In November, 2011, the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) submitted to the U. S. Department of Education (US ED) an application requesting flexibility through waivers of ten Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) requirements and their associated, regulatory, administrative and reporting requirements.  One of the ten requested waivers directly affected Supplemental Educational Services (SES).

For those Title I schools that were required to offer supplemental educational services (SES) due to a school improvement status, the waiver allows those Title I schools to no longer be required to offer SES under ESEA but rather offer a Flexible Learning Program (FLP) to provide eligible students academic intervention services designed by the LEA.

The Flexible Learning Program (FLP) is an alternative supplemental academic intervention that is required for Priority and Focus Schools. Title I Alert Schools may implement an alternative supplemental academic intervention FLP plan if the LEA chooses to do so.  FLP allows local educational agencies (LEAs) greater flexibility in designing an extended learning program tailored to meet the needs of the school to serve students requiring additional academic intervention.  FLP delivery modes may include tutoring, remediation and other educational interventions designed to increase the academic achievement of students in low-performing schools.  Supplemental FLP services may be provided during the school day using extended learning time or before/after school, on Saturdays, during intercessions, or during the summer.

 

Students from low-income families attending Title I Priority and Focus Schools are eligible to receive FLP services.  Local educational agencies (LEAs) are required to submit an FLP plan.  All FLP interventions must be conducted for a period of three years in the LEA’s Title I Priority and Focus Schools.

 

Priority Schools are those schools that rank among the lowest five percent of Title I schools in the State based on the achievement of the All Students group in terms of proficiency on the statewide assessments and have demonstrated lack of progress on those assessments over a number of years in the All Student groups (graduation rate less than 60 percent, Tier I or Tier II schools under the School Improvement Grants (SIG) program that are using SIG funds to implement a school intervention model.

 

Focus Schools are Title I-participating high schools with a graduation rate less than 60 percent over two years; or a Title I school that has the largest within-school gaps between the highest-achieving subgroup or subgroups and the lowest-achieving subgroup or subgroups or, at the high school level, has the largest within-school gaps in graduation rates (“within-school-gaps” Focus School).

 

Title I Alert Schools are Title I schools that fall into one of the following disaggregated subgroups or subject performance on statewide assessments and graduation rate (graduation alert, subgroup alert and/or subject alert).