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EHBD Special Programs: Federal Title I Programs

FEDERAL TITLE I PROGRAMS

Note:   The following contains basic requirements for TSBVI to receive Title I, Part A funds, but does not represent a complete list of TSBVI’s legal obligations.

Effective July 1, 1995, the School shall comply with applicable statutes and rules and regulations of both state and federal authorities in receiving grants and administering a program based on Title I funds. 20 U.S.C. 6312

Parent and Family Engagement Plan

TSBVI may receive funds under Title I, Part A only if the School conducts outreach to all parents and family members and implements programs, activities, and procedures for the involvement of parents and family members in programs assisted under Title I, Part A, consistent with 20 U.S.C. 6318. The programs, activities, and procedures shall be planned and implemented with meaningful consultation with parents of participating children. 20 U.S.C. 6318(a)(1)

When the School receives Title I, Part A funds, TSBVI shall develop jointly with, agree on with, and distribute to, parents and family members of participating children a written parent and family engagement policy. The policy shall be incorporated into TSBVI’s plan developed under 20 U.S.C. 6312 [TEA-approved plan to receive Title I funds], establish the district’s expectations and objectives for meaningful parent and family involvement, and describe how TSBVI will:

  1. Involve parents and family members in jointly developing TSBVI’s plan, and the development of support and improvement plans under paragraphs (1) and (2) of section 6311(d);
  2. Provide the coordination, technical assistance, and other support necessary to assist and build the capacity of all participating schools within TSBVI in planning and implementing effective parent and family involvement activities to improve student academic achievement and school performance, which may include meaningful consultation with employers, business leaders, and philanthropic organizations, or individuals with expertise in effectively engaging parents and family members in education;
  3. Coordinate and integrate parent and family engagement strategies under Title I, Part A with parent and family engagement strategies to the extent feasible and appropriate, with other relevant federal, state, and local laws and programs;
  4. Conduct, with the meaningful involvement of parents and family members, an annual evaluation of the content and effectiveness of the parent and family engagement policy in improving the academic quality of all schools served under Title I, Part A, including identifying:
    1. Barriers to greater participation by parents in activities authorized by section 6318 (with particular attention to parents who are economically disadvantaged, are disabled, have limited English proficiency, have limited literacy, or are of any racial or ethnic minority background);
    2. The needs of parents and family members to assist with the learning of their children, including engaging with school personnel and teachers; and
    3. Strategies to support successful school and family interactions;
  5. Use the finding of the above evaluation to design evidence-based strategies for more effective parental involvement, and to revise, if necessary, the parent and family engagement policies in section 6318; and
  6. Involve parents in the activities of the schools served under Title I, Part A, which may include establishing a parent advisory board comprised of a sufficient number and representative group of parents or family members served by the local educational agency to adequately represent the needs of the population served by such agency for the purposes of developing, revising, and reviewing the parent and family engagement policy.

20 U.S.C. 6318(a)(2)[See BQ(LOCAL)]

School Policy

Each school served under Title I, Part A shall jointly develop with, and distribute to, parents and family members of participating children a written parent and family engagement policy, agreed on by such parents, that shall describe the means for carrying out the requirements of 20 U.S.C. 6318(c)-(f). Parents shall be notified of the policy in an understandable and uniform format and, to the extent practicable, provided in a language the parents can understand. Such policy shall be made available to the local community and updated periodically to meet the changing needs of parents and the School.

ANNUAL REVIEW

TSBVI shall review annually the progress of Title I funding to determine whether the School is meeting or making adequate progress toward enabling its students to meet the state’s student performance standards or individual performance standards.

The School may base its review on the progress of only those students that have been or are served by Title I.

The School may review its Title I assistance program on the progress of only those students that have been or are served under this subpart. In conducting its review, the School shall:

  1. Use the state assessments described in the state plan if appropriate and any additional measures or indicators described in the School’s plan, or if state assessments are not conducted for all students, use other appropriate measures or indicators to review the school’s progress and disaggregate the results.
  2. Seek to produce, in schoolwide programs, statistically sound results for each category through the use of oversampling or other means.
  3. Report disaggregated data to the public only when those data are statistically sound.

The School shall publicize and disseminate to teachers and other staff, parents, students, the

community, and administrators, including the principal(s), the results of the annual review.

34 CFR 200.5

STATE REVIEW

TEA shall review annually the progress of TSBVI to determine whether the School is making adequate progress toward enabling its students to meet the state’s student performance standards or individual performance standards. 34 CFR 200.6(a)

SCHOOLWIDE PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS

The School may use Title I funds or services to upgrade the entire educational program in the School to support systemic reform. The School may not start a new schoolwide program until TEA provides written information to the School that TEA has established a statewide system of support and improvement.

ELIGIBILITY

TSBVI may operate a schoolwide program if:

  1. The School determines that the school serves a participating attendance area or is a participating school under 20 U.S.C. 6313; and
  2. The percentages of children from low-income families in the attendance area or enrolled in the school is not less than 50 percent.

OTHER FEDERAL FUNDS

If the School combines Title I funds with funds from other federal programs administered by the Secretary of Education, except programs under the IDEA, it shall comply, as appropriate, with applicable legal requirements.

