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The primary purpose of Even Start Family Literacy Partnerships is to help break the cycle of poverty and illiteracy by improving the educational opportunities of low-income families with young children. The Even Start grant program provides federal support to help community partnerships offer intensive, integrated family literacy services with three interrelated goals:
Even Start Family Literacy projects must build on existing, high quality early childhood education, parent education and adult education services, facilitating service integration and intensity that will promote educational achievement of eligible children and adults. Even Start grant awards are used to intensify existing adult, early childhood, and parenting education instruction; close gaps in core component services; integrate program management, instruction, curriculum, and professional development; improve the quality of staff; and provide access to quality instructional services.
The following sections contain more specific details about the program and its requirements. Additional information and resources are available at: http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/evenstart/.
The Even Start Family Literacy program is authorized by Title I, Part B subpart 3 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as most recently amended by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB).
The term "family literacy services" is defined in federal statute as services provided to participants on a voluntary basis that are of sufficient intensity in terms of hours, and of sufficient duration, to make sustainable changes in a family, and that integrate all of the following instructional activities:
To qualify as an “eligible entity” for an Even Start Family Literacy grant, applicants must be a partnership comprised of:
An LEA must serve as the fiscal agent of the partnership.
The partnership or consortium must meet the following requirements:
The grant review process will give priority to applications that target services to:
Four-year grants will be awarded from September 1, 2008 until August 31, 2012. However, funding after the first year will be subject to:
Eligibility for families participating in Even Start programs is based on a low level of income and a low level of adult literacy or English language proficiency, as well as other locally determined factors that identify the family as most in need of services. Low income means that the gross family income is at or below the federal poverty guidelines for a family of that size. The federal poverty guidelines can be accessed at http://emsc33.nysed.gov/evenstart/policy-procedures/2007-08incomeeligibilityguidelines.htm.
Eligible children: Children at birth through age seven are eligible to participate in an Even Start Family Literacy program if their parent or parents are eligible for and participating in Even Start services.
Eligible adult: The parent or guardian of an eligible child either must be:
Low Literacy: To qualify as low literacy in New York State, an eligible adult must score at or below level 4 (472 or lower) on the BEST Plus, or score 8.9 or lower on the TABE in either reading or math. A TABE is not required for a teen parent who is pursuing a high school diploma, but the teen must meet the requirements for Academic Intervention Services (AIS), low level of income and the locally identified most in need criteria.
Required Participation: At least one eligible parent or guardian and one eligible child must participate to ensure the family receives all four (4) core family literacy components. Eligible participants may be enrolled in other high-quality programs to satisfy participation in one or more required core components.
Special Needs: The project must establish methods to serve individuals with special needs including individuals with limited English proficiency and individuals with disabilities. This must include a process to determine the need for a referral to necessary counseling, other developmental and support services and related services to maximize participation and attainment of program objectives.
Federal statute requires project applicants to engage in meaningful and timely consultation with private school officials to ensure that eligible families enrolled in private schools are given the same opportunity to participate in the Even Start project as their public school counterparts. Consultation must occur during the program design phase before the grant application is submitted. It should continue throughout program implementation. All aspects of such consultations must be documented. Even Start Family Literacy projects are expected to provide equitable services to private school students and their families, if those students are part of the target population and their families meet the both eligibility and most in need criteria for participation.
Fifteen (15) required program elements are specified in Section 1235 of Title I, Part B, Subpart 3 of ESEA. The following is a summary of the 15 elements. Additional information and guidance are available at http://www.ed.gov/programs/evenstartformula/index.html
Prior to enrollment, the project should ensure that each family member who may participate is fully ready to benefit from the program. This includes testing parents to ensure eligibility for services, referral to necessary counseling, other developmental and support services, and related services. The project must establish procedures to ensure that each family member is ready to commit to the entire four-component Even Start program (see Definition of Family Literacy on page 1) prior to enrolling them for program participation.
To maximize family participation and retention, the program schedule and location must be designed to accommodate the work schedules and other responsibilities of participants. This includes the provision or coordination of support services when necessary for full participation. However, the main focus of the Even Start program is the provision of high-quality instructional services and ensuring that participants make literacy gains.
