ESRA: Comprehensive Centers

FY 2007 Program Performance Report

Strategic Goal 2
Other
ESRA, Title II, Section 203
Document Year 2007 Appropriation: $56,257

Program Goal: To improve student achievement in low-performing schools under

Objective 1 of 3: Improve the quality of technical assistance.
Measure 1.1 of 2: The percentage of all Comprehensive Centers' products and services that are deemed to be of h
qualified experts or individuals with appropriate expertise to review the substantive content of the products and serv
Actual
Year Target
(or date expected)
2006 Set a Baseline Not Collected Not Collected
2007 Set a Baseline (July 2008) Pending
2008 999 (July 2009) Pending
2009 999 (July 2010) Pending
2010 999 (July 2011) Pending
Source. U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Comprehensive
Centers, independent review panels.
Frequency of Data Collection. Annual
Target Context.

Data from the evaluation for 2007 will be used to establish the baseline and set annual targets.

Explanation.

Independent panel reviews will be conducted as part of a national evaluation of the program through an
ED contract with an outside firm.

Measure 1.2 of 2: The percentage of all Comprehensive Centers' products and services that are deemed to be of h
target audiences. (Desired direction: increase) 2059
Actual
Year Target
(or date expected)
2006 Set a Baseline Not Collected Not Collected
2007 Set a Baseline (July 2008) Pending
2008 999 (July 2009) Pending
2009 999 (July 2010) Pending
2010 999 (July 2011) Pending
Source. U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Comprehensive
Centers, surveys of target audiences.
Frequency of Data Collection. Annual

U.S. Department of Education 1 11/02/2007

Target Context. Data from the evaluation for 2007 will be used to establish the baseline and set annual
targets.
Explanation. Independent surveys of target audiences will be conducted as part of a national evaluation
of the program through an ED contract with an outside firm.

Objective 2 of 3: Technical assistance products and services will be used to improve results for
Measure 2.1 of 1: The percentage of all Comprehensive Centers' products and services that are deemed to be of h
target audiences. (Desired direction: increase) 2061
Actual
Year Target
(or date expected)
2006 Set a Baseline Not Collected Not Collected
2007 Set a Baseline (July 2008) Pending
2008 999 (July 2009) Pending
2009 999 (July 2010) Pending
2010 999 (July 2011) Pending
Source. U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Comprehensive
Centers, surveys of target audiences.
Frequency of Data Collection. Annual
Target Context. Data from the evaluation for 2007 will be used to establish the baseline and set annual
targets.
Explanation. Independent surveys of target audiences will be conducted as part of a national evaluation
of the program through an ED contract with an outside firm.

Objective 3 of 3: Improve the operational efficiency of the program

Measure 3.1 of 1: The percentage of Comprehensive Center grant funds carried over in each year of the project .
Actual
Year Target
(or date expected)
2006 40 Measure not in p
2007 30 15 Did Better Than
2008 20 (July 2008) Pending
2009 10 (July 2009) Pending
2010 10 (July 2010) Pending
Source. Submission by the grantees of their proposed budgets for carryover funds as part of their annual
performance reports.
Frequency of Data Collection. Annual
Data Quality.

Grantees submit their proposed budgets for expected carryover funds as part of their annual performance
reports 2 months before the end of the grant year. It is possible that unexpected events during the last 2
months of the grant year could cause an increase or decrease in carryover funds. However, using
proposed budgets for expected carryover funds appears to be more accurate than using the Grants
Administration and Payment System (GAPS) figures, because of long lag times before expenses incurred
during the grant year are billed, paid, and drawn down by the grantees through GAPS.

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Target Context. The long-range carry-over target is less than or equal to 10% of the funds awarded.
Based on the baseline data from 2006 (40 percent carry-over from Year 1 to Year 2 of the grants), the
Department set a decrease of 10 percentage points in the target each year, in order to reach 10 percent
carry-over by 2009 (10 percent carry-over from Year 4 to Year 5 of the grants).
Explanation. After completing the initial start-up activities in Year 1, the program succeeded in reducing
the cumulative carry-over funds from 40% at the end of Year 1 (FY 2006) to 15% at the end of Year 2 (FY
2007) through careful management by the grantees and monitoring by ED.

U.S. Department of Education 3 11/02/2007