday programs (Title V Categories 5 and 25).

• Leominster $11K) - for extended time instruction in English language arts and Mathematics for at-risk students determined by district benchmark assessments (Title V Category 3).

• Harwich ($2K) - for providing teachers stipends to work together in teams that focus on data analysis, instructional design and planning, and peer training to improve student achievement across all grade levels (Title V category 1b).

• Southeastern Regional Vocational Technical School ($2K) - for additional counseling for students enrolled in the Alternative Program to assist them with reentering mainstream programming. The goal is for these students to obtain their high school diploma and successfully transition to further education and/or employment (Title V category 15).

• Foxborough ($2K) - for a series of family math nights, as requested by parents
  (Title V category 21).

Without Title V funds in FY 09, most districts will look for a way to continue their successful efforts currently funded by Title V, but most are not yet certain whether other sources of funds will be available to cover these efforts.

A few highlights from two of the above districts:

Fall River

• Fall River ($37K) - for drop-out prevention efforts, including but not limited to after-school and Saturday programs (Title V Categories 5 and 25).

As a result of the Title V efforts, there has been a 35% drop in the suspension rate at their high school so far this year. Additionally, the funds have allowed them to provide essential transportation home for students in their after-school program, which generally serves low-achieving at-risk youth who can live up to 5-10 miles from the high school.

Worcester

• Worcester ($74K) - for several locally identified needs, including furthering career and workplace readiness, financial literacy, and for student postsecondary planning (Title V category 11).

This year, Title V funds have enabled the district to develop the "JA Academy" at five high schools in response to the need for an after school mentoring program for at-risk high school students that combines quality financial literacy and workforce awareness programs with college familiarization and preparation. Unlike traditional Junior Achievement programs that are offered in a public high school or youth agency setting, the JA Academy model distinguishes itself by taking advantage of its location on college and university campuses and incorporating college volunteers and business professionals in team-teaching pairs. The unique volunteer pairings of undergraduates and corporate leaders, coupled with the learning experiences that are available on college campuses, will expose students to post-secondary educational and career options. For most participating students, their experience in JA Academy is be the first time they have ever been on a college campus, worked in a college classroom, or have had the opportunity to converse with high-level business executives. The program starts with sophomores and works with them in their junior and seniors years as well, and upon successful completion of the program each participating Worcester Public School student will receive one academic credit, an opportunity to compete for $2,000 JA college scholarships, and certification that they have completed the recommended pre-employment training course ("Success Skills") for participation in the YouthWorks summer employment program.

In the past (2004-2007), Title V funds helped to develop an Engineering Academy at the high school, which now has 362 students. Title V helped develop the curriculum, post secondary partners, professional development, community support, equipment, supplies, etc., and the Academy has been recognized for its achievement in national publications.

State Level Use of Funds:

One of the ways that Title V state level funds have been used is to support a college and career readiness initiative for Massachusetts' youth.

Approximately three years ago, the Department used state level Title V, Part A funds to oversee and coordinate initiatives to improve high schools in the Commonwealth. This newly created position was directed by the Commissioner to work with other units in the Department, as well as with other state agencies, to improve outcomes for youth.

As a part of spearheading the Department's college and career readiness initiatives, this position was responsible for generating successful competitive federal and National Governors Association (NGA) grant applications. The total funding derived from the grants was nearly $2.5 million. Moreover, funding from the competitive grants leveraged additional state, federal, and foundation funds. For example, Massachusetts was one of ten states to receive a NGA Honor States grant in 2005. The NGA grant has had far reaching implications for state policy and has helped to shape a state high school redesign agenda. Listed below are some of the outcomes of these efforts.

• The Massachusetts Board of Education approved in 2007 a recommended high school program of study - MassCore that includes four years or math and three years of lab-based science. Student level data will be collected beginning in Spring 2008.

• Massachusetts signed onto the NGA Graduation Rate compact in 2006. The compact requires states to commit to establishing a four-year cohort graduation rate. In 2007, Massachusetts released its first ever four-year graduation rate.

• Massachusetts joined with eight other states and Achieve to develop an end of course Algebra II assessment. In Massachusetts the assessment will be used for diagnostic purposes beginning in Spring 2008.

• A standards alignment project was initiated with Achieve. The project focused upon English language arts and math and will culminate with new standards that align with Achieve's college and career ready standards.

• Working with the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education, the Department developed a school to college database of public high school graduates who attend state colleges and the University of Massachusetts. In early 2008, a state school to college report was issued along with individual high school reports. The reports will be used for high school improvement and alignment with college course expectations as well as changes in state governance and policy.

• An educator database (EPIMS) was created to enable the Department to meet the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) reporting requirement and to inform policy and programmatic decisions.

• A Career and Educational Planning website was developed www.readysetgotocollege.com. This is the first step in the development of a more robust college access tool modeled after North Carolina's CFN.org. Development of the site was supplemented with a "Think Again" communications campaign targeted to urban first generation and underrepresented students. The campaign theme was - "stay in school and think about your future."

• An extensive state level college and career readiness professional development initiative was implemented. Conference topics included high school redesign, graduation rate improvement, college and career readiness and high school and college alignment.

For more information on Title V, Part A visit http://www.doe.mass.edu/titlev/ or contact Rachelle Engler Bennett, Director of Student Services via 781-338-3205 or renglerbennett@doe.mass.edu.