Grants and Other Financial Assistance Programs: FY2008

Even Start Family Literacy
Fund Code: 304-A

April 20, 2007

Dear Applicant:

As you know, the Even Start Program has experienced a severe decrease in funding. As a result of the federal funding cuts, Massachusetts will only be able to support three (3) to five (5) programs.

Given that all states must reduce Even Start programs, the United States Department of Education (USDOE) issued requirements and provided guidance as to how states must determine which programs are eligible to continue. If a state does not have sufficient funds to continue all projects, any programs in the last year of a funding cycle are not eligible for continuation. Since Massachusetts does not have sufficient funds to continue all programs, those programs in the last year of a funding cycle are not eligible to apply for continuation funds. If a state does not have sufficient funds to continue all projects that are in the middle of a funding cycle, the state must determine which of these existing programs should continue. Furthermore, any continuing programs are required to maintain levels of service and programming as required in the Even Start statute.

The USDOE further determined that past performance must be the primary criteria for continuing existing programs. Based on this guidance, Adult and Community Learning Services (ACLS) must use Even Start funding to support high performing programs. Additionally, ACLS will fund programs that have the capacity to implement a research-based model capable of yielding the strongest outcomes for parents and their children.

Continuation funding will be based on the following three criteria.

• Past Performance - Performance points from FY2004-2007 were assigned to a variety of outcomes including learning gains, pre/post test rates, average attended hours in each required program component, and enrollment rates. To ensure fairness, each program was assessed to establish the maximum number of points that it could achieve based on its program design (e.g., programs that served infants and toddlers were not held accountable for children's learning gains because there was no required assessment for infants and toddlers). The final performance points assigned to each program was calculated by determining what percent of the maximum points available to each program was achieved by that program. Performance points will account for 50 of the total 100 possible points towards continuation funding.

• Community Need - Consistent with the mission of Even Start to serve those most in need of services, each eligible community will be assigned points based on need. Factors that will be used to determine need points include rates of: adults who do not have a high school diploma; Limited English Proficient adults; unemployment, children eligible for free/reduced lunch or receive welfare or eligible for food stamps; and children who scored a warning/failing on Grade 3 MCAS Reading. Need points will account for 20 of the 100 points.

• Capacity to Implement a Research-based Model - The ability of Even Start programs to implement a research-based model will be evaluated through the continuation application process. The application process will account for 30 of the 100 points.

Given that only three (3) to five (5) programs will be funded, it is important to note that any program with 20 or fewer performance points is highly unlikely to be able to submit a continuation application that will prevail. ACLS will provide each program with its performance points and ranking via e-mail. I urge you strongly to carefully consider this before spending time preparing the continuation proposal.

In order to ensure that Even Start funding is used to support research-based programs that can demonstrate the effectiveness of integrated services for families, Adult and Community Learning Services sponsored a review of family literacy research. The goal of the research was to identify the critical elements of a family literacy program including those elements that should be present within each of the five required program components (Adult Education, Early Childhood Education, Interactive Literacy Activities, Home Visits and Parenting Education) to ensure effectiveness.

This research can be found at: http://www.doe.mass.edu/familylit/resources under Evidence-based Family Literacy Models.

Based on the results of the research, ACLS developed the Guidelines for Effective Comprehensive Family Literacy Programs. The Guidelines can be found at: http://www.doe.mass.edu/familylit/resources

Applicants must use both the research and the Guidelines in order to propose a model that will demonstrate effective family literacy programming.

On behalf of the many families that you serve, I want to express my sincerest appreciation and thanks for your commitment to family literacy and the work you and your team do every day. The challenges are many but the services you provide have changed the lives of those families forever.

Sincerely,
With Literacy in Mind.

Anne Serino
State Director