Title 1 Overview
About Title I
Title I is a federal grant reauthorized under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 2001. The purpose of this legislation is "to help the neediest schools and students reach the same challenging standards expected of all children" (Public Law 107-110). The Title I grant addresses four major goals:
- Improve language arts strategies and skills.
- Develop mathematics concepts and skills.
- Promote critical thinking and problem solving skills.
- Encourage family involvement in the education of children.
Schools are eligible for Title I funds based on the percent of low-income students. In FCPS, the elementary schools with the highest level of poverty receive funding that is used for positions and resources to meet the needs of their students.
Read more about Bucknell Elementary School's Parent and Family Engagement Policy here
Language Arts:
The Title I grant-funded language arts teachers work with students and classroom teachers to develop reading and writing skills. The teachers work together to assess students' strengths and needs. They plan appropriate literacy instruction that helps students meet the challenging standards in the FCPS Program of Studies (POS) and the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL). Many schools also use Title I funds to serve the lowest achieving first grade students through the Reading Recovery® Program. Several schools implement Literacy Collaborative™, a professional development model designed to support best practices for classroom literacy instruction.
Mathematics:
The Title I grant-funded mathematics teachers provide instruction to help students develop math concepts. problem-solving strategies, and computational skills. Math teachers and classroom teachers collaboratively assess students' strengths and needs, and plan appropriate mathematics instruction that helps students meet the challenging standards in the FCPS Program of Studies (POS) and the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL).
Professional Development:
Title I funding enables high need schools to support development of teacher knowledge of content and pedagogy in order to raise student achievement and close achievement gaps. Title I grant-funded reading and math teachers as well as classroom teachers in schools with Title I funding participate in ongoing professional development focused on research-based best instructional practices.
Parent Involvement:
Title I funding supports schools' commitment to working in a partnership with families. Each school develops a School-Home Compact and a School Family Involvement Policy which outline the many opportunities available for parents to become involved in their children's education. A District Advisory Council, comprised of representatives from schools receiving Title I funds, meet regularly and collaborates with Title I staff to strengthen parent involvement in these schools.
Accountability:
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 2001 established an expectation that all students reach the "proficient" achievement level of performance on stat reading and mathematics test by the 2013-2014 school year. Any school receiving Title I funds that does not make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) toward this goal for two consecutive years in the same content area, is identified for "School Improvement". Title I grant funds are required to be used to fund the sanctions imposed on schools in School Improvement. Title I staff collaborates with other FCPS office within Instructional Services, the Departments of Special Services, Professional Learning and Accountability, Information Technology, and Cluster offices to support all students in schools with Title I funding in order to meet and exceed local, state, and federal goals.
Data Narrative
As in all FCPS schools, students's proficiency is reported to the Virginia Department of Education based on performance on Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) assessments in grades 3-6 (including results for the Virginia Grade Level Alternative assessment and Virginia Alternate Assessment Program for identified students), as well as performance on the Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA2) in grades 1-2. Division and schools SOL test results can be found at School Quality Report Card