Title IV-A , Student Support and Academic Enrichment (SSAE)

Contact information (Federal and State)

Dottie Heusman | 402-219-4802 | dottie.heusman@nebraska.gov

Title IV, Part A: Student Support and Academic Enrichment

Title IV, Part A, also known as Student Support and Academic Enrichment (SSAE), is part of the Every Student Succeeds Act reauthorization of the ESEA. The SSAE program is intended to improve students’ academic achievement by increasing the capacity of state educational agencies (SEA’s), local educational agencies (LEA’s), and local communities to provide all students with:

- Access to a well-rounded education
- Improve school conditions for student learning, safe and healthy students
- Effective use of technology to improve the academic achievement and digital literacy of all students

About the Title IV, Part A LEA Needs Assessment Tool

A needs assessment, in conjunction with stakeholder engagement, can help LEAs think strategically about the programs offered to their students. This Tool is structured to encourage LEAs to think first about the desired outcomes, then work backwards to identify the programs that will best serve those outcomes. Additionally, Title IV, Part A State Coordinators are required to ensure that LEAs receiving an award of $30,000 or greater conduct a comprehensive needs assessment that informs the selection of the proposed activities in their application. The Title IV, Part A statute requires that the needs assessment be completed once every three years.

The U.S. Department of Education has developed a comprehensive LEA needs assessment tool. Within this Tool, LEAs can enter district- and school-level outcome data (i.e., for selected schools identified by the LEA for Title IV, Part A funding). The Tool includes outcome-focused indicators. Collecting and analyzing outcome data during a needs assessment can help LEAs identify where their schools are facing challenges and stay focused on those outcomes as they implement their Title IV, Part A program. These indicators were chosen based on Title IV, Part A requirements, as well as the anticipated availability of data since many of the requested data points are used as part of federal and state reporting.

Title IV-A LEA Needs Assessment Tool 06.18.2019