Issue 1: State process for awarding competitive subgrants, including timelines, selection criteria and priorities.
The projected timeline for the 21st CCLC subgranting process is as follows:
The selection criteria:
Hawaii, in its first year of implementation, will closely follow the federal guidelines and use the model of the federal review process. We have requested assistance from CCSSO and the Comprehensive Center for a grant application template and will develop the selection criteria based on the application form. We have also organized a stakeholder group that is meeting to discuss the application process and timeline and will be giving input and be involved in conducting the Bidder’s Conference.
The priorities:
Priority will be given to grant applications that include a complex of schools that include a high percentage of students from low income families and that support the needs of the K-12 range of schools. The vast majority of Title I schools in Hawaii are designated as schoolwide projects. Competitive priority will be given to schools that are identified in need of improvement or corrective action.
Issue 2: Description of the review process
Hawaii’s review process will be conducted by a group that represents the various stakeholder groups for schools and
communities who support extended learning opportunities for students, especially those in low-achieving schools. An initial
group that includes representatives of the Hawaii Community Education Association, a retired principal, a principal of a
school awarded a grant in the first cohort of the 21st CCLC program, representatives from 21st CCLC project directors, and
a representative from the Governor’s office, are meeting to design the subgranting process, of which the review process
is a significant component.
After the Bidder’s Conference, the Hawaii Department of Education will solicit representatives of the stakeholder
groups to serve on the review panel. All reviewers will be involved in a training session to ensure understanding of the
selection criteria and the ability to fairly review, rate, and rank applications.
Issue 3: Range of grant amounts the State will award
The Hawaii Department of Education determined that the “average” grant will be approximately $150,000 per school in the project. This amount was based on the information shared by the U.S. Department of Education technical assistance staff. However, depending on the context and circumstances of schools and communities to deliver adequate programs and services to participants, awards may be more than $150,000 per school. The review panel will carefully review the budget submitted in each grant application to determine an amount that would be needed to successfully implement the 21st CCLC project for the particular school(s) and community. Criteria will be developed by the stakeholder group involved in developing the subgranting process.
Projects awarded 21st CCLC grants are assured full funding for 3 years, with the fourth year declining to 75 percent with the same level of services/students, and the fifth year, declining to 50 percent with the same level of services/students.
Hawaii will assure that the no awards will be below $50,000 in the fifth year of the grant award.
Issue 4: Description of how the State will monitor and provide professional development and technical assistance to subgrantees.
The Hawaii Department of Education has developed a complex area/state support system called the Critical Ally Team (CAT), which will be directed by the Complex Area Superintendent to help every school in the complex area. The CAT, as explained in the document included in the Appendix, provides long-term assistance to schools in a comprehensive way. Rather than a one time monitoring visit or a technical assistance workshop, the CAT is a team of complex area/state support staff as well as “experts” from community organizations who can target relevant assistance that impacts the identified needs in the school. Project personnel may participate in various professional development and technical assistance sessions, which will be provided by the 21st CCLC state coordinator and community partners, but the CAT will assist in monitoring the impact of the project on results in student achievement.
Local grantees (projects) will also be included in integrated monitoring visits, especially for Title I schoolwide schools.
The State 21st CCLC program, in collaboration with the Comprehensive Center and other consultants, will be offering technical assistance workshops in areas where projects experience difficulty, such as evaluation of program goals and objectives, and alignment with student achievement results.
Issue 5: Description of strategies the State will use to determine satisfactory progress, how data will be used to determine how well projects are meeting State performance targets, and the actions the State will take for subgrantees not making substantial progress.
The Hawaii State Department of Education will annually evaluate continuing subgrantees based on their evaluation plan, which must include annual outcome based data on program and performance indicators of effectiveness, state assessment data on achievement of state standards for participating schools, behavioral and student support indicators, and qualitative data on program implementation/operation.
If a project, or selected schools within a project do not make substantial progress, the school will be directed to revisit its Standards Implementation Design (SID) to analyze why there was little or no impact of the project activities on student achievement of state standards. If the school is a Title I school in need of improvement or corrective action, the analysis of the impact of 21st CCLC should be conducted within that context. The revision of the SID may require an amendment to the 21st CCLC project application.
Issue 6: Assurance of compliance with the September 2003 reporting date.
Hawaii will assure that it will comply with the September 2003 reporting date of baseline data on student performance of schools participating in 21st CCLC projects.