Title I

Bailly Elementary's Title I Program

Title I Definition

Title I is part of the Improving America's Schools Act of 1994, a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. It was reauthorized under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 which has now been replaced by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in December of 2015.

Title I is the largest federal education program that provides support to our nation's schools. Its purpose is to provide opportunities and services to students who attend schools with high levels of poverty and who are at risk of meeting the state's challenging performance standards. Individual schools determine the grade levels and specific subject areas to be served based on funding and personnel.

Use of Funds

Funds are primarily used to provide personnel to work with the most at-risk students at the Title I schools. Aside from staff, Title I funding also provides materials to support student learning as well as professional development.

Every Title I school must create a specific plan that describes how funds will be utilized in compliance with federal and state guidelines and regulations. Title I serves children through schoolwide or targeted assistance programming.

Schoolwide Program Qualification

In order to be designated as a schoolwide Title I program, each school must complete at least one year of intensive planning and complete a comprehensive needs assessment that then must be approved by the district and the Indiana Department of Education for implementation. The comprehensive needs assessment involves an inquiry process, program design, and evaluation by a team of stakeholders including administration, staff, and parent input. In schoolwide Title I schools, all students are considered Title I students, and all teachers are Title I teachers.

Program Design and Services

There is a commitment to encourage instructional decisions at the school level to provide a specific and individualized program to meet unique student needs and populations. Principals, program personnel, and staff assess the different components of the school’s program, consider parent input, and determine appropriate program design yearly. As a result, intervention programs, instructional format, staffing, and grade levels served may vary from building to building.

Parent Rights and Responsibilities

Bailly Elementary encourages families to be actively involved in the education of their children. Title I further involves parents through a series of parent and family engagement components.

Each school must convene an annual meeting to explain the Title I, Part A program, its requirements, and the rights of parents to be involved in those programs.
Parents have the right to know whether a teacher or paraprofessional is highly-qualified and to request those qualifications.
Each school, with the input of staff and parents, will develop a school-parent compact to guide the partnership between home and school for the good of the student.
In conjunction with parents, the district and each school will create a parent involvement policy and review those plans annually.
Schools offer opportunities such as parent-teacher conferences, literacy and math events, and parent workshops to foster parent involvement and communication.
Feedback and input from parents is used to improve Title I programming.
A written complaint procedure outlining the formal process for parent complaints regarding violations of the federal statute or regulation that applies the Title I, Part A program is available on the district website. A copy of the complaint procedure policy is available upon request.