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EETT Competitive: Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for the Enhancing Education Through Technology Competitive (EETT C).

FAQs Table of Contents

Eligibility

  1. Who is eligible to compete and apply for the EETT C grant?
    Answer: School districts, county offices of education, and direct-funded charter schools that serve students in grades four through eight; and have the highest number or percentage of children from families with an income level that is below the poverty line as established by the federal Director of the Office of Management and Budget.

    In addition to the poverty threshold, the LEA must also:

    Operate one or more schools identified for program improvement or corrective action under Section 1116 of the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (Public Law 107-110), OR Have a substantial need for assistance in acquiring and using technology, defined as having an average greater than 10:1 student-to-computer ratio for the schools serving grades four through eight or has less than 50 percent of its classrooms connected to the Internet in schools serving grades four through eight.
  1. How is the "poverty line" defined?
    Answer: For purposes of this program, the term “poverty line” means the poverty line (as defined by the Office of Management and Budget and revised annually in accordance with section 673(2) of the Community Services Block Grant Act) applicable to a family of the size involved (ESEA Section 9101(33)). See the U.S. Census Web site (Outside Source).
  2. Our LEA was awarded an EETT C grant in a previous round. Are we eligible to apply for this round of the EETT C?
    Answer: Yes.
  3. May an eligible LEA participate in both formula and competitive EETT grants?
    Answer: Yes.
  4. Are charter schools eligible for EETT C funding?
    Answer: Yes, direct-funded charter schools are eligible to apply directly for an EETT C grant. Locally funded charter schools can apply as part of their authorizing school district's application.
  5. Can an LEA that filed an application for the 2009 ARRA EETT C in October 2009 substitute that application for the Round 9 EETT C?
    Answer    : An eligible applicant who submitted an application for the ARRA EETT C in October of 2009 may choose to substitute that score from that application for use in Round 9 of the EETT C. The scores from the October 2009 ARRA EETT C applications and the scores from new Round 9 applicants will be merged for ranking and awarding purposes.

    LEAs choosing to use their October 2009 ARRA EETT C score will only need to submit the one page Form 1- Application Title Page. If the LEA is awarded a Round 9 EETT C grant, the following forms must be filed to reflect program and budget changes due to the smaller Round 9 grant amounts:

  1. Are schools that were previously funded in prior EETT C rounds eligible for round 9 EETT C funding?
    Answer: Yes, just list the participating schools on Form 6.

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Funding

  1. How does an LEA calculate its EETT C grant award?
    Answer: An LEA grant amount is based on $300 per student in grades four through eight at the schools listed on Form 6 of the application. An LEA funding level is limited to 60% of its region’s allotment, but can be no lower than $25,000.
  2. Must the EETT C grant be spent over two years?
    Answer: EETT funding for Round 9 must be spent by 9/30/2012.
  3. Must an Ed Tech grant recipient use a portion of its funds to support specific types of activities?
    Answer: Yes. LEA must use at least 25 percent of its funds to provide ongoing, sustained, and intensive, high-quality professional development (PD) for both formula and competitive grant funds. The recipient must provide PD in the integration of advanced technologies, including emerging technologies, into curricula and instruction and in using those technologies to create new learning environments.
  4. What other activities are allowable with EETT funds?
    Answer: In implementing its approved technology plan, an LEA may use EETT funds to support activities such as –

Further, funds are to be used to implement and support the comprehensive program described in the application in a manner consistent with EDGAR (Outside Source), under Title 34 Education and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) which oversees and coordinates the Administration's procurement, financial management, information, and regulatory policies (Outside Source).

  1. What are some examples of expenses that qualify as PD for EETT C?
    Answer: Examples include:
  1. Can grant funds be used to support specific electronic learning assessment resources (ELARs) that allow analysis of target student assessment data?
    Answer: Yes, as long as the ELARs purchased are part of the comprehensive program for target students and has been clearly detailed in the application.
  1. What state statute governs EETT C funding?
    Answer: Assembly Bill 2706 (Berg, Chapter 681/2004) became effective 7/1/2005:
  1. What process and scoring will be used to determine how LEAs will be awarded an EETT C grant?
    Answer: Grants will be awarded competitively on a geographic basis to the eleven California Technology Assistance Project (CTAP) regions. The following process will be used to determine which applications and which schools will be funded within each CTAP region:
  1. Is this a district or a site-based application? Do the grant award funds have to be divided equally among all the eligible sites in the application?
    Answer: The EETT C grant is a district grant. The grant award does not have to be divided equally among all the eligible sites in the application. The LEA grant award is based on the latest CBEDS for grades 4-8 at each school designated on Form 6. If the district is partially funded, the schools will be funded in the order listed by the district on Form 6.
  2. May grant funds be used for programs that benefit non-target classrooms or non-target staff?
    Answer: No, targeted students, classrooms, and teachers must be granted priority access to all resources and activities funded by this EETT C grant. Costs incurred by providing services to non-targeted students, classrooms, and teachers to participate in EETT C funded activities and use EETT C funded resources should not be charged to the EETT C grant.
  3. May EETT C grant funds be used for grant administration?
    Answer: Yes. However, any costs to be included for grant administration must comply with federal regulations: Education Department General Administrative Regulations (Outside Source).

