What is Title I?
Title I is a federal education program housed under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965 which was reauthorized under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) in 2001.Title I funding is an allocation of federal money designed to help schools whose families are affected by poverty. Using Title I funding, supplemental education services are provided that allow schools to meet the needs of economically disadvantaged students.
The focus of Title I schools is to help students achieve proficiency on core standards, closing academic gaps that may exist. These efforts include providing targeted supports to at-risk students, building teachers’ capacity through professional development, and strengthening parents’ abilities in helping their children succeed.
Title I provides flexible funding that may be used to provide additional instructional staff, professional development, extended-time programs, and other strategies for raising student achievement in high-poverty schools. The program focuses on promoting schoolwide reform in high-poverty schools and ensuring students’ access to scientifically based instructional strategies and challenging academic content. Title I provisions provide a mechanism for holding states, school districts, and schools accountable for improving the academic achievement of all students and turning around low-performing schools while providing alternatives to students in such schools to enable those students to receive a high-quality education.
Title I includes four major parts:
- Part A: Improving the Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged
- Part B: Even Start Family Literacy
- Part C: Migrant Education
- Part D: Services for Neglected or Delinquent Children & Youth
Title I funds must be used in addition to District and State funds. All of the services students would receive in the absence of Title I must be in place before Title I funds are used.
Title I, Part A provides Utah with more than $50 million in federal funds each year to help higher poverty schools provide supplemental educational services to meet the needs of educationally disadvantaged students.
Why is my child’s school a Title I school?
Based on the percent of students enrolled in your child’s school, at least 40% of students qualify for free lunch (identified by the free/reduced-price lunch application).
How are Title I funds used in Wasatch County School District?
Title I funds are used in Wasatch School District for parent engagement initiatives, implementing evidence-based strategies, funding district preschool programs, class size reduction, staffing schools with paraprofessionals who are highly-qualified, extended day programming, extended year programs, providing services for students experiencing homelessness, providing targeted interventions to students who need additional help, providing professional development to Title I teachers, and other strategies and interventions that provide help to students and their families.
What are my rights as a parent of a student attending a Title I school?
- Timely information about Title I programs
- A description and explanation of the curriculum and assessments used to measure student progress
- Information on the level of achievement and academic growth of the student
- The right to opt out of mandated assessments
- If requested, opportunities for regular meetings to provide suggestions and to participate, as appropriate, in decisions relating to the education of their children
- The opportunity to be involved in the planning, review, and improvement of the engagement policy and school-wide program unless the school already has a process in place for involving parents (with adequate representation)
- If the school plan is not satisfactory to parents, the school will submit any comments to the LEA (district Title I director)
- Timely notice if their child has been assigned to, or taught, for 4 or more consecutive weeks by a teacher who does not meet applicable State certification or licensure requirements for the grade level or subject area taught.
Who should I contact in Wasatch School District with questions about Title I funding?
Please contact Eric Campbell at eric.campbell@wasatch.edu, 435.654.0280
