Federal Programs

Descriptions of Federal Grants Montgomery County Receives

Title I, Part A – Improving Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged
Title I, Part A provides formula grants to districts.  Districts then allocate funds to Title I schools based on their number of low-income children.  The district must use Title I funds only in schools that have been selected for services through allowable procedures.  Funds are used to improve student achievement in high poverty schools.

Title I, Part C – Education of Migratory Children
The Migrant Education Program provides states with funding based on counts of migrant children between 3 and 21 years old.  A migratory child is defined as a child under 22 years of age who is a migrant agricultural worker or fisher, or who has a parent, spouse or guardian who is a migrant agricultural worker and who has moved across school district boundaries within the previous 36 months to obtain temporary or seasonal employment in agricultural or fishing work.  The state Migrant Program subgrants with districts to provide supplemental instruction and support services to eligible migrant children.  The state also contracts with nine (9) regional administrative centers whose primary functions are the collection and transfer of pertinent student data.

Title I, Part D – Neglected and Delinquent (N & D) Programs
N & D programs provide financial assistance to educational programs for youths in state-operated institutions or community day programs.  The program also provides financial assistance to support districts' programs involving collaboration with locally operated correctional facilities.  Allocations are made to state agencies.  Allocations are awarded to districts with high numbers or percentages of child and youth in locally operated juvenile correctional facilities, including facilities involved in community day programs.

Title II, Part A – Teacher and Principal Training and Recruitment (Quality)
Title II, Part A combined Eisenhower Professional Development and Class-size Reduction funds.  Funds made available through formula allocations to districts must be used to supplement, not supplant, non-Federal funds.  Districts must conduct a needs assessment to determine the activities needed to give teachers the subject matter knowledge and teaching skills and to give principals the instructional leadership skills to help students meet state and local academic achievement standards.

Title III – Language Acquisition Program
Title III assists school districts in teaching English to limited English proficient students (LEP) and in helping these students meet the same challenging state standards required of all students.  Districts must use Title III funds to provide high-quality language instruction programs that are based on scientifically based research and that have demonstrated that they are effective in increasing English proficiency and student achievement.  Districts are required to provide high-quality professional development to classroom teachers, principals, administrators and other school/community-based personnel in order to improve the instruction and assessment of LEP students.

Title VI, Part B - Rural Education Achievement Program (REAP)
The Rural Education Achievement Program (REAP) is designed to assist rural school districts in using federal resources more effectively to improve the quality of instruction and student academic achievement. REAP is divided into two sections: Small Rural School Achievement (SRSA) Program and Rural Low-Income Schools (RLIS) Program. To qualify for SRSA, a school district must have an average daily attendance of less than 600 students and only serve schools with a locale code of 7 or 8 as assigned by the USED's National Center for Education Statistics. To qualify for RLIS, the school district must have twenty percent (20%) or more of the children ages 5 to 17 served by the school district from families with incomes below the poverty line as determined by the USED's census data, all schools served must have a locale code of 6, 7, or 8, and the school district does not qualify for SRSA.

Elementary and Secondary School Counseling Demonstration Program
Montgomery County Schools has been selected to receive funding under the ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOL COUNSELING DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM.  The purpose of this highly competitive federal grant is to provide an additional school counselor for three elementary schools.  In addition, the program will provide a school psychologist to be shared among the three elementary schools.   The goal of the program is to promote positive youth development by providing opportunities for the development of strong relationships, leadership potential and self-efficacy skills.  The program will address all students in both the general population and areas of special needs.  The program will collect and analyze data in all areas of counseling services and evaluate annually the effectiveness and outcomes of those counseling services and activities.