Projects must offer high quality instructional services of sufficient intensity to promote the literacy gains of both adult and child participants. Each of the four core components is considered an instructional program. The below chart outlines the minimum hours of instruction for each component that the U.S. Department of Education recommends be offered by Even Start programs.
Component |
Hours of Instruction Offered Per Month |
Early Childhood - under 3 years of age |
60 |
Early Childhood - ages 3 and 4 |
65 |
Early Childhood - age 5 |
20 if Even Start is supplemental; |
Early Childhood - age 6 and up |
20 of supplemental instruction |
Adult Education |
60 |
Parenting Education & Interactive Literacy Activities |
20 |
Each project must meet the following staff qualification requirements for staff whose salaries are paid in whole or in part with Even Start funds. Staff that are not paid with Even Start funds, such as staff supported by collaborators or partners, are not subject to the requirements of this program element. However, whatever the funding source, projects should make a concerted effort to use the most highly qualified staff available.
Each project must provide professional development to ensure staff acquire the skills necessary to work with parents and young children in the full range of Even Start instructional services offered. Effective professional development includes activities that are high quality, sustained, intensive, and classroom-focused in order to have a positive and lasting impact on classroom instruction and the teacher's performance in the classroom. Professional development also may include a set of activities that produce a demonstrable and measurable effect on the quality of instruction and student academic achievement, including coaching and mentoring.
Each project must provide and monitor integrated instructional services to participating parents and children through home-based services. State policy requires a minimum of two hours of home-based instruction per family each month. These services should be designed to encourage the use and improvement of literacy skills in the home and communicate the message that the home is a child's first learning environment, just as the parent is the child's first teacher.
Federal statute requires an Even Start project to provide instructional services (activities with a literacy focus) on a year-round basis, ensuring sufficient continuity to maintain achievement and improve instructional gains of both adult and child learners. Projects are expected to provide some regularly scheduled summer services, though such services may be less intense than those offered during the school year. The program design should avoid significant gaps in programming. Preferably projects should be closed for no more than two weeks consecutively during the summer months. In general, projects should serve the same families during the school year and summer months.
The Even Start Family Literacy project must maximize coordination and integration of existing programs and services within the LEA and throughout the community such as the following:
Each project must use instructional programs based on scientifically based reading research for children and adults. The underlying premise of basing instructional programs on scientifically based reading research is that using strategies and techniques that are demonstrated to be effective through the application of scientific research methods will give projects a higher probability that children enter school prepared to learn to read and adults significantly improve their literacy skills, as well as their abilities to help their children succeed in school.
The project must identify methods to encourage participants to remain in the program a sufficient time to meet program goals. Each individual program must establish a policy of what is reasonable attendance for a family in order to achieve its educational goals and to remain as active participants in the program. If a family is not attending regularly, the project needs to work with the family to determine whether there are accommodations that would allow them to be active participants. If such attempts fail, the project should transition the family out of Even Start, perhaps to more suitable services, and recruit a family who is more committed or able to participate regularly.
Each project must base its reading readiness activities for preschool children on scientifically based reading research, to the extent available, to ensure children enter elementary school with the cognitive, language and early reading skills necessary for reading success. Research shows that the most effective ways to reach this goal include:
Each project must promote the continuity of family literacy, to the extent applicable, to ensure that individuals retain and improve their educational outcomes. Staff should coordinate activities in order to integrate and reinforce instruction and learning across components. Home-based instruction and other educational services supplementing in-school instruction provided through the early school years can be critical to sustaining gains made during the preschool years.
This relates to Program Element #1. Each project must ensure that it will serve those families most in need of Even Start activities and services. It is important to note the distinction between families that are considered "eligible" for Even Start services and those that meet the project's definition of families "most in need" of services. Families served by a project must be both eligible and most in need.
Each project must conduct an independent evaluation of the Even Start Family Literacy program to be used for program improvement. These evaluations provide local programs with critical information on participant achievement results and areas of program strength and weakness. Additional information on local evaluation, which can be found at http://emsc33.nysed.gov/evenstart/policy-procedures/home.htm.
