Over the past three years, the Council of Chief State School Officers has consistently made efforts to support states in implementing Supplemental Educational Services (SES) and other key provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). SES is a new provision under the Title I, Part A of NCLB. According to the law, low-achieving, disadvantaged students attending schools that do not make adequate yearly progress for three consecutive years (i.e., schools are in their second year of improvement) are eligible to receive supplemental educational services. State responsibilities include:
- States are responsible for developing objective criteria for approving supplemental service providers (SSPs), maintaining a list of eligible providers, updating provider information, and disseminating this information to districts and to parents. Parents then choose the SSP for their children from among the providers approved by the state for their school district.
- States must also develop, implement, and publicly report on standards and techniques for monitoring the quality and effectiveness of services offered by approved supplemental educational services providers.
CCSSO provides technical assistance to support states in their efforts to effectively implement SES and ensure that students are being served by high-quality programs.
The Council initially assisted states by developing a draft list of potential supplemental service providers in 2002. Programs included on the list were selected based on their history of working with academically at-risk students attending low-performing schools.
In June 2002, the Council, in collaboration with the Education Quality Institute (EQI - now a part of the American Institutes for Research), developed and broadly disseminated a SES Toolkit for states to utilize in implementing SES at the state level. The Toolkit included an overview of legislative requirements, a common application form, and checklists for use in reviewing provider applications. The toolkit can be found at http://www.ccsso.org/content/pdfs/SSPToolkit.pdf
The Council has provided ongoing technical assistance by collaborating with the C.S. Mott Foundation and the US Department of Education to convene meetings for state education agency staff focused on implementation concerns. These meetings have provided state administrators of the Supplemental Educational Services and 21st century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) with an opportunity to discuss implementation challenges and successes, hear timely federal updates, consider how 21st CCLC and SES might be aligned at the state level, and network with their peers. The 2005 meeting took place in Arlington,Virginia on March 29 - 30. For additional meeting details, including an agenda, participant lists and resource documents, please click on the following link http://www.publicengagement.com/SEA05/resources.htm
CCSSO will plan and convene quarterly audioconferences for state education agency staff that administer the 21st CCLC and SES programs in order to foster continuous dialogue between states around the role of SEAs in promoting high-quality, SES and afterschool programs. Additional information, including call topics and dates, will be available on this webpage in the near future. These audioconferences will be open to all state education agency staff.
The Council also created SuppNet, a listserv for state staff to share advice, tools and related resources. Council staff uses the listserv to share information, promising practices, documents, and key developments related to supplemental services. The listserv also serves as a means for US Department of Education and other national stakeholders to respond directly to requests for information from states and to convey pertinent and timely information. To join the SuppNet listserv send an email request to Ayeola Fortune at ayeolaf@ccsso.org.
For additional information regarding Council activities in the area of Supplemental Educational Services, contact Ayeola Fortune at ayeolaf@ccsso.org.
Chiefline