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Private School Equitable Participation

  1. Do the equitable participation requirements of Title IX of the ESEA apply to the EETT C program?
    Answer: Yes. The equitable participation requirements do apply to the EETT C program. (ESEA Section 9501(b)(1).)
  2. What do the equitable participation provisions require LEAs to do?
    Answer: LEAs must engage in timely and meaningful consultation with appropriate private school officials during the design and development of programs and continue the consultation throughout the implementation of these programs. Therefore, for both EETT formula and competitive awards, the consultation should begin during the development of the local grant proposals.
    LEAs must provide, on an equitable basis, special educational services or other benefits that address the needs under the program of children, teachers, and other educational personnel in private schools in areas served by the LEAs. Expenditures for educational services and other benefits for private school children, teachers, and other educational personnel must be equal, taking into account the number and educational needs of the children to be served, to the expenditures for participating public school children.
  3. How does the LEA know which private schools to include as part of its equitable participation requirement of the grant?
    Answer: For purposes of EETT C grant, private schools must be located within the service area of the LEA and serve students in grades four through eight. Also, eligible private schools are usually identified on the Consolidated Application.
  4. Are private schools entitled to receive EETT funds?
    Answer: No, generally LEAs provide comparable services and goods with a qualified private school or schools. No funds are given to the private schools by the LEAs. The goods and/or services are shared with private schools as agreed upon through consultation. The LEA does not receive extra funds to provide services to the private schools.
  5. If a large school district forms a consortium with a small school district, will the LEAs application be eligible for small school district priority scoring?
    Answer    : No, pursuant to the intent of AB 2706, only applications submitted by a defined small school district or a consortium of small school districts are entitled to receive priority scoring.
  6. How are grant awards determined for a consortium application?
    Answer    : Grant awards will be based on the total allocation for all eligible school districts within the consortium. Grants will be awarded to the designated lead school district applying within the consortium. Consortium members that are not eligible to apply independent of the LEA will not be funded.

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Partnerships & Consortiums

  1. Can my school district submit several applications for this round, one as a school district and the other as part of a consortium?
    Answer: No. Eligible LEAs can only submit one application per round. The application can be either a single school district application or as part of a consortium application.
  2. What is an eligible local partnership?
    Answer: An “eligible local partnership” is a partnership that includes at least one high-need LEA and at least on of the following:

The partnership may also include other LEAs, educational service agencies, libraries, or other educational entities appropriate to provide local programs.

  1. What is to be included on Form 7 of the EETT C application?
    Answer: If applicable, the Form 7 must list all consortium members and partners. A partnership letter should also be included for support documentation. The letters need to be on the partner's letterhead and should summarize how the partnership supports the EETT program and how it is mutually beneficial to the partner and the LEA. A letter must be included for each partner listed on Form 7 and must be signed by the lead contact for each partnership and included in the original and all copied applications submitted.
  2. On Form 7, if the LEA listed a partner that does not have a CDS code (such as an IHE or nonprofit), what should be listed as the CDS code?
    Answer: Leave the field for the CDS code blank.

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Application and EETT Requirements

  1. Are there minimum growth targets required for the EETT program objectives on Form 3?
    Answer: No. The LEA is expected to set challenging, yet achievable growth targets based on the major needs of the LEA. LEAs should incorporate their approved education technology plans; current LEA curriculum and instruction programs and planning documents; and baseline technology integration proficiencies and academic achievement data from the targeted groups, in developing program and growth target objectives.
  2. Are changes in the implementation, projected objectives, and benchmarks allowed during the grant period?
    Answer: Yes, however, the LEA must obtain approval from the CDE by filing a Program Modification Request (PMR) form before any changes in implementation, objectives, or benchmarks can be made. PMR forms are located on the CDE Web site.
  3. How is the student to computer ratio determined?
    Answer: The student to computer ratio is calculated by dividing the number of targeted students identified in the LEAs application by the number of computers that are less than four years old and accessible to the targeted students in their classrooms.
  4. Where can an LEA obtain data to calculate the student to computer ratios for targeted classrooms?
    Answer: The LEA can either check its existing records of student to computer ratios in targeted classrooms or perform an updated inventory of eligible computers in the targeted classrooms.
  5. Can mobile and stationary computer labs be included when determining student to computer ratios?
    Answer: Mobile and stationary computer labs that are specifically created for or dedicated to the target students during the EETT C program can be included. However, if targeted students do not have dedicated access to these computers, then the computers should not be included in the student to computer ratios.
  6. Can electronic learning resources (ELRs) be used to support the EETT C grant program?
    Answer: Yes, but use of ELRs and how they are funded must be addressed in the Project Narrative.
  7. Is there a competitive advantage for an LEA to choose one research-based program over another?
    Answer: No, there is no competitive advantage to the selection of any particular research-based model or strategies. The scoring of the grant will be based on the criteria in the EETT Scoring Criteria rubric. LEAs should choose or develop a research-based program that meets the needs of target students and teachers and that is based on a review of relevant research.
  8. The EETT - C Grant requires the LEA meet at least 70 percent of the growth target for each objective as a condition to be eligible to receive one-time follow up funding. How is the growth target calculated?
    Answer: Growth target is defined as the percentage difference between the baseline and projected outcome as listed on Form 3. In order to be eligible for follow-up funds, the LEA must meet at least 70 percent of the projected growth target for each objective. For example: If the LEA objective is to improve teacher technology literacy from a baseline of 10% to 30% by the end of the second year, the projected growth target for the objective is 20 percent over two years (30%-10%=20%). To achieve at least 70 percent of the projected growth, the LEA baseline must improve by at least 14% (70% x 20%= 14%). Teacher technology literacy must improve from 10% to at least 24% by the end of the second year.
  9. When the LEAs EETT C program ends, can the technology purchased with EETT C funds be used at the LEA’s discretion?
    Answer: Yes, at the conclusion of the EETT C grant program, the LEA owns the technology and can use it anywhere in the LEA at its discretion.

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Questions: William Fong | bfong@cde.ca.gov | 916-322-5894 
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