Title I

Summary of Title I Services

Title I is the federal government’s largest investment in elementary and secondary education and has been continually funded since the first Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 currently authorizes Title I. The expressed purpose is “to ensure all children have a fair, equal and significant opportunity to obtain a high quality education and reach proficiency on challenging academic achievement standards."

The South-Western City School District Title I program accomplishes this purpose through funding comprehensive and supplemental school-based services and district level components that complement the District’s improvement plan and initiatives. In addition to fiscal planning and accountability, the State and Federal Programs Office is charged with providing technical assistance for program compliance for schools and the District. With the passage of NCLB, significant emphasis is placed upon the following:

• Parents’ Rights to information and choice

• Highly qualified staff

• Scientific Research Based practices

• Accountability

• Equity for non public students

• Parent Involvement

For the 2012-2013 school year, the South-Western City School District has 15 elementary schools, four intermediate schools, one middle school and one high school that receive Title I federal funds to assist students. The Title I program provides additional instructional support in the areas of reading and mathematics to qualified students at eligible schools. Schools are considered Title I eligible based on the percent of the students who participate in the Free and Reduced Price Lunch program.

Under the Federal No Child Left Behind Act, all school districts are required to notify parents with children in Title I schools that they may request information regarding the professional qualifications of each student’s classroom teachers. This information may include the qualifications listed below:

If the teacher has met state qualification and licensing criteria for the grade level and subject areas taught;

If the teacher is teaching under an emergency or temporary status in which state qualification or licensing criteria are waived; the teacher’s baccalaureate degree major, graduate certification, and field of discipline; and

The qualifications of any paraprofessional that is providing services to the student.

If you have questions or would like additional information, please contact your building principal or the State and Federal Programs Office at 614-801-8390.

The following summarize the key facets of Title I programming within the South-Western City School District:

School-wide Program (SWP) Schools with at least 40 percent poverty may operate as a School-wide Program. School-wide status allows the entire school population to benefit from the Title I dollar/allocation generated by the school’s population. There are ten (10) school-wide requirements in the regulations that must be detailed in the school-wide plan. School-wide plans must be approved by the District and an Ohio Department of Education consultant after a year-long planning process. Each school in this program must have a parent representative on the school leadership team.

Targeted Assistance Schools (TAS): This classification within NCLB refers to schools which are not School-wide. The Title I dollars must be directly beneficial to targeted students – those students identified as most at risk of not meeting the state’s academic reading and math content standards. Eligible students are identified through a Multi-Criteria Checklist process (MCC). Non-public schools are TAS.

Parent Involvement: The involvement of parents is a foundational component of Title I with many specific requirements of providing parents with information, opportunities and resources to help their child(ren) achieve academically. The South- Western City School District offers parents:

District and school-level parental involvement policies

Parent, Student and Teacher Compacts

Materials and/or resources to help parents assist their child(ren)

K-Parent Connect: K-Parent Connect is a group designed for parents having kindergarten students enrolled in the South-Western City School District. The program was piloted in five elementary buildings: East Franklin, Finland, Harmon, Prairie Norton and Stiles Elementary Schools. The program will continue to expand to support all kindergarten students that attend Title 1 schools.

Non Public Services: The law requires that local educational agencies (LEAs) provide equitable educational services to eligible private school students. The “equitable services” requirement applies to all NCLB programs, not just Title I, and extends equitable benefits to eligible private school students, teachers and parents. NCLB significantly strengthened the requirements for:

(1) Flexibility in collecting poverty data and determining allocations;

(2) Solicitation and verification that nonpublic officials participate in meaningful consultation regarding services for non-public students