Title III, Part A - English Language Acquisition, Language Enhancement, and Academic Achievement Act
Intent & Purpose:
Title III, Part A provides supplemental resources to school districts to help ensure that children who are limited English proficient attain English proficiency at high levels in core academic subjects to meet state mandated achievement performance standards.
General Program Requirements:
To help ensure that children who are Emergent Bilingual (EB), including immigrant children and youth, attain English proficiency, reach high levels of academic achievement, and meet the same challenging State academic content and student academic achievement standards as are expected of their English-speaking peers.
Purposes of Title III, Part A are:
- to help ensure that children who are limited English proficient, including immigrant children and youth, attain English proficiency, develop high levels of academic attainment in English, and meet the same challenging state academic content and student academic achievement standards as all children are expected to meet;
- to assist all Limited English Proficient children, including immigrant children and youth, to achieve at high levels in the core academic subjects so that those children can meet the same challenging state academic content and student academic achievement standards as all children are expected to meet, consistent with section 1111(b)(1);
- to develop high-quality language instruction educational programs designed to assist state educational agencies, local educational agencies, and schools in teaching Limited English Proficient children and serving immigrant children and youth;
- to assist state educational agencies and local educational agencies to develop and enhance their capacity to provide high-quality instructional programs designed to prepare Limited English Proficient children, including immigrant children and youth, to enter all-English instruction settings;
- to assist state educational agencies, local educational agencies, and schools to build their capacity to establish, implement, and sustain language instruction educational programs and programs of English language development for Limited English Proficient children;
- to promote parental and community participation in language instruction educational programs for the parents and communities of Limited English Proficient children;
- to streamline language instruction educational programs into a program carried out through formula grants to state educational agencies and local educational agencies to help Limited English Proficient children, including immigrant children and youth, develop proficiency in English, while meeting challenging state academic content and student academic achievement standards;
- to hold state educational agencies, local educational agencies, and schools accountable for increases in English proficiency and core academic content knowledge of Limited English Proficient children by requiring demonstrated improvements in the English proficiency of Limited English Proficient children each fiscal year;
- adequate yearly progress for Limited English Proficient children, including immigrant children and youth, as described in section 1111(b)(2)(B); and
- to provide state educational agencies and local educational agencies with the flexibility to implement language instruction educational programs, based on scientifically based research on teaching Limited English Proficient children, that the agencies believe to be the most effective for teaching English.
P.L 107-110, Section 3102
Contact Information
Berta Sepulveda
Director of Emergent Bilingual
T: (325)947-3838 x798
Title III Accountability
Under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as reauthorized under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), local education agencies (LEAs) that receive Title III, Part A funding for English language acquisition programs are held accountable for their English language learners’ (ELLs) achievement in learning the English language. Each spring in Texas, ELLs, also identified in statute as limited English proficient (LEP), are assessed using the Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System (TELPAS). Note that the descriptors “English language learner” and “limited English proficient” may be used interchangeably. The achievement of each Title III-funded LEA’s ELL student population is measured against the state's achievement standards known as the Annual Measurable Achievement Objectives (AMAOs). Each Title III-funded LEA must meet all of the AMAOs to receive an overall AMAO status of ‘Met.’ The Title III, Part A accountability system includes three AMAOs for measuring student achievement as follows:
- AMAO 1 Progress – Measures how many of the LEA’s ELLs have made progress in learning English; an ELL’s progress is demonstrated with an increase of at least one overall proficiency level, when his/her current year’s TELPAS Composite Rating is compared to that of the most recent prior year.
- AMAO 2 Attainment – Measures how many of the LEA’s ELLs have become proficient in English; an ELL’s attainment is demonstrated when the student receives a TELPAS Composite Rating of Advanced High.
- AMAO 3 ELL Accountability (System Safeguards) – Measures how many of the LEA’s ELLs have met the performance and participation targets in Reading/English Language Arts and Mathematics as part of the State’s student academic achievement standards.
Program Funds
Title III funds are expended by San Angelo Independent School District by employing Emergent Bilingual (EB) tutors to assist the Emergent Bilingual (EB) students on the campuses with the greatest need.