34 CFR 200.8(c)

COMPONENTS

A schoolwide program must include all of the following:

  1. A comprehensive needs assessment as described in 34 CFR 200.8(d)(1).
  2. Schoolwide reform strategies that contain the elements described in 34 CFR 200.8(d)(2).
  3. Instruction by highly qualified staff.
  4. Professional development, in accordance with 20 U.S.C. 6320, for teachers, aides, and where appropriate, principals, pupil services personnel, other school staff, and parents, to enable all children in the school to meet the state student performance standards. The School shall devote sufficient resources to effectively carry out its responsibilities for professional development.
  5. Strategies to increase parental involvement, such as family literacy services.
  6. Strategies in an elementary school for assisting preschool children in the transition from early childhood programs, such as Head Start, Even Start, or a state-run preschool program.
  7. Strategies to involve teachers in decisions regarding the use of any additional, local, high-quality student assessments, under 20 U.S.C. 6312(b)(1), to provide information on and to improve the performance of individual students and the overall instructional program.
  8. Activities to ensure that students who experience difficulty mastering any of the standards required by 20 U.S.C. 6311(b) during the school year will be provided effective, timely additional assistance, which must include the elements listed at 34 CFR 200.8(d)(8).

PLAN

At any time the School operates a school-wide program, the School shall develop a comprehensive plan for reforming the instructional program in the School. This plan shall be developed in consultation with the School’s support team or other technical assistance provider and in compliance with 34 CFR 200.8(e).

20 USC 6314; 34 CFR 200.8

PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT AND ANNUAL MEETINGS

The School’s Title 1 Program shall be planned and implemented with meaningful consultation with parents of participating children.  This consultation shall be organized, ongoing, and timely in relation to decisions about the program.  Each school served under Title 1 shall:

  1. Convene an annual meeting, to which all parents of participating students are invited, to inform parents of the school’s participation in the Title I program and of the parents’ right to be involved.
  2.  Offer a flexible number of meetings with parents, such as meetings in the morning or evening. Title I funds may be used to provide transportation, child care, or home visits, as such services relate to parental involvement.
  3. Involve parents in an organized, ongoing, and timely way in the planning, review, and improvement of Title I programs.
  4. Provide parents of participating children:
    1. Timely information about Title I programs;
    2. School performance profiles and their children’s individual student assessment results, including interpretations of such results;
    3. A description and explanation of the curriculum in use at the school, the forms of assessment used to measure student progress, and the proficiency levels students are expected to meet;
    4. If the parents desire, opportunities for regular meetings to formulate suggestions, share experiences with other parents, and participate as appropriate in decisions relating to the education of their children; and
    5. Timely responses to parents’ suggestions.

If the program plan is not satisfactory to the parents of participating children, the Superintendent shall submit any parent comments on the plan to the Board when the plan becomes available.

SCHOOL-PARENT COMPACT

As a component of the school-level parental involvement policy, TSBVI shall develop with parents of all participating children a school-parent compact for each of the School’s targeted assistance programs that outlines how parents, the entire school staff, and students will share the responsibility for improved student achievement and the means by which the school and parents will build and develop a partnership to help children achieve the state’s high standards. This compact shall:

  1. Describe TSBVI’s responsibility to provide high-quality curriculum and instruction in a supportive and effective learning environment and the ways in which each parent will be responsible for supporting his or her child’s learning.
  2. Address the importance of communication between teachers and parents on an ongoing basis through:
    1. Parent-teacher conferences in elementary schools, at least annually, during which the compact shall be discussed as it relates to the individual student’s achievement;
    2. Frequent reports to parents on their children’s progress; and
    3. Reasonable access to staff and opportunities to volunteer, participate, and observe in their children’s classes.

BUILDING INVOLVEMENT

To ensure effective involvement of parents and to support a partnership among TSBVI, parents, and the community to improve student achievement, the School shall:

  1. Provide assistance to participating parents in such areas as understanding national education goals, state standards, and monitoring a child’s progress;
  2. Provide materials and training, such as coordinating necessary literacy training and training to help parents work with their children;
  3. Educate teachers, student services personnel, principals, and other staff, with the assistance of parents, in how to reach out and work with parents as equal partners and build ties between home and school;
  4. Coordinate and integrate parent involvement programs and activities with Head Start and other programs;
  5. Develop appropriate roles for community-based organizations and businesses in parent involvement activities, and encourage the formation of partnerships between the School and local businesses that include a role for parents;
  6. As appropriate and feasible, conduct other activities that are designed to help parents become full partners in the education of their children, such as providing parent resource centers and opportunities to learn about child development;
  7. Ensure, to the extent possible, that information related to school and parent programs, meetings, and other activities is sent to the homes of participating children in the language used in such homes; and
  8. Provide other reasonable support for parental involvement activities as parents may request.

In addition to these requirements, the School may:

  1. Involve parents in the development of training for teachers, principals, and other educators to improve the effectiveness of such training in improving instruction and services;
  2. Provide necessary literacy training from Title I funds if the School has exhausted all other reasonable available sources of funding for such activities;
  3. Pay reasonable and necessary expenses associated with local parental involvement activities;
  4. Train and support parents to enhance the involvement of other parents;
  5. Arrange meetings at a variety of times to maximize the opportunities for parental participation;
  6. Arrange for teachers or other educators to conduct in-home conferences with parents of participating children who are unable to attend such conferences at school; and
  7. Adopt and implement model approaches to improving parental involvement.

20 U.S.C. Sec. 6319

HOMELESS CHILDREN

As a condition of receiving funds under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, TSBVI shall serve homeless children according to their best interests. McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, 42 U.S.C. 11432(g)(3) [See FD, FDC, and FFC]

Adopted:         1/24/02

Amended: 11/15/18

Reviewed: