About Flap
Foreign Language Assistance Program (FLAP)
No Child Left Behind Act of 2001
Title V: Promoting Informed Parental Choice and Innovative Programs
Part D: Fund for the Improvement of Education
Subpart 9: Foreign Language Assistance Program, also known as the “Foreign Language Assistance Act of 2001”
Purpose: To improve the quality and extent of foreign language instruction, particularly in the Nations’ elementary schools.
Discretionary provisions authorize the Department to make 3-year grants to State Educational Agencies and Local Educational Agencies.
The grants pay the Federal share of the cost of innovative model programs for the establishment, improvement, or expansion of foreign language study for elementary and secondary school students.
Grants to Local Educational Agencies (LEA) support programs that:
Show the promise of being continued beyond the grant period
Demonstrate approaches that can be disseminated
May include a professional development component.
In order to build program capacity at the State and local level, cost sharing is required. The Federal share of the foreign language program for each fiscal year is restricted to 50%. If a local educational agency (LEA) designs a foreign language program for a total cost of $200,000 each fiscal year, it may request $100,000 in Federal funding each fiscal year and the match is $100,000.
Special consideration is given to applications describing foreign language programs that:
Include summer professional development
Link foreign language speakers in the community with schools
Promote the sequential study of a foreign language, beginning in elementary school
Effectively use technology
Promote innovative activities, such as foreign language immersion, partial immersion or content-based instruction
Are carried out through a consortium comprised of the agency receiving the grant and an elementary or secondary school
Background: In order to address the disparity between the need for and the limited number of programs teaching critical languages, we are proposing a priority that would provide Federal financial assistance to local educational agencies implementing elementary and secondary school projects that provide instruction in languages of major economic and political importance, such as Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Russian, and languages in the Indic, Iranian, and Turkic language families. In addition, the proposed priority provides that the projects it supports must establish, improve, or expand foreign language learning that occurs primarily during the traditional school day. Because these languages are not only less commonly taught, but also more difficult to learn, it is especially critical, if proficiency is to be obtained, that the rigorous and structured instruction be primarily carried out during the traditional school day. A project that
provides instruction only on weekends or after school is significantly less likely to result in student proficiency.
Further Information on FLAP Grants: Find and Apply for Grants - www.grants.gov
The U. S. Department of Education (ED) is transitioning to Grants.gov, a website that allows organizations and individuals to find and apply for grants electronically from all Federal grant-making agencies.
All potential applicants for ED grants should register early at Grants.gov. Through early registration, unexpected delays that could result in the rejection of applications will be avoided.
Resources: Periodically check the following website for funding updates: Click - Chart 1 http://www.ed.gov/fund/grant/find/edlite-forecast.html
The Office of English Language Acquisition, Language Enhancement, and Academic Achievement for Limited English Proficient Students (OELA)
http://www.ed.gov/offices/OELA
The National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition and Language instruction Educational Programs
http://www.ncela.gwu.edu/oela/OELAprograms/4_FLAP.htm
Grant making at ED
http://www.ed.gov/fund/grant/about/grantmaking/index.html
