Federal Programs: Title I

Literacy acquisition is one of the most important building blocks in a student's learning. It is the goal of New Kent’s Title I program to provide all teachers and students with reading strategies that will enable them to achieve academic success.

In New Kent County Public Schools, Title I teachers strive to strengthen the reading skills of students working below grade level in kindergarten through fifth grade within the framework of each individual school’s comprehensive academic curricula. Services are provided in New Kent’s three elementary schools using a combination of in-class and resource service models.

• Title I teachers provide intensive reading intervention services to small groups of students who are achieving below grade level.

• Title I teachers also provide job embedded professional development for classroom teachers and staff so teachers may best support all students.

• In the in-class model, the Title I instructor works within the classroom with students who have been identified as being in need of Title I services.

• In the resource model, students work with the Title I instructor in the Title I resource room.

• In both models, the Title I teacher works collaboratively with the classroom teacher to support the development of reading skills.

• Title I paraprofessionals work under the direct supervision of Title I teachers. The instructional focus is on strengthening and improving reading strategies that are also taught by the classroom teacher.

The Title I, Part A grant is authorized under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and is appropriated annually by the U.S. Congress. Title I funding is formula-driven and is based on state and local poverty data.

The Federal Government

The federal government provides funding to states each year for Title I. To obtain the funds, each state must submit a plan describing its challenging academic standards, academic assessments, and statewide school accountability system.

The State Educational Agency

The state distributes funds to school divisions based on poverty levels in U.S. census data. Additional information on divisions and schools within the statewide accountability system can be found in the Virginia Department of Education School Quality Profiles.

The School Division

The school division identifies eligible schools based on federal guidelines and provides Title I resources and assistance to the schools and related central support programs.

The Title I Schools

Title I schools conduct an annual needs assessment and plan school reform strategies to address their community’s unique needs in order to ensure all students access high-quality learning experiences and that all families are meaningfully engaged.

In NKCPS, Title I grant funding supports schools, students, families, and staff in the following ways. Title I grant funds are used to improve services at the school and division levels in the following ways:

Professional Development for Effective Instruction

Title I schools leverage resource teachers who are highly skilled in literacy to co-lead a systematic school-wide effort to develop teacher leadership and address focused areas identified for continuous instructional improvement. Title I funds are used at the division level to provide supplemental professional learning experiences for teacher leaders and administrators, including specialized training in literacy and mathematics instructional models.

High-Quality Instructional Materials

Title I schools purchase high-quality instructional materials, including diverse reading materials and appropriate technology and software, that will enhance mathematics and literacy learning experiences and foster college-career readiness skills. Title I funds are used at the division level to research and share professional resources to support schools in carrying out effective instruction and family engagement.

Home Connections and School Readiness

Title I schools offer a variety of experiences to foster students’ readiness to learn through family engagement, support for transitions into new learning environments, and development of students' essential skills, beliefs, and academic behaviors. Title I funds are used at the division level to supplement early childhood programs, supports for homeless students, and family engagement and advocacy.

Interventions and Enrichment

Title I schools offer a variety of variety of opportunities for students to access scaffolds and supports that will enable each to reach his or her full potential, including both interventions geared toward students’ needs in literacy and mathematics and enrichments that ensure all students reach high expectations. Title I funds are used at the division level to provide technical assistance and support to schools in grant administration and school reform efforts.

Literacy Support

Literacy support is designed to strengthen students’ reading and writing skills. Title I literacy leaders and classroom teachers work together to assess students’ strengths and needs and to plan appropriate literacy instruction. Literacy instruction focuses on the five essential components of reading: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Title I literacy leaders may provide ongoing professional learning for teachers in their schools. They work in classrooms as well as with small groups of students. Instruction is based on the NKCPS Elementary Literacy Plan and the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL).

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) recognizes the importance of high quality instruction to advance students’ learning and close achievement gaps.

What Are High Quality Staff?

Based on the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) in December 2015, also known as the Every Student Succeeds Act, individual states are responsible for setting qualification requirements for staff to be considered “high quality." In Virginia, teachers must have an appropriate college degree and hold a state license with an endorsement in the content areas they teach. Additionally, instructional assistants in Title I schoolwide models must have a high school diploma and must have an associate's degree or higher, two years of successful college study, or a passing score on a state or local paraprofessional assessment. The NKCPS Department of Human Resources has put practices in place to ensure all teachers and instructional assistants hired in Title I schools meet these requirements at the time of hire.

Equitable Access to High Quality Staff

NKCPS ensures students in Title I schools have equitable access to high quality, outstanding teachers and staff. NKCPS annually hires competent teachers and staff who are committed to fostering educational excellence. Through job fairs, collaboration with college personnel, and a variety of incentives, recruitment specialists in the NKCPS Department of Human Resources continue to build a core of effective teachers for all schools. In addition, Human Resources staff monitor on an ongoing basis to ensure all teachers maintain appropriate licensure.

Parents Right-to-Know

All parents in Title I schools may request information regarding the professional qualifications of their children’s classroom teachers. Each August or September, schools send parents notifications of their right to this information.

Parents have the right to request information on:

• college and graduate school preparation, including degrees and major fields of study for each degree held;

• licensure status, including subject and grade level endorsements; and

• whether those licenses meet the requirements for the subjects or grade levels taught.

The annual notification also advises parents that they have the right to request information about the qualifications of any instructional assistant who provides services to their children. Finally, the notice directs parents on how to access additional school and division performance and teacher quality data within the school quality profile published annually by the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE). See also the “Reporting on Staff Expertise” section below.

In addition to this annual notice for all parents, parents in Title I schools will be promptly notified by the school if at any time their children receive instruction for four or more consecutive weeks from a teacher or substitute teacher who does not meet state licensure expectations for the area of instruction.

Reporting on Staff Expertise

Based on federal guidance for the transition to the newly reauthorized Every Student Succeeds Act amendment to ESEA, divisions, and states are not required to report on the credentials of paraprofessionals during 2016-17. However, NKCPS continues to monitor and maintain expectations for all teachers and paraprofessionals in Title I schools to meet the qualification criteria indicated in the “What Are High Quality Staff” section above.