TITLE I FEDERAL GRANT PROGRAM
Title I is designed to provide additional academic support and learning opportunities to help low-income and low-achieving children master challenging curricula and meet state standards in core academic subjects.
What is Title 1?
Title 1 is the largest federal aid program for public schools in the United States. Today, Title 1 is part of the Every Student Succeeds Act, but originated from the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s “War on Poverty.” This landmark educational bill, passed during Johnson’s “Great Society,” changed the funding of school districts from a local level to a national responsibility. Title 1 provides federal funds to schools with high percentages of low-income students. These funds pay for extra educational services to help at-risk students achieve and succeed regardless of any disadvantages through no fault of their own.
Title I is a federal entitlement program that gives funds to schools in need based on student enrollment, the free and reduced lunch percentage for each school, and other informative data. The US Department of Education distributes Title 1 funds to State Departments of Education that, in turn, distribute the funds to individual school districts. Each school district divides its funding among qualifying schools based on their numbers of low-income children. In addition, under Title 1, participating school districts must provide supplemental educational services for eligible private school students.
What is School-Wide Title 1?
Sheffield-Sheffield Lake City Schools operates a school-wide Title 1 Program. As a school-wide program, this means that SSLCS may use their funds to improve student achievement throughout their entire school; therefore, every child benefits from the added services and programs, not just the students identified as eligible to participate. All of the school staff focuses on upgrading the entire educational program and improving the achievement of all students, in particular, the low-achieving ones.
What are the goals of Title I?
The Title I program strives to provide an environment that:
a. Promotes a positive attitude toward math and/or reading
b. Improves student achievement in reading/writing and math
c. Builds students’ self-esteem and confidence
d. Enables parents to be math and reading partners with their child
What is a Parent - School Compact?
The parent-school compact states the goals and responsibilities of both the parent and school that are necessary in order to provide a quality education for all students. Each school in the district has a parent-school compact that is distributed to parents and the community. The Parent-School Compact was developed with input from Title I parents. It is reviewed and updated annually.
EVERY STUDENT SUCCEEDS ACT (ESSA)
The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which replaced the No Child Left Behind Act, asks Ohio to clearly articulate its plans for using federal funds to ensure accountability for all students, create safe and supportive learning environments, encourage innovation and extended learning opportunities, and more.
RESOURCES
Parent Information and Resource Centers (PIRCs) help implement successful and effective parental involvement policies, programs, and activities that lead to improvements in student academic achievement and that strengthen partnerships among parents, teachers, principals, administrators, and other school personnel in meeting the education needs of children.
Projects assist parents to communicate effectively with teachers, principals, counselors, administrators, and other school personnel; and help parents become active participants in the development, implementation, and review of school improvement plans.
Additionally, projects generally develop resource materials and provide information about high-quality family involvement programs to families, schools, school districts, and others through conferences, workshops, and dissemination of materials. Projects generally include a focus on serving parents of low-income, minority, and limited English proficient (LEP) children enrolled in elementary and secondary schools.
RIGHT TO KNOW TEACHER QUALIFICATIONS
Parents/Guardians have the right to know about the teaching qualifications of your child’s classroom teacher in a school receiving Title I funds. The federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires that any school district receiving Title I funds must notify parents of each student attending any school receiving Title I funds that they may request, and the district will provide the parents on request (and in a timely manner), information regarding the professional qualifications of the student’s classroom teachers, including at a minimum, the following:
1. Whether the teacher has met State qualification and licensing criteria for the grade levels and subject areas in which the teacher provides instruction;
2. Whether the teacher is teaching under emergency or another provisional status through which State qualification or licensing criteria have been waived; and
3. Whether the teacher is teaching in the field of discipline of the certification of the teacher;
4. Whether your child is provided services by paraprofessionals and, if so, their qualifications.
