Understand federal spending options. 

Often, states and districts can use federal funds to support more activities than they realize.  For example, we have helped clients use Title I funds to support curricular upgrades, school climate initiatives, college and career guidance programs, and other non-traditional uses of Title I funds in high-poverty Title I schools; Title II funds to support new teacher induction programs; and IDEA funds to support universal design for learning initiatives. 

Find and use flexibilities within federal law.

Federal education programs include flexibilities that can make implementation easier.  For example, we have helped clients take advantage of the option to consolidate money from federal, state, and local sources into one pool to support comprehensive school improvements in high-poverty Title I schools.

Draft documents and develop processes. 

Federal education programs are subject to many different rules that can make implementation challenging.  We help clients develop policies, operational procedures, monitoring protocols, checklists, internal staff guidance, and external guidance for subgrantees to support program implementation.

Minimize administrative burden and implement paperwork reduction initiatives.

The complexity of federal programs incentivizes states and districts to generate and maintain a lot of paperwork in order to document compliance.  We help clients strike an appropriate balance between documenting compliance and minimizing burden. For example, we have helped state clients shorten the applications districts must submit when applying for federal funds and redesign monitoring processes to reduce burdens on both the state and its districts.

Deliver trainings, workshops, and other types of professional development.

Running effective federal programs requires a high level of expertise.  We support clients with a variety of staff development initiatives including in-person or web-based trainings, interactive workshops to work through real-world problems of practice, and written guidance that breaks down complicated federal rules in easy to digest ways.

 Assess compliance risks. 

Recipients of federal funds are overseen by many different entities.  We help clients take stock of their current policies, procedures, and operations and help identify and address potential compliance risks.

 Address audit and monitoring findings.

We help clients review audit and monitoring findings to verify the findings are factually and legally accurate, respond where warranted, and, if needed, develop corrective actions to address deficiencies.