RELATES TO:
KRS
158.840,
158.842,
158.844
NECESSITY, FUNCTION, AND CONFORMITY:
KRS
158.844(7)(b) requires the
Kentucky Board of Education to promulgate an administrative regulation for
administration of the Mathematics Achievement Fund. This administrative
regulation establishes the application and approval process for receipt of
funds and the requirements and process for distribution of funds.
Section 1. Application Process.
(1) A Kentucky public school district,
including the Kentucky School for the Blind and the Kentucky School for the
Deaf, shall be eligible to apply for a grant.
(2) A grant application shall be submitted by
a local school district.
(3) A
grant application shall respect a local school council's policy-making
authority regarding instructional practices to meet identified mathematics
needs.
(4) A grant application
shall specify selected mathematics intervention strategies and program and
diagnostic assessments.
(5) A grant
application shall indicate the fiscal agent as a local board of education
eligible to enter into a request-for-application to receive state education
funds. The fiscal agent for the Kentucky School for the Blind or Deaf shall be
the Kentucky Department of Education.
(6) Funds shall be made available to an
eligible applicant through a request-for-application process.
(7) To be eligible for funding, an
application shall:
(a) Include the contents
required by
KRS
158.844; and
(b) Specify the matching funds or in-kind
contributions that will be allocated to directly support the implementation of
the intervention strategies or program, as required by
KRS
158.844.
(8) A grant application shall be subject to
approval by the involved principal, superintendent, and the local board of
education of the public school district submitting the grant to ensure the
grant application includes adequate resources to implement the intervention
strategies and program.
(9)
Matching funds may be identified and used from other state, federal, local, or
nonpublic sources, within the uses and conditions set forth by the source of
those funds.
Section 2.
Selection of Grants.
(1) The criteria for
selection of applications for funding shall be based on the appropriateness and
quality of the following:
(a) Process for
identifying at-risk students in mathematics;
(b) Identification of the research-based
diagnostic assessment and intervention strategies or program;
(c) Plan for school and district professional
development on mathematics diagnostic assessment and intervention
strategies;
(d) Implementation
plan;
(e) Program evaluation to
include student performance data;
(f) Level of individual commitment for
teacher professional development;
(g) Capacity to implement the intervention
strategies or program; and
(h)
Budget, including the efficient and effective use of proposed grant funds and
matching funds.
(2) An
application shall be reviewed as follows:
(a)
Independent evaluators shall review the applications based upon an approach
recommended by the Committee for Mathematics Achievement and the Center for
Mathematics; and
(b) The Kentucky
Department of Education shall approve funding based upon the results of the
review. Consideration may be given to provide for geographic diversity and the
number of at-risk students to be served.
(3) The independent evaluators shall have:
(a) Knowledge of this administrative
regulation, the appropriate statutes, the Kentucky Program of Studies
(
704 KAR
3:303) , and the Academic Expectations (
703 KAR
4:060) ; and
(b) Experience with
developmentally-appropriate mathematics instruction, including background
knowledge of the essential components of learning mathematics.
Section 3. Grant
Allocations and Requirements.
(1) The award
size or range of grants shall be determined by the Kentucky Department of
Education with guidance from the Committee for Mathematics Achievement and the
Center for Mathematics.
(2) Grant
funds shall be limited to direct costs to implement the diagnostic assessment
and intervention services selected.
(3) Monitoring of awarded grants shall
include at least the following:
(a) Fiscal
reports submitted quarterly to the Department of Education;
(b) Annual program evaluation reports on the
implementation of the diagnostic assessment and interventions; and
(c) Documented evidence of student progress
results for the diagnostic assessment and intervention services, including
criteria for progress on diagnostic assessments, state assessment data, and "No
Child Left Behind Act of 2001",
20 U.S.C.
6301 et seq., data.
(4) The approved school district shall be
eligible for a two (2) year renewable grant based on evidence supporting
continuous progress.