Even Start Family Literacy must provide programs and services of sufficient duration and intensity to enable families (children and adults) to make sustainable changes in literacy and self-sufficiency. Participants in Even Start Family Literacy programs cannot be expected to make sustainable changes without the support of high quality programs. While a number of factors contribute to a high quality Even Start Family Literacy program, the following program indicators represent minimum requirements.
All programs receiving Even Start funds are required meet the state performance indicators that were developed based on the best available research and evaluation data. The performance indicators look closely at program outcomes with regard to participant outcomes for both children and adults. Federal statute requires that these performance indicators be used to monitor, evaluate, and improve Even Start programs within the state.
Information regarding the fourteen state performance indicators for parent literacy training (adult education), early childhood education and parenting education can be accessed at http://emsc33.nysed.gov/evenstart/performance/performancehome.htm.
The partnership must develop a cost-effective budget for the total project, including a detailed explanation of the federal share (Even Start grant) and local share. The local share should include contributions from adult education, parent education and early childhood education sources in providing services and reflect an on-going community commitment to sustaining integrated family literacy services. As previously stated, Even Start grant funds are to be used to intensify existing adult, early childhood, and parenting education instruction; integrate program management, instruction, curriculum, and professional development; improve the quality of instructional services and staff; and provide access to instructional services.
Maximum Grant Amount: It is anticipated that the federal share of the total project costs will range from $150,000 to $250,000 with an average grant award of $200,000. The Department estimates that there will be sufficient fiscal year 2008-09 funds for 6-10 new applications after funding continuation awards.
Applicants may be new partnerships or renewal partnerships (those reapplying at the end of a four-year cycle).
A partnership must designate an LEA as the sole fiscal agent for this grant. The partnership must clearly delineate the respective roles and functions of the partner agencies in planning, using, and documenting the fiscal resources received to provide high quality programs. All partner agencies must agree to all required assurances.
Local Share: The Even Start Family Literacy Partnership funding is comprised of both a Federal share and local share. The local share of the program may be provided in cash or through in-kind contributions, fairly evaluated, and may be obtained from any source, including other federal programs funded by ESEA. The project must secure the local share of the total project cost according to the following schedule:
Funding Year |
Federal Share |
Local Share |
Year 1 |
no more than 90 percent |
no less than10 percent |
Year 2 |
no more than 80 percent |
no less than 20 percent |
Year 3 |
no more than 70 percent |
no less than 30 percent |
Year 4 |
no more than 60 percent |
no less than 40 percent |
Years 5 – 8 |
no more than 50 percent |
no less than 50 percent |
Year 9 plus |
no more than 35 percent |
no less than 65 percent |
The federal share for an applicant whose partnership includes an agency that was a partner in a previous Even Start Family Literacy program may not exceed 50% in the first through eighth year.
The applicant is encouraged to document and report any and all contributions that are necessary and reasonable for accomplishing program objectives. The project must maintain records that verify cash and in-kind contributions including the date and source of the contribution and information on how in-kind value was determined.
(For more information on cost sharing, please refer to EDGAR 34 CFR Parts 74.33 or 80.24.)
Non- Allowable Activities and Costs: Federal Even Start grant funds and the local matching share may not be used for indirect costs. Indirect costs are considered to be general management costs for the direction and control of the grantee’s affairs that are organization-wide. Examples of indirect costs include accounting, payroll, personnel management, maintenance and fixed costs or contributions to fringe benefits associated with wages that are charged as indirect costs such as retirement, unemployment compensation, and property/employee/health/liability insurance.
Start-Up Period and Costs: New programs may include in the application a plan for a start-up period of up to three months before full implementation of the program is required. The Department encourages applicants to use the start-up period as a planning and preparation period to acquire and train staff, screen and recruit families most in need of family literacy services and coordinate the community resources necessary to provide an integrated family literacy program.
The New York State Education Department is required to establish a review panel to approve applications that are most likely to succeed, that are representative of both urban and rural regions of the State, and that show the greatest promise for providing models that may be adopted by other partnerships. Panels of three members each will review and evaluate each eligible application based upon the selection criteria. Review panels must include one early childhood professional, one adult education professional and one family literacy professional.
Each application will be reviewed and scored independently by panel members using the Proposal Evaluation Rubric (attached). A fourth review will be performed if there is a difference of at least 20 points between the highest and lowest scores. Final scores of the reviewers will be added and averaged. No application with an average final score of less than 75 will be considered for funding.
