State Portfolio Policy

Title I

What is Title I?

Title I is the largest federal aid program for improving the academic achievement of disadvantaged students. Title I was originally enacted under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965 and reauthorized under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) and signed into law in January 2002. The goal of NCLB and purpose of Title I is to ensure that all children have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education and reach, at a minimum, proficiency on challenging state academic achievement standards and state academic assessments.

Title I School and Program Eligibility

Title I school eligibility is determined by the number (or percentage) of students eligible to receive free lunch. This list provides the Title I status and allocations for all the schools for the current school year.

There are two types of Title I programs: Schoolwide Programs (SWP) and Targeted Assistance (TA) schools. The type of Title I program determines which students are eligible to participate in the school’s Title I program. Staff and parent participation in the school's Title I program is determined by the population of students served through the program.

In Title I TA schools, services are provided to students who are not meeting or are at risk of not meeting State standards. This may also include students in early childhood grades, students with disabilities, English Language Learners and students in temporary housing.

In Title I SWP schools Title I funds are combined with other school funds to supplement the educational program schoolwide therefore, all students are served through the Title I program. In other words in a Title I SWP, all staff, teachers and parents are eligible to participate in Title I funded activities. Additional guidance is available for schools that are eligible to participate in the Schoolwide Planning process.

Parent Involvement Requirements

Under Title I, Part A, Section 1118, schools must involve an adequate representation of parents and guardians of students participating in the Title I program in the joint review, planning and improvement of the Title I educational program through the development of the school’s Comprehensive Educational Plan (CEP) including the joint development and agreement upon the Parent Involvement Policy. The policy outlines how schools will be using the1% minimum set aside for parent involvement activities that support student achievement and must include as a component a School-Parent Compact. Title I parents decide how they would like to be represented in this process. For this purpose, each Title I school in New York City must form a Title I parent committee. Each school-level committee sends a representative to serve on the district's Title I parent committee which is engaged by the District Leadership Team in the joint development of the district's plan which includes the District Parent Involvement Policy and the District's 100.11 Plan.

In addition, Title I schools and districts are required to keep Title I parents and guardians informed in a timely way about school and parent programs that impact student performance and achievement. All Title I schools are required to hold an Annual Title I Parent Meeting to inform Title I parents about the school's participation in the Title I program and their right to be involved in support of their child's education. The Annual Title I Parent Meeting must be held prior to October 31^st of each school year. All Title I parents must be invited to attend the Annual Meeting which must be held at a time convenient for parents. The Department has developed a number of resources which are available in Principal's Portal to help schools fulfill this requirement. Subsequent meetings, events and activities must also be scheduled to allow parents and guardians multiple opportunities to receive information throughout the school year about the Title I program. Schools and districts may choose to use existing meetings/events (e.g., PA or PTA meetings, Title I Parent Committee meetings, Borough and District Presidents' Council meetings, SLT and DLT meetings, Community and Citywide Education Council meetings, quarterly meetings with the Principal and/or Superintendent, Parent-Teacher conferences, Family Day) to satisfy this requirement.

Role of the School and District Leadership Teams

Chancellor’s Regulation A-655 establishes School and District Leadership Teams as the vehicles responsible for facilitating this required consultation with Title I parent representatives. Teams are expected to work closely with Title I parent representatives and include them in the joint educational planning process. To ensure the ongoing and meaningful involvement of Title I parents in this process, schools must take steps to ensure that the spring election of officers for the Parent Association (PA) or Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), the filling of any existing vacancies on the SLT and the establishment of a Title I Parent Committee has occurred prior to the close of the school year.

Recordkeeping

Records must be maintained at the school and district level to document the efforts of teams to involve, engage and inform Title I parents about the Title I program. These records are subject to review by representatives from the United States Department of Education, New York State Education Department and New York City Department of Education.

Comprehensive Educational Planning

Under State Education Law 2590-h the SLT is responsible for developing an annual school Comprehensive Educational Plan (CEP) that is aligned with the school-based budget for the ensuing school year. Additionally, state and federal regulations require that SLTs conduct an assessment of the effectiveness of the plan. The Title I Parent Committee must be involved in the annual review of the CEP.

Available Resources

The resources available on this website have been developed to help support schools and districts with meeting Federal Title I and State requirements. Additional resources including templates for meeting notices and agendas, attendance sheets and other meeting handouts (translated in other languages) are available in Principals' Portal.