Policy 227 - Title I Services | Roane County Schools

Policy 227 - Title I Services

Adopted on December 20, 2018

Effective December 20, 2018

The Board of Education elects to augment the educational program of educationally disadvantaged students by the use of Federal funds and in accordance with Title I of the Elementary and Secondary School Improvement Act of 1965, as amended.

The Superintendent shall prepare and present to the West Virginia Department of Education a plan for the delivery of services which meets the requirements of the law, including those described below. The plan shall be developed by appropriate staff members and parents of students who will be served by the plan.

Assessment - The Board shall annually assess the educational needs of eligible children, as determined by Federal and State criteria. Such assessment shall include performance measures mandated by the West Virginia Department of Education as well as those determined by the County professional staff, that will assist in the diagnosis, teaching, and learning of the participating students.
Scope - Each school shall determine whether the funds will be used to upgrade the educational program of an entire school and/or to establish or improve programs that provide services only for eligible students in greatest need of assistance. The program for an entire school and/or a Targeted Assistance School shall include the components required by law as well as those agreed upon by participating staff and parents.
Participation - The Title I program shall be developed and evaluated in consultation with parents and professional staff members involved in its implementation. Appropriate training will be provided to staff members who provide Title I services. Parent participation shall be in accord with West Virginia Department of Education policy 2200, Parent Involvement In Education, 126-11A-1, et seq., policy 2419, Regulations For the Education of Exceptional Students, 126-16-1, et seq. and policy 2320, A Process For Improving Education Performance Based Accreditation Systems, § 126-13-1, et seq., West Virginia Code of State Regulations, and shall meet the requirements of Section 1118 of the Act.
Comparability of Services - Title I funds will be used only to supplement, not to supplant, State and local funds. The Superintendent shall use State and local funds to provide educational services in schools receiving Title I assistance that, taken as a whole, are at least comparable to services being provided in schools that are not receiving Title I assistance. The determination of the comparability of services may exclude, in accordance with Federal regulations, State and local funds spent on compensatory education programs, bilingual education programs, and programs for educationally-disabled students. The determination of comparability will not take into account unpredictable changes in student enrollment or personnel assignments. In order to achieve comparability of services, the Superintendent shall assign teachers, administrators, and auxiliary personnel and provide curriculum materials and instructional supplies in an equitable manner throughout the County.
Professional Development - The Superintendent shall develop administrative guidelines whereby members of the professional staff shall participate in the design and implementation of staff development activities that meet the requirements of Section 1119 of the Act and:
involve parents in the training, when appropriate;
combine and consolidate other available Federal and County funds;
foster cooperative training with institutions of higher learning and other educational organizations including other counties
allocate part of the staff development to the following types of strategies:
performance-based student assessment
use of technology
working effectively with parents
early childhood education
meeting children's special needs
fostering gender-equitable education
provide opportunities for paraprofessionals to work toward licensing as professional educators.
Simultaneous Services - In accordance with law, a school offering Title I services may also serve other students with similar needs.

Parent Participation in Title I Programs

In accordance with the requirements of Federal law, programs supported by Title I funds must be planned and implemented in meaningful consultation with parents of the students being served.

Each year the Superintendent shall work with parents of children served in Title I Programs in order to jointly develop and agree upon a proposed written parent involvement policy to establish expectations for the involvement of such parents in the education of their children. The proposed policy shall be reviewed and approved annually by the Board of Education and distributed to parents of children receiving Title I services. The proposed policy must describe how the County will:

involve parents in the development of the County's Title I plans and in the process of school review and improvement, if necessary
provide coordination, technical assistance, and other support necessary to assist schools in planning and implementing effective parent involvement activities to improve student achievement and school performance;
build the schools' and parents' capacity for strong parental involvement;
coordinate and integrate parents involvement strategies with parent involvement strategies under other programs such as Head Start, Reading First, Early Reading First, Even Start, Parents and Teachers, and Home Instruction for Preschool Youngsters;
in consultation with parents, annually evaluate the content and effectiveness of the parent involvement policy in improving the academic quality of schools, including:
identifying barriers to greater parent participation;
designing strategies for more effective parental involvement; and,
revising the parental involvement policy if necessary;
involve parents of children receiving Title I services in deciding how Title I funds reserved for parent involvement activities will be allocated;
provide full opportunities for the participation of parents with Limited English Proficiency, parents with disabilities and parents of migratory children, including providing information and school reports in a format, and to the extent practicable in a language, such parents can understand;
conduct meetings with parents including provisions for flexible scheduling and assistance to parents to better assure their attendance at meetings;
develop agendas for parent meetings to include review and explanation of the curriculum, means of assessments, and the proficiency levels students are expected to achieve and maintain;
provide opportunities for parents to formulate suggestions, interact and share experiences with other parents, and participate appropriately in the decision-making about the program and revisions in the plan;
involve parents in the planning, review, and improvement of the Title I program;
communicate information concerning school performance profiles and their child's individual performance to parents;
assist parents in helping their children in achieving the objectives of the program by such means as ensuring regular attendance, monitoring television-watching, providing adequate time and the proper environment for homework; guiding nutritional and health practices, and the like;
provide timely responses to parental questions, concerns, and recommendations;
coordinate and provide technical assistance and other support necessary to assist Title I schools to develop effective parent participation activities to improve academic achievement;
conduct other activities as appropriate to the Title I plan and State and Federal requirements.

