Evaluation of Flexibility Under No Child Left Behind: Volume III: The Rural Education Achievement Program (REAP Flex)

摘要

This study focuses on flexibility provisions in the Rural Education Achievement Program (REAP) provision of NCLB. Specifically, it addresses REAP Flex, a program that allows rural districts additional control over how to spend portions of their federal funding. REAP Flex is part of a series of NCLB flexibility initiatives aimed at rural schools. REAP Flex is only one piece of the REAP. REAP consists of two major grant programs, one for small, rural districts known as the Small Rural School Achievement Program (SRSA) and another for low-income, rural districts called the Rural and Low-Income Schools Program (RLIS). SRSA has two parts: the SRSA grant program administered by the federal government and REAP Flex. For many small, rural school districts, the amount of formula-based program funding they receive from individual federal programs may be too small individually to support significant school improvements. The SRSA grant program aims to help these districts by increasing the amount of federal funds available to them. REAP Flex additionally allows these districts the opportunity to leverage their limited resources for more effective uses consistent with local needs. RLIS, on the other hand, is comprised solely of a state administered grant program intended for rural districts too large to be eligible for SRSA.