Title I, Part A Program
- What Is Title I?
- Eligibility for Title I Funding
- Parent Involvement at Our Title I Schools
- Title I Parent Involvement Policy
- School Achievement Data
- Single Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA)
- School Compacts
What Is Title I?
Title I is a federal grant that the Local Educational Agency (school district) applies for each year. The 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. This purpose can be accomplished by:
- ensuring that high-quality academic assessments, accountability systems, teacher preparation and training, curriculum, and instructional materials are aligned with challenging State academic standards so that students, teachers, parents, and administrators can measure progress against common expectations for student academic achievement;
- Meeting the educational needs of low-achieving children in our Nation's highest-poverty schools, limited English proficient children, migratory children, children with disabilities, Indian children, neglected or delinquent children, and young children in need of reading assistance;
- Closing the achievement gap between high- and low-performing children, especially the achievement gaps between minority and non-minority students, and between disadvantaged children and their more advantaged peers;
- Holding schools, local educational agencies, and States accountable for improving the academic achievement of all students, and identifying and turning around low-performing schools that have failed to provide a high-quality education to their students, while providing alternatives to students in such schools to enable the students to receive a high-quality education;
- Distributing and targeting resources sufficiently to make a difference to local educational agencies and schools where needs are greatest;
- Improving and strengthening accountability, teaching, and learning by using State assessment systems designed to ensure that students are meeting challenging State academic achievement and content standards and increasing achievement overall, but especially for the disadvantaged;
- Providing greater decision-making authority and flexibility to schools and teachers in exchange for greater responsibility for student performance;
- Providing children an enriched and accelerated educational program, including the use of schoolwide programs or additional services that increase the amount and quality of instructional time; and
- Promoting schoolwide reform and ensuring the access of children to effective, scientifically based instructional strategies and challenging academic content.
Title I students have the information they need to make well-informed choices for their children, more effectively share responsibility with their children's schools, and help the schools develop effective and successful programs. All local educational agencies (LEAs) that receive Title I funds must plan and implement programs, activities, and procedures to involve parents in the education of their children. Title I, Part A funds may be set aside by any LEA for that purpose. LEAs that receive more than $500,000 in Title I funds must set aside at least one percent of their Title I funds for parental involvement activities. Section 1118 of the ESEA (Section 1116 in the ESSA) contains the primary Title I, Part A requirements for State Educational Agencies (SEAs), LEAs, and schools related to involving parents in their children's education.
For more information go to: http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/sw/t1/titleparta.asp
Eligibility for Title I Funding
A school is eligible for Title I funding if at least 40 percent of students are from low-income families, based on the US Census definition of low-income. From that starting point, complex formulas are used to determine Title I funding.
Students that qualify towards a school’s funding eligibility are counted by Title I funding administrators as formula-eligible.
Assistance through Title I funding can be provided in two ways, outlined in the table below: schoolwide, or targeted towards individual students.
Two Types of Title 1 School Funding:
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Schoolwide Program - Schools can utilize funding resources flexibly in order to serve the entire student body
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Targeted Assistance Program - Schools use funding resources to assist specific students who are identified as academically failing or at risk of failing
In general, Title I is a program for public school students. However, funding may be provided for individual private school students who live in public school attendance areas that receive Title I funds.
In our district, the following schools receive Title I funding:
- Baywood Elementary
- Del Mar Elementary
- Hawthorne Elementary
- Monarch Grove Elementary
- Pacheco Elementary
- C.L. Smith Elementary
- Pacific Beach High School
Parent Involvement at Our Title I Schools
The District Title I Advisory Committee (DTAC) is a parent advisory board comprised of a sufficient number and representative group of parents/guardians or family members served by the district to adequately represent the needs of the population served by the district for the purposes of developing, revising, and reviewing the parent/guardian and family engagement policy
The School Site Council (SSC) provides parents with the opportunity to be involved in the academic program of the school. The SSC develops, monitors, and evaluates the SPSA to implement programs and services that support students.
The English Learner Advisory Committee (ELAC) is an advisory committee made up of parents of students of English Learners. They advise the SSC on the development of the SPSA and in particular the school’s program for English Learners.
Title I Parent Involvement Policy
Each school served under Title I jointly develops with parents a written Parent and Family Engagement Policy. The Title I Parent Involvement Policy communicates how a school will involve parents in an organized, ongoing, and timely way in the planning, review, and improvement of the Title I program at the school.
The district also develops a Parent Involvement Policy (BP/AR 6020) that establishes the district's expectations for parent involvement.
School Achievement Data
Schools analyze the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASSP) and the California English Language Development Test (CELDT), and review school wide performance data, including Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) and Academic Performance Index (API). They use the data to align the curriculum to state and district academic standards. Schools adjust instructional practices based on the findings of the assessment data.
Single Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA)
School Compacts
A major purpose of Title I is to increase the involvement of parents in a child’s education. Under Title I regulations, all schools receiving Title I funds have developed a compact, an agreement between the school and the parents. The compact is designed to help parents and teachers work together to provide the best possible education for each student. Parents have opportunities each fall to provide input and participate in the School/Parent Compact.