Departments
Title I
Title I began in I965 as part of President Lyndon Johnson’s “unconditional war on poverty” for disadvantaged youth in inner cities. This led to the Congressional passage of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, making Title I funding available for school districts to develop imaginative new approaches to meet the needs of educationally disadvantaged students. Today the program serves about 5 million students in 14,000 school districts nationwide making Title I the largest federally funded education program in the country.
With the last reauthorization of Title I in I995, Congress authorized schools with 50% or more students on free and reduced lunch to implement a school-wide program where all children may participate as needed in the Title I program. Four schools in Provo District, Franklin, Joaquin, Spring Creek and Timpanogos Elementaries, have school-wide Title I programs. Schools write a plan and review it every year to make sure it represents the program as implemented in each school. The District also writes a plan and reviews it annually as well as develops an annual fiscal plan.
To assure that growth is being made, each school must make adequate yearly progress as defined in the Utah State Office of Education Title I federal application. Adequate yearly progress can be met in three ways. Based on the results of the spring End of Level test, the scores of each grade in a school are compared with the scores of the same grade the year before. If there is an increase of 3% or more of students scoring above basic (76% and above) in the school, or if grade level scores are at or above the state average, the school has made adequate yearly progress. The other option is if the school meets the criteria it has set on other testing as written in their school plans that have been approved by the State Office of Education.
Implementing Title I
Provo School District’s Title I program is a special instructional program that helps students improve their skills in reading and mathematics. All children within Title I school boundaries are eligible for services based on criterion referenced testing; curriculum based assessment, and teacher evaluation. Students who need help with reading participate in the Reading One-to-One program at Title I schools. Math services are provided in the classroom.
Provo also has a Title I preschool program for 64 children ages three through five. The children live within the Title I schools’ boundaries and are selected by the school Title I staff to attend. It is held at Oakridge School four days a week during the school year. Children may attend up to three years to help prepare them for school. This program has been a model design within the state and earned commendations during the Title I state review.
As well as serving students with needs, Title I schools are increasing regular teacher skills by participating in the CELL/ExLL (California Early Literacy Learning and Extended Literacy Learning) programs beginning this year. Each school has a team of eight to ten people on both CELL and ExLL teams that are being trained in the design. The elements included in the training are read alouds, shared reading, guided reading, phonological skills, independent reading, interactive writing and independent writing. Teachers are learning how to involve all students in the learning process and helping them progress within the regular classroom framework. Literacy coordinators are being trained now so that next year they may train all staff in the design and implement this program in all classrooms in the Title I schools.
Parent Involvement
Parent Involvement plays a key role in Title I. Working together, parents and Title I staff help student s achieve their learning goals. Materials and parent handbooks with helpful hints are provided so parents can use them at home with their children.
In Provo School District, Title I continues to concentrate all efforts and funds on meeting the needs of at-risk students by improving academic achievement through supplementary instruction and providing a parent involvement program for parents of at-risk students. Monthly newsletters and an annual parent Make-It Take-It are provided through cooperative effort between the district and school staff. Provo School District's Make-It Take-It Design has been highlighted at two national conventions and other state conferences and serves as a model for the state. School parent activities such as parenting classes, family math nights, story nights and others are held at each school as well.
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