Federal Programs Department
The Federal Programs Department coordinates federal and state academic support programs by working collaboratively with stakeholders and staff. The department provides compliance and budget guidance, resources and support directly to schools related to these programs and system and school improvement goals. Additionally, the department assists in the coordination of various grants and the system’s Charter.
Director of Federal Programs – Mr. Greg Petersen
Office: 706-602-6620
Secretary for Federal Programs – Mrs. Jan Monsour
Office: 706-602-6655
Program Descriptions
Title I Part A
Title I is a part of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). This act provides federal funds through the Georgia Department of Education to local educational agencies (LEAs) and public schools with high numbers or percentages of economically disadvantaged students to help ensure that all children meet challenging State academic content and student academic achievement standards. Currently, all the schools that make up the Calhoun City School System operate as Title I Schoolwide schools: (Calhoun Primary School. Calhoun Elementary School, Calhoun Middle School and Calhoun High School)
Funds from this program are used to provide students with supplemental core academic instructional support, additional paraprofessional academic support, supplemental instructional materials and parent involvement initiatives that support Title I Schoolwide Improvement Plans. One of the major tenets of the Title I program is to increase and maintain parental involvement in the school. The purpose of parental involvement under Title I, is to promote active engagement among local school officials and staff, education leaders, technical assistance providers, parents, parent advocacy organizations, parental involvement coordinator/liaisons, and others working to improve student achievement and learning. Each school has a Title I Family Engagement Specialist who assists parents with navigating the educational system by acting as a liaison, serving on improvement committees and operating a parent resource center.
Title II Part A
Title II Part A focuses on preparing, training and recruiting high-quality teachers and principals and requires States to develop plans with annual measurable objectives that will ensure that all teachers teaching in core academic subjects are highly qualified.
Title II Part D
Title II Part D (Ed Tech) focuses on improvement of academic achievement through the use of technology at selected Title I schools.
Goals include:
· to improvement student academic achievement through the use of technology in elementary and secondary schools;
· to assist every student in crossing the digital divide by ensuring that every student is technology literate by the time the student finishes the eighth grade, regardless the student’s race, ethnicity, gender, family income, geographic location, or disability;
· to encourage the effective integration of technology resources and systems with teacher training and curriculum development to establish research-based instructional methods that can be widely implemented as best practices by other local school systems.
Title III - LEP
The English Language Acquisition, Language Enhancement, and Academic Achievement Act, as reauthorized by the 2001 amendments to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act is a federally funded educational program. The purpose of Title III is to ensure that limited English proficient (LEP) students, including immigrant children and youth, develop English proficiency and meet the same academic content and academic achievement standards that other children are expected to meet. Funds are used to implement language instruction educational programs designed to help LEP students achieve these standards. State educational agencies (SEAs), local educational agencies (LEAs), and schools are accountable for increasing the English proficiency and core academic content knowledge of LEP students.
Title IV Drug-Free Schools and Communities
The Title IV Drug-Free Schools and Communities Program provides opportunities to address the needs of parents, businessmen, and schools in the prevention of drug and alcohol abuse.
Migrant Education Program
The Migrant Education Program, a component of Title I, is a federally funded educational program for the students whose parents move across school district boundaries seeking temporary or seasonal work in agriculture or fishing. Eligibility must be verified prior to a child’s participation in the program.