The Superintendent must also assure that each Title I participating school develops a specific written plan, with parental involvement and agreement, which includes provisions regarding the following:

Each principal must convene an annual meeting at a convenient time to which all parents of participating children are invited and encouraged to attend to explain the parents' rights to be involved and the school's obligations to develop a parental involvement plan.
Meetings with parents of children receiving Title I services must be scheduled at flexible times with assistance such as child care, transportation, home visits, or similar aid offered to parents to encourage their involvement.
Parents must be involved in an organized, on-going and timely way in the development, review, and improvement of parent involvement activities.
Parents of participating students' must be provided with:
timely information about the Title I program and the school's parent involvement policy;
a description and explanation of the curriculum in use at the school, the forms of academic assessment used to measure student progress, and the proficiency levels expected;
regular meetings, upon request, for parents to make suggestions, and to participate as appropriate, in decisions relating to the education of their children, and receive responses regarding the parents' suggestions about their student's education as soon as practicably possible.
As a component of the school parental involvement policy, the principal for each Title I school shall coordinate the development of a school-parent compact jointly with parents which outlines how the school staff, the parents, and the student will share responsibility for academic improvement and the means by which the school and parents will build and develop a partnership to help students achieve State standards. The compact must:
describe the school's responsibility to provide a high quality curriculum and instruction in a supportive, effective learning environment;
describe the parent's responsibility to support their child's learning environment such as monitoring attendance, homework, extra-curricular activities and excessive television watching; volunteering in the classroom; and participating, as appropriate, in decisions relating to the education of their children;
address the importance of parent/teacher communication on an on-going basis through at least annual parent teacher conferences to discuss achievement and the compact; frequent progress reports to the parents of their child's progress; and reasonable access to the staff and to observe and participate in classroom activities.
Parents of children receiving Title I services must be notified about school parent involvement policies in an understandable and uniform format, and to the extent practicable, in a language the parents can understand. These policies must also be made available to the community.
School parent involvement policies must be evaluated periodically to consider whether they meet the changing needs of parents and the schools.

In order to involve parents in the education of their children and to support a partnership among the school, parents and the community for improving students achievement, the Superintendent and building principals must include provisions in the County and school parent involvement policies regarding:

assisting parents of children served under Title I in understanding the State's academic content and assessment standards, and in understanding how to monitor their child's progress and how to work with educators to improve their child's achievement;
providing materials and training to help parents work with their children to improve achievement;
educating teachers, student services personnel, and other staff, with the assistance of parents, about the value and utility of contributions of parents, how to reach out to, communicate with, and work with parents as equal partners, how to implement and coordinate parent programs, and how to build ties between parents and the school;
to the extent feasible and appropriate, coordination and integration of parent involvement programs and activities with other Federal programs;
providing such reasonable support for parent involvement activities as parents may request.

In order to build the County's capacity for parent involvement, the Superintendent and building principals may also:

involve parents in the development of training for teachers and administrators to improve the effectiveness of such training;
pay reasonable and necessary expenses associated with parental involvement activities to enable parents to participate in school-related meetings and training sessions, including transportation and child care costs;
train parents to enhance the involvement of other parents;
adopt and implement model approaches to improving parental involvement;
establish a County-wide parent advisory council to provide advice on all matters related to parental involvement programs;
develop appropriate roles for community-based organizations and businesses in parental involvement activities.

Title I Parent's Right to Know

In accordance with the requirement of Federal law, for each school receiving Title I funds, the Superintendent shall make sure that all parents of students in that school are notified that they may request, and the Board will provide the following information on the student's classroom teachers:

whether the teacher(s) have met the State qualification and licensing criteria for the grade levels and subject areas they are teaching
whether the teacher(s) is teaching under any emergency or provisional status in which the State requirements have been waived
the undergraduate major of the teacher(s) and the area of study and any certificates for any graduate degrees earned
the qualifications of any paraprofessionals providing services to their child(ren)
in addition, the parents shall be provided:
information on the level of achievement of their child(ren) on the required State academic assessments;
timely notice if the student is assigned to a teacher who is not "highly qualified" as required, or if the student is taught for more than four (4) weeks by a teacher who is not highly qualified.

The notices and information shall be provided in an understandable and uniform format, and to the extent practicable, in a language the parent(s) understand.

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