Priority will be given:
In making awards, proposals that meet the criteria for one of the above categories will be funded first. Applications will be ranked in order of final average score within these two categories. Unallowable and inappropriate items will be eliminated from proposed budgets (FS-20). Awards will be made in the amount of the budget, as adjusted, alternately to the highest-ranked proposals in each of the above two categories until the funds are insufficient to fund the next ranked proposal in full. If funds remain after all eligible applicants in the above two categories have been funded, the remaining funds will be used to fund other applicants in rank order of final average score. If funds are insufficient to fully fund the next ranking applicant, that applicant will be given the opportunity to operate a smaller program with the remaining funds. If the applicant declines, the funds will be offered to the next ranking applicant.
In the event that two or more applications receive the same final score, the applications will be ranked according to the final averaged scores received on the following section(s) of the Program Narrative in the following order: 1) Project Design; 2) Partnership/Collaboration; and 3) Project Personnel and Staff Development.
State law requires that the award of state contracts be made to responsible vendors. Before an award is made to a not-for-profit entity, a for-profit entity, a private college or university or a public entity not exempted by the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC), the Department must make an affirmative responsibility determination. The factors to be considered include: legal authority to do business in New York State; integrity; capacity- both organizational and financial; and previous performance. Before an award of $100,000 or greater can be made to a covered entity, the entity will be required to complete and submit a Vendor Responsibility Questionnaire. Although school districts and BOCES are exempted from Vendor Responsibility by OSC, a partner would be required to complete and submit a Vendor Responsibility Questionnaire if both of the following conditions exist: 1. the partner is a not-for-profit entity, a for-profit entity, a private college or university or a public entity not exempted by the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC); AND the partner’s share of the award is $100,000 or greater.
Vendors are invited to file the required Vendor Responsibility Questionnaire online via the New York State VendRep System. To enroll in and use the New York State VendRep System, see the VendRep System instructions at: http:\\www.osc.state.ny.us/vendrep/systeminit.htm or go directly to the VendRep System online at https://portal.osc.state.ny.us.
For direct VendRep System user assistance, the OSC Help Desk may be reached at 866-370-4672 or 518-408-4672 or by email at helpdesk@osc.state.ny.us.
Vendors opting to file a paper questionnaire can obtain the appropriate questionnaire from the VendRep website: http://www.osc.state.ny.us/vendrep/templates.htm or will receive it with the award letter.
Applications that do not adhere to these instructions will not be considered for review.
The original signature of the Superintendent or District Superintendent of the LEA that is the fiscal agent must appear on the Application Cover Page in blue ink.
Applicant information for all the partner agencies must be provided. Please make multiple copies of the Application Cover page to document all partner agencies.
Please check the applicable box to denote the type of applicant. Also, check the appropriate box that applies to the special population to be served.
Please submit one (1) original and three (3) copies.
Due Date: Applications must be postmarked by June 16, 2008.
Please use the attached Application Checklist to ensure that you send a complete application package. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed.
You must limit the Project Narrative (not including the Budget Narrative and Category Forms) to no more than 15 pages and use the following standards:
We will reject any application if:
You apply
these standards and exceed the page limit; or
You apply
other standards and exceed the equivalent of the page limit.
The application must include a Budget Category and Narrative Form for each category of expenditure (Professional Salaries, Support Staff Salaries, Purchased Services, Supplies and Materials, Travel Expenses, Employee Benefits, Indirect Cost, BOCES Services, Minor Remodeling, and Equipment) and a separate FS-20, Budget Summary Form available at http://www.oms.nysed.gov/cafe/forms.html .
The Budget Category and Narrative forms should include sufficient detail to allow reviewers to understand what the funds will be used for and the relationship between the proposed expenditures and project activities and goals. The totals on each Budget Category and Narrative form must correspond to amounts shown on the FS-20 Budget Summary. Please be sure to check your math.
General information on allowable costs and applicable federal costs principles and administrative regulations are available in the Fiscal Guidelines for Federal and State Aided Grants.
APPLICATION FORM AND SCORING RUBRIC (In Word)