TS 2026 New Program Profile Sheet 3-12-26.pdf

Instructions: All applicants must complete this page. The completed page must be attached to the Other Attachments Form in the application package in Grants.gov (as a .pdf document) in the application. DO

NOT MODIFY OR AMEND THE CONTENTS OF THIS PAGE.

1. Applicants currently funded under the Talent Search Program (FY 2021-2026) must provide their current grant award number. This can be found in Block 5 of the Grant Award Notification. New applicants should leave this item blank.

PR/Award Number (Current Grantees Only please provide the last six digits of your current

PR#): P044A

Is this application that’s being submitted designated to receive prior experience: Yes_ No__

2. State/Institution/Agency/Organization/School (Legal Name):

3. All applicants must indicate the address where this project will be physically located.

Project Address:

City, State, Zip Code

4. Multiple applications submitted: No: Yes: How many?

5. Application addresses Priorities (check all that apply):

Note: See pages 6 and 7 of the Application Notice and Instructions to review the full language of each priority. Narratives for the Absolute and Invitational Priorities, and a letter from the State’s governor stating that the application is designated for the CPP, should be included under Other Attachments.

I. Absolute Priority- Expanding Education Choice ___ Projects or proposals that will do one or more of the following:

a. Expand access to education services that accelerate learning such as high-impact tutoring ___

b. Expand access to one or more of the following at the high school or postsecondary level:

distance education, pre-apprenticeships, or Registered Apprenticeships, including apprenticeships for in-school or out-of-school youth ___

c. Expand access to programs or coursework that lead to in-demand, industry-recognized postsecondary credentials ___

II. Competitive Preference Priority- Returning Education to the States ___ Projects or proposals that will be carried out by one or more of the following:

a. State educational agencies ___

b. State workforce development agencies or boards ___

2026 TALENT SEARCH PROGRAM PROFILE FORM

c. State higher education agencies ___

d. An Indian Tribe, Tribal organization, or Tribal educational agency ___

III. Invitational Priority- Talent Marketplaces ___

6. List the target schools and estimated number of participants to be served at each school:

(1) (8)

(2) (9)

(3) (10)

(4) (11)

(5) (12)

(6) (13)

(7) (14) Note: The project must be located in a setting accessible to the individuals the project proposes to serve. Add an additional page to list target schools, if needed.

7. Provide the total number of proposed participants to be served each year:

(Note: Projects are expected to serve a minimum of no less than 500 participants annually and the same number of participants, each year. Two-thirds of the participants served must be low-income, first-generation college students).

8. Program Objectives:

Please fill in the proposed percent for each objective.

Note: These are the same objectives that MUST be stated in Part III -- Project Narrative section of your application when addressing the Objectives and the Evaluation criteria.

A. Secondary School Persistence: % of non-senior participants served each project year will complete the current academic year and continue in school for the next academic year, at the next grade level.

B. Secondary School Graduation (regular secondary school diploma): __________% of seniors served during the project year will graduate during the project year with a regular secondary school diploma within the standard number of years.

C. Secondary School Graduation (rigorous secondary school program of study): % of seniors served during the project year will complete a rigorous secondary school program of study and will graduate during the project year with a regular secondary school diploma within the standard number of years.

D. Postsecondary Education Enrollment: % of participants, who have graduated with a regular secondary school diploma, during the project year, will enroll in an institution of higher education by the fall semester immediately following high school graduation or will have received notification, by the fall semester immediately following high school, from an institution of higher education, of acceptance but deferred enrollment until the next academic semester (e.g. spring semester).

E. Postsecondary Attainment: % of participants served during the project year, who enrolled in an institution of higher education, by the fall semester immediately following high school graduation or by the next academic semester (e.g. spring semester) as a result of acceptance but deferred enrollment will complete a program of postsecondary education within six years.

Please note the following definitions:

Graduation in a standard number of years: means the attainment of a regular secondary school diploma at the conclusion of, before the conclusion of, or during the summer immediately following a participant’s fourth year of high school, unless a high school begins after ninth grade, in which case the standard number of years is the number of grades in the school.

Enrolled: a participant who has completed the registration requirements (except for the payment of tuition and fees) at the institution that he or she is attending.

Acceptance but Deferred Enrollment: a participant has received an acceptance letter from the institution that he or she will attend, but cannot enroll in the fall semester immediately following high school graduation for reasons determined by the institution. The institution defers enrollment until the next semester.

Regular Secondary School Diploma: means a level attained by individuals who meet or exceed the coursework and performance standards for high school completion established by the individual’s state.

Rigorous Secondary School Program of Study: means a program of study that is--

(1) Established by a state educational agency (SEA) or local educational agency (LEA) and recognized as a rigorous secondary school program of study by the Secretary through the process described in 34 CFR 691.16(a) through 691.16(c) for the ACG Program; or

(2) An advanced or honors secondary school program established by States and in existence for the 2004-2005 school year or later school years; or

(3) Any secondary school program in which a student successfully completes at a minimum the following courses:

(i) Four years of English.

(ii) Three years of mathematics, including algebra I and a higher-level class such as algebra II, geometry, or data analysis and statistics.

(iii) Three years of science, including one year each of at least two of the following courses: biology, chemistry, and physics.

(iv) Three years of social studies.

