The No Child Left Behind Act is a reauthorization (similar to a review, and an amendment) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which was first enacted in 1965. President Bush signed this reauthorization into law on January 8, 2002. Title I - Part A of this act (there are lots of different "Titles," or provisions in this law) is the largest single program of federal aid for elementary and secondary education, focusing the aid on schools with high poverty levels. This federally funded program provides support to students, who may be at risk for failing to achieve the state content standards, which are tested on the MCAS tests. Services by Title I tutors are provided to identified students in both public, and private schools.
Title I funds are directed to schools with the highest poverty rate, and that's one of my responsibilities as Title I Director - determining which schools are eligible for these federal funds. We use school information about the number of students receiving free, and reduced lunch to determine poverty percentages for each school. Percentages are calculated for each individual school, as well as an average percentage for the whole school district. Funds are allocated to schools based on those schools with the highest percentage of poverty, as determined by the number of students receiving free or reduced lunch. Any student, in that school, which is identified as needing support, is eligible for Title I services. Both the Baldwinville Elementary School, and the Narragansett Middle School are Title I targeted assistance schools for 2004-2005. This could change to include other schools in the district.
The goal of Title I is to provide additional supplementary assistance to identified students to help them be successful in meeting the high standards that are tested on the MCAS tests. Harcourt Reading Intervention materials, and a variety of supplemental materials in both reading, and math, are used by the Title I teachers. In order to identify students who could benefit from additional support, we use referral forms that include results of student performance on assessment tests, as well as noted areas of weakness, identified by the classroom teacher. Students who have the greatest need, as indicated on the referral forms, are those serviced by Title I.
The amount of money that the Narragansett Regional School District receives varies each year. This year, 2004-2005, the federal government used more recent poverty and census data to determine funds for states and local communities. Fortunately for Narragansett, our Title I allocation from the federal government this year is approximately $2,800,000! This is due to a hard working group of educators who, under the direction of Dr. Stephen Hemman, received a consolidated grant for the Narragansett School District. As a result, for this year we decided to:
Parent/Family Involvement is an important component of a Title I program. We will have programs for parents and/or families throughout the year. Parent involvement also means getting involved n the workings of Title I, providing input into the plan and the programs, etc.
The Title I Office is located at the Narragansett Middle School. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or comments. If you leave a message, I will contact you as soon as possible.
Newsletters like this will be sent home. Flyers for special events will also be sent home announcing the event. Some will require a response so that enough materials will be available.
