Title I Programs

Title I Services in Kokomo Schools

Title I Services in Kokomo Schools

What is Title I?

Title I is a federal program that provides additional funds for supplemental educational services for eligible public and non-public school students. The Title 1 Program began in 1965 when Congress passed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The amount of Title I funds that a school district receives is determined by the district census poverty data. Schools are given Title I funds based upon their number and % of students on free/reduced lunch.

How can schools use Title I funds to help students?

Schools use Title I Funds to provide programs and services that are designed to help all students acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to meet the State academic achievement standards. Title I programs focus on closing the achievement gap between high- and low-performing children, especially the achievement gaps between minority and nonminority students, and between disadvantaged children and their more advantaged peers.

Title I programs in Kokomo Center Schools include paying for supplemental teachers, Instructional Facilitators (district and school based literacy coaches), a Graduation Facilitator and paraprofessionals to provide Full Day Kindergarten, Reading Recovery, Small Group Literacy and Math Interventions, Summer Reading Programs, After School programs, Professional Development workshops and training, and Parent Involvement activities. Title I services include School Choice transportation, professional books and materials for staff, instructional materials and supplies for classrooms and Book Rooms, student mentoring programs, computer programs, and the InSAI School Improvement Planning Process.

Where are Title I Services provided in Kokomo?

Title I Services are located at the six Kokomo Center elementary schools (Boulevard, Bon Air, Elwood Haynes, Lafayette Park, Pettit Park, and Sycamore) two non public schools-St. Patrick’s and Redeemer Lutheran, and two institutions for delinquent children-Robert J. Kinsey Youth Center and the Berkley Center. In addition, Title I provides drop out prevention services at McKinley and Kokomo High School.

Title I Schoolwide Program

School-wide Programs

A school may operate a Title I school-wide program in order to upgrade the entire educational program of the school when at least 40 percent of the students in the school attendance area, or at least 40 percent of the students enrolled in the school, are from low-income families. The Superintendent or designee shall inform any such eligible school and the school's parents/guardians of the school's eligibility and its ability to consolidate funds from federal, state, and local sources for program purposes.

Any participating school shall develop, annually review, and update a single plan for student achievement which incorporates the plan required by 20 USC 6314 for reforming the school's total instructional program and plans required by other categorical programs included in the state's consolidated application.

A school-wide program shall include:

1. A comprehensive needs assessment of the entire school, including the needs of migrant students, which includes the achievement of students in relation to state academic content and achievement standards

2. Schoolwide reform strategies that:

a. Provide opportunities for all students to meet the state's proficient and advanced levels of achievement

b. Use effective methods and instructional strategies, based on scientifically based research, that strengthen the school's core academic program, increase the amount and quality of learning time, help provide an enriched and accelerated curriculum, and include strategies for meeting the educational needs of historically underserved populations

c. Include strategies to address the needs of all students in the school, but particularly the needs of low-achieving students and those at risk of not meeting state achievement standards who are members of the target population of any program that is part of the schoolwide program.

Such strategies may include counseling, student services, mentoring services, college and career awareness and preparation, and the integration of vocational and technical education programs.

d. Address how the school will determine if student needs have been met

e. Are consistent with and designed to implement state and local improvement plans, if any

3. Instruction by highly qualified teachers

4. High-quality and ongoing professional development for teachers, principals, paraprofessionals, and, if appropriate, student services personnel, other staff, and parents/guardians to enable all students in the school to meet state academic achievement standards

5. Strategies to attract high-quality, highly qualified teachers to high-need schools

6. Strategies to increase parent involvement

7. Plans for assisting preschool children in the transition from early childhood programs to elementary school programs

8. Measures to include teachers in decisions regarding the use of academic assessments to provide information on and to improve the achievement of individual students and the overall instructional program

9. Activities to ensure that students who experience difficulty mastering the proficient and advanced levels of academic standards shall be provided with effective, timely additional assistance, which shall include measures for timely identification of students' difficulties and provision of sufficient information on which to base effective assistance

10. Coordination and integration of federal, state, and local services and programs

Title I Targeted Assistance Schools

Targeted Assistance Schools

Any school that receives Title I funds but does not operate a school-wide program shall use Title I funds to provide services to:

1. Students in grades 3-12 identified by the school as failing, or most at risk of failing, to meet the state's academic achievement standards on the basis of criteria established by the district and supplemented by the school

2. Students in preschool through grade 2 selected solely on the basis of such criteria as teacher judgment, interviews with parents/guardians, and developmentally appropriate measures

A targeted assistance program shall:

1. Use program resources to help participating students meet state academic achievement standards expected for all students

2. Ensure that program planning is incorporated into existing school planning

3. Use effective methods and instructional strategies, based on scientifically based research, that strengthen the core academic program, give primary consideration to providing extended learning time, help provide an accelerated, high-quality curriculum, and minimize removing students from the regular classroom during regular school hours for instruction provided by Title I

4. Coordinate with and support the regular education program, which may include services to assist preschool students in the transition to elementary school programs

5. Provide instruction by highly qualified teachers

6. Provide opportunities for professional development for teachers, principals, paraprofessionals, and, if appropriate, student services personnel, other staff, and parents/guardians who work with participating students

7. Provide strategies to increase parent involvement

8. Coordinate and integrate federal, state, and local services and programs

Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.)

TITLE I--IMPROVING THE ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF THE DISADVANTAGED

SEC. 1001. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE.

The purpose of this title 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 —

(1) 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;

(2) 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;

(3) closing the achievement gap between high- and low-performing children, especially the achievement gaps between minority and nonminority students, and between disadvantaged children and their more advantaged peers;

(4) 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;

(5) distributing and targeting resources sufficiently to make a difference to local educational agencies and schools where needs are greatest;

(6) 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;

(7) providing greater decisionmaking authority and flexibility to schools and teachers in exchange for greater responsibility for student performance;

(8) 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;

(9) promoting schoolwide reform and ensuring the access of children to effective, scientifically based instructional strategies and challenging academic content;

(10) significantly elevating the quality of instruction by providing staff in participating schools with substantial opportunities for professional development;

(11) coordinating services under all parts of this title with each other, with other educational services, and, to the extent feasible, with other agencies providing services to youth, children, and families; and

(12) affording parents substantial and meaningful opportunities to participate in the education of their children.