Title I

The purpose of Title I is to provide opportunities for children to meet the challenging state performance standards.

This purpose is accomplished by such efforts as follows:

• • • providing an enriched and accelerated educational program,

    • promoting reform through schoolwide programs or through additional services that increase the amount and quality of instructional time,

    • ensuring the quality of instruction by providing staff in participating schools with substantial opportunities for professional development, and

    • affording parents with meaningful opportunities to participate in the education of their children at home and at school.

In support of strengthening student academic achievement, each school district receiving Title I, Part A funds jointly develops with and distributes to parents a written parent and family engagement policy that contains required information from the Elementary and Secondary Act (ESEA) of 1965. The parent and family engagement policy describes how the district will implement a number of specific parent and family engagement activities. If you would like to provide input on this policy, please contact Dr. Rachel Wall by email at rwall@bsd45.net.

The district will do the following:

• include parents on the Title I Planning Team and involve them in the development of the Title I plan and the process of school review and improvement. Each year the district requests for parents to participate on the Title I planning team.

• ensure that Title I schools carry out the parent and family engagement and parent notification requirements of the Title I legislation. Each year the district requires each Title I school to involve parents in parent and family engagement activities by allocating Title I funds for parent and family engagement activities, and the district will provide each school with a Title I newsletter for parents.

• provide training at the school and district levels to help and support schools in planning and implementing effective parent and family engagement activities that will improve student achievement and school performance. Each year the district provides materials to schools for planning and implementing effective parent and family engagement programs and activities, working with parents as equal partners, and building ties between parents and schools.

• provide training at the school and district levels to build the schools' and parents' capacity for strong parent and family engagement. The district provides materials and training resources for facilitators on planning and implementing helpful parent and family engagement activities.

• assist schools in organizing and combining Title I parent and family engagement activities with other parent and family programs such as Head Start, First Steps, and 4K to better prepare students for school.

• conduct Title I Parent and Family Engagement surveys each year to evaluate the district's and school's parent and family engagement policies and programs to increase parent participation and to identify reasons parents do not participate in the activities. The Office of Federal Programs is continuously requesting input from parents in order to plan for more effective parent and family engagement activities at both the district and school levels as well as to adjust our policies.

• explain Title I information about school and parent programs, meetings, and other activities in a way that parents can understand. The district provides translated documents to Title I schools, and, as required, oral translations for Title I information.

• ensure that Title I schools help parents understand topics such as the state and local academic assessments, the state's academic content standards, the achievement levels that students are expected to meet, and how to monitor their child's progress and work with their child's teachers. Each year schools host parent conferences and a Title I annual meeting to help parents understand the state's standards and assessments as well as the requirements of Title I. The district and school provide grades, attendance, and discipline referrals on the PowerSchool Parent Portal. This is linked on the website along with other resources.

Barnwell District 45 is continually monitoring the implementation of its Title I plan and welcomes input from parents regarding its current and future plans. If you have comments or suggestions, please click here to complete a brief form.

As a parent, you have the right to know the professional qualifications of the classroom teachers and instructional assistants who instruct your child. Federal law allows you to ask for the following information about your child’s classroom teachers and requires the district to give you this information in a timely manner:

• whether the teacher is certified to teach the subjects and/or grade levels the teacher is teaching,

• whether the teacher’s certificate is a waiver or substandard certificate,

• the teacher’s academic major, graduate degrees, if any, and

• the teacher’s certification area.

If you would like to receive this information, please contact Dr. Rachel Wall by email at rwall@bsd45.net.

Barnwell 45 provides a high-quality and rigorous curriculum based upon the state standards. This curriculum has been approved by the South Carolina Board of Education. Specific educational programs in each school are targeted to meet the identified needs of the children in the school. Fountas and Pinnell, Moby Max, iStation, Freckle, STAR Renaissance, Newsela, and USA Test Prep are a few of the many quality programs utilized by Barnwell 45 teachers.

Barnwell 45 administers all state required assessments to their students. In the fall kindergarten students are administered the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment (KRA), which is a readiness assessment for this group of students. Second graders are administered the CogAT and IOWA assessments during the fall. SC Ready and SC PASS assessments for grades three through eight are given in the spring and measure student performance on the state standards in English/language arts, math, and science.

Students in grades K-8 take the STAR Renaissance Assessment in both ELA and mathematics. This provides teachers with the reading and math proficient levels for each of their students. Students in their third year of high school will take assessments to measure college and career readiness. Further, End-of-Course Exams are administered in Algebra I, English II, U.S. History and Constitution, and Biology I. Additionally, any students enrolled in advanced placement courses will take the College Board’s AP Exams for their specific course.

To monitor student progress throughout the year, teachers use common assessments along with district-made benchmarks.

The South Carolina State Department of Education has the authority to hear complaints and appeals regarding certain federal programs and requires school districts to distribute the following information concerning the Department of Education’s complaint resolution procedures:

• Organizations or individuals may file a complaint that applies to Title I within thirty days of receiving the decision by the school district or group of districts.

• Complaints and appeals must be made in writing and they must contain a statement indicating the violation, the facts on which the statement is based, and the specific requirement of law or regulation allegedly violated. Complaints and appeals must be filed with the State Superintendent of Education at the S.C. Department of Education, 1429 Senate Street, Columbia, South Carolina 29201.

• The SDE will confirm receipt of the complaint within ten business days and will conduct an investigation to determine the merits of the complaint. The Deputy Superintendent will issue a final decision regarding the complaint within 60 days, except under exceptional circumstances that warrant an extension.

• The final decision of the SDE may be appealed to the Secretary of the U. S. Department of Education.