• OVERVIEW 

    Title 1 is a federally funded program within the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) that provides additional funds to schools with high numbers of children from low-income families. As a result of the conditions that often impact families who are poor (e.g., high mobility, unsafe communities, poor health), these children often fall behind in school and require additional resources to catch up and stay on track. Title 1 funds are used primarily to support teaching and can be spent on professional development, additional teachers to reduce class size, specialists in reading and math, paraprofessionals, and school reform programs. https://www.houstonisd.org/Domain/8026

     

    ESSA is very clear about the importance of engaging families in the Title 1 program. Not only must parents be included in the planning and implementation of parent and family engagement programs and procedures, but each school district must reserve not less than 1% of its total Title 1 grant to support activities to engage parents.

     

    Every school receiving Title 1 funds must have in place a parent involvement policy.  This policy should spell out how parents will be involved in a meaningful way of making decisions about the program and how they will be involved in the school. The policy must also be updated periodically to reflect the changing conditions for learning and needs of the parents and students.

     

    ESSA is very clear—a school-parent compact is a comprehensive plan for partnerships between families and schools that is linked to school goals for student achievement and success. The school compact should describe how the school, parents and students will work together to achieve student success.

     

    The compact should be more than a laundry list of what teachers will do and what parents will do. It is not intended to be voluntary for parents, students or teachers but rather a way to hold everyone accountable for doing their part.

     

    The requirement that school districts distribute a report card specifying how each school individually and the district as a whole are performing applies to Title 1 and non-Title 1 schools as well as charter schools.

     

    Translation of SIP/Translation of various languages:

    Title I schools must have the entire School Improvement Plan translated into the language(s) of parents of enrolled students.  Translated School Improvement Plans must be placed in the campus’ Title I bin as well as made available in the front office.  Although it is “best practice” to have the SIP’s available in all languages (as spoken by the parents represented at your campus), the External Funding Department strongly suggests  where there is at least 10% of any parent population who speak such language(s) that the document must be translated into those languages.

     

    Purpose of the Title I, Part A Program:

    The purpose of Title I, Part A is to ensure that all children, particularly low-achieving children in the highest-poverty schools, have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education and reach, at a minimum, proficiency in challenging state academic achievement standards and state academic assessments.

     

     

    Please find the following documents below:

    • Parents Right to Know
    • Title I Program Status
    • School-Parent Compact
    • Parent & Family Engagement Policy
    • Description & Explanation of Curriculum
    • Description & Explanation of Academic Assessments
    • Promotion Standards
    • Federal School Report Card
    • Annual Evaluation of the Title I Parent and Family Engagement Program

     

    The report card must include:

    Achievement information, broken down by subgroups. The subgroups are identified by race/ethnicity, disability, income, gender, English language learners, and migrant workers. The percentage of students not tested, broken down by subgroups. Graduation rates for high school students, retention and promotion for middle-grade students, and a similar indicator for elementary school students.

    Teacher qualifications, broken down by high-poverty and low-poverty schools.  Although not required, the report card may include information about parent involvement.  Under this requirement, if a school continuously fails to make adequate yearly progress (AYP), parents can ask to transfer their children to a school that is making adequate yearly progress. https://www.houstonisd.org/Domain/8026

     

    Visit the External Funding Titles I, II & IV Department website for additional information.