(v) One year of a language other than English; or

(4) A secondary school program identified by a State-level partnership that is recognized by the State Scholars Initiative of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE), Boulder, Colorado; or

(5) Any secondary school program for a student who completes at least two courses from an International Baccalaureate Diploma Program sponsored by the International Baccalaureate Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, and receives a score of a “4” or higher on the examinations for at least two of those courses; or

TS Program Profile continued

(6) Any secondary school program for a student who completes at least two Advanced Placement courses and receives a score of “3” or higher on the College Board’s Advanced Placement Program Exams for at least two of those courses.

Postsecondary Attainment: completion of a program of postsecondary education that has led to a certificate, associate or baccalaureate degree.

Institution of Higher Education: means an educational institution as defined in sections 101 and 102 of the HEA.

Program of Postsecondary Education: a formal instructional program whose curriculum is designed primarily for students who are beyond the compulsory age for high school. This includes programs whose purpose is academic or vocational, and excludes avocational and adult basic education.

A note concerning the Postsecondary Attainment Objective:

Section 402A(f)(3)(A)(vi) of the Higher Education Act, as amended in 2008 by section 403(a)(5) of the Higher Education Opportunity Act, requires the Department to use postsecondary education completion, if practicable, to assess the success of a TS project. To implement this statutory requirement, §643.22(d)(6) of the TS program regulations states that an “applicant may determine success in meeting the objective by using a randomly selected sample of participants in accordance with the parameters established by the Secretary in the Federal Register notice inviting applications or other published application materials for the competition.”

The following guidelines provide the required parameters for establishing a random sample of participants. Applicants should consider these parameters as they establish performance targets for the postsecondary completion standardized objective and as they develop participant tracking systems for that objective. Note that the purpose of §643.22(d)(6) is to reduce, not increase, the burden on grantees. A grantee must follow the sampling guidelines discussed below or a grantee may choose to track all participants that complete secondary schools and enroll in postsecondary education.

Determining Sample Size

Currently, TS grantees are serving between 500 and 2,000 students. For the FY 2026 competition, the minimum number of participants to be served annually will be 500. To help determine the sample size needed to provide reliable data on the postsecondary attainment of project participants, we have used performance report data from existing TS projects. The data has shown us that, typically, 20 percent of Talent Search Participants are considered “college ready,” and out of those 78 percent enroll in postsecondary education. To that end, we are using those statistics to determine the sample size that each TS project should use, based on number of participants served.

The table below breaks down how we are determining the proper sample size for each project.

For example, if your project is serving 1400 students, we can assume that 280 of those students are considered “college ready” and out those, 218 will enroll in postsecondary education. So, we determine that our sample size should be 140 students.

Total Participants Served

20% College Ready

78% Enrolling in Postsecondary Education

Sample Size (95% Confidence Level)1

500 100 78 65 550 110 86 71 600 120 94 76 650 130 101 81 700 140 109 86 750 150 117 90 800 160 125 95

1 In the National Center for Education Statistics – Statistical Standard 5-1-3 – states that the criterion for judging statistical significance will be 0.95 for confidence intervals.

Total Participants Served

20% College Ready

78% Enrolling in Postsecondary Education

Sample Size (95% Confidence Level)1

850 170 133 99 900 180 140 103 950 190 148 108 1000 200 156 112 1050 210 164 116 1100 220 172 120 1150 230 179 123 1200 240 187 126 1250 250 195 130 1300 260 203 134 1350 270 211 137 1400 280 218 140 1450 290 226 143 1500 300 234 146 1550 310 242 149 1600 320 250 152 1650 330 257 155 1700 340 265 158 1750 350 273 160 1800 360 281 163 1850 370 289 166 1900 380 296 168 1950 390 304 170 2000 400 312 173

Determining a Random Sample

Once a project has properly determined the sample size, the project needs to establish a process for randomly choosing the participants that make up the sample. As a reminder, we know that if we have a TS project of 1400 students, 218 will enroll in postsecondary education, which will give us a sample size of 140 students. So, we will in turn use the 218 students as the “pool” in which to choose the sample.

When establishing a random sample, each of the 218 students (in this case) has an equal chance of being chosen. We believe the best way to get a proper random sample is described below.

• The list you use to determine your sample size should be in random order. Your list should not be in alphabetical order, in order by sex, race or age.

• Once you have your list of students, you should assign each of them a random number. Please see example below.

ID Number Last Name First Name Race Sex 001 Jones Mary W F

002 Frederick Jonas H M D Number Last Name First Name Race Sex

003 Henderson Jacob AA M

• Once your list has been established and you have randomly assigned students ID numbers, use a random number generator – for example http://www.randomizer.org/form.htm

As you can see from the screenshot below, the first screenshot shows how the numbers are entered into the form to determine your sample. The most important numbers entered were the numbers per set – which is the number of our sample size, and the number range

– which is the total number of students that are enrolled in college.

The second screenshot shows the results (example) of the numbers that were generated.

• These numbers generated determine the students that you will track from your Talent Search project.

http://www.randomizer.org/form.htm

Attach this Profile sheet to the “Other Attachments Form” in the Grants.gov application package.

Attention Applicants: Applicants must copy and paste this page into a separate document, or recreate the page exactly as it appears. Then, complete the page, save it to your computer and attach it to the “Other Attachments Form” as a .pdf document.

Do not modify or amend the contents of the form in any way.