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Title I

Director of Title I Services
Dr. Marsha Justice

Administrative Assistant
Lisa Johnson

414 4th Avenue West
Hendersonville, NC 28739
(828) 697-4733

The Basics

The Title I program is the largest federal education program.  Its intent is to help ensure that all children have the opportunity to obtain a high quality education and reach proficiency on challenging state academic content and performance standards.  In December 2015, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) became law.

ESSA includes provisions that will help ensure success for students and schools.  Below are just a few provisions of the law:

  • Advances equity by upholding critical protections for America’s disadvantaged and high-need students.
  • Requires –for the first time–that all students in America be taught to high academic standards that will prepare them to succeed in college and careers.
  • Ensures that vital information is provided to educators, families, students, and communities through annual statewide assessments that measure student’s progress toward those high standards.
  • Helps to support and grow local innovations–including evidence-based and place-based interventions developed by local leaders and educators–consistent with our Investing in Innovation and Promise Neighborhoods.
  • Sustains and expands this administration’s historic investments in increasing access to high-quality preschool.
  • Maintains an expectation that there will be accountability and action to effect positive change in our lowest-performing schools, where groups of students are not making progress, and where graduation rates are low over extended periods of time.

ESSA History

Title I began with the passage of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965, which provided federal funding for high poverty schools to help students who were behind academically and at risk of falling behind.  In 2001, under President George W. Bush, ESEA was re-authorized as the No Child Left Behind Act, which continued a focus on at-risk students and ensuring that no student failed to succeed.  In December 2015, Congress and President Barack Obama reached agreement on the most recent version of ESEA, the Every Student Succeeds Act.

Title I resources may be utilized to hire reading specialists, tutors, technology assistants, and additional teachers to reduce class size; purchase additional equipment, materials and supplies; provide parent training sessions; extend the school day and provide professional learning.

Title I funding supports both School-wide programs and Targeted Assistance programs, depending on the level of students that receive free and reduced lunch price lunch.  School-wide programs are in place in schools with poverty rates above forty percent.  Targeted Assistance programs are in place in schools with poverty rates less than forty percent, but more than thirty-five percent.

All Title I schools undergo a rigorous planning, implementation, and evaluation cycle to ensure that these valuable resources continue to impact student learning in optimal ways.  Schools must conduct a comprehensive needs assessment, identify and commit to specific goals and strategies that address school needs, create a comprehensive plan, and conduct an annual review.

School-wide Programs

  • plan for comprehensive, long term improvement
  • serve all students with effective teachers and highly qualified paraprofessionals
  • provide continuous learning for staff, parents, and the community
  • use evidence-based pedagogy and practices to implement effective instruction for all students
  • use inclusive approaches to strengthen the school’s organizational structure
  • consolidate resources to achieve programs goals
  • engage in continuous self-assessment and improvement

Targeted Assistance Programs

  • use Title I funds to help eligible students with the greatest educational need
  • use multiple criteria to identify, evaluate, and serve these students
  • allow school staff to determine which services and activities will be provided to which students
  • limit funding to eligible (targeted) students and the teachers who work with them
  • provide professional development and parental involvement activities to the staff and families of the targeted students.

Components of a Title I School

  • a comprehensive needs assessment that drives all aspects of school operations
  • school reform strategies that are implemented to address the identified needs
  • licensed and highly qualified paraprofessionals according to the criteria set by ESSA
  • high quality and on going professional development
  • strategies in place to recruit highly qualified teachers and place them in areas of greatest need
  • parent involvement
  • strategies to aid in the transitions between academic grade levels and between school levels
  • assessments and instructional decisions driven by data analysis
  • specific instructional activities for students identified with greatest needs
  • coordinated and integrated resources and services from federal, state, and local resources

 

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