Federal Title Programs
Overview of Title Programs in Taylor County Schools
The Taylor County School District receives federal funds from the following Federal Title Programs.
Title I Part A
The Title I, Part A, purpose is to help ensure that all children have the opportunity to obtain a high-quality education and reach proficiency on challenging state academic standards and assessments. As the largest federal program supporting elementary and secondary education, Title I targets these resources to the districts and schools where the needs are greatest.
The purpose of Title II, Part A is to provide grants to school districts for higher education, and eligible partnerships in order to increase student academic achievement through strategies such as improving teacher and principal quality and increasing the number of highly qualified teachers in the classroom and highly qualified principals and assistant principals in schools and to assist local educational agencies and schools with improvements in student academic achievement.
Title IV-Student Support & Academic Enrichment Grants (SSAE)
The SSAE grant is intended to improve student academic achievement by increasing the capacity of State educational agencies (SEAs), local educational agencies (LEAs), and local communities to:
- provide all students with access to a well-rounded education;
- improve school conditions for student learning; and
- improve the use of technology in order to improve the academic achievement and digital literacy of all students.
Title V: Rural & Low Income Schools Program (RLIS)
The purpose of this program is to address the unique needs of rural local educational agencies (LEAs). RLIS provides additional resources to assist rural LEAs in increasing student achievement and meet the goals of Title V.
Title IX: Homeless Education Program (HEP)
The McKinney-Vento Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program is designed to address the problems that homeless children and youth have faced in enrolling, attending, and succeeding in school. Under this program, state educational agencies must ensure that each homeless child and youth has equal access to the same free, appropriate public education, including a public preschool education, as other children and youth
For more information contact:
Jill Rudd
Federal Program Director
Federal Programs and Other Information
Education of Disadvantaged Children and Youth
Title I is the U.S. government's largest assistance program for schools, putting federal money into schools that have a high percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. Title I began in 1965 as Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Act and was reauthorized in 2001 in the No Child Left Behind Act.
Title I money must be used to supplement- not replace- what is provided by the local school district. These funds may be used for children from preschool aged to high school. Title I is designed to support State and local school reform efforts tied to challenging State academic standards in order to reinforce and enhance efforts to improve teaching and learning for students. Title I programs must be based on effective means of improving student achievement and include strategies to support parental involvement.
Title I funds can be used to improve curriculum, instructional activities, counseling, parental involvement, increase staff and program improvement. The funding should assist schools in meeting the educational goals of low-income students. According to the U.S. Department of Education, Title I funds typically support supplemental instruction in reading and math.
There are two models to provide these services:
Schoolwide reform models- provide all students with access to services.
Targeted assistance models- provide services to select students in Title I schools.
Taylor County has a Title I Schoolwide program that allows the school to address the educational needs of children living in the impoverished communities with comprehensive strategies for improving the entire school so every student achieves the high levels of academic proficiency.
They do not have to identify particular children as eligible for services or separately track federal dollars. Instead, Schoolwide programs can use all allocated funds to increase the amount and quality of learning time. In this way, they can embrace a high-quality curriculum, according to a comprehensive plan that ensures that all children meet the state's challenging academic standards.
Schoolwide programs serve all children in a school. All staff, resources, and classes are part of the overall Schoolwide program. The purpose is to generate high levels of academic achievement in core subject areas for all students, especially those students most in need.
Teacher & Principal Training
Title II Part A involves teacher and principal training and recruiting. The purpose is to provide services to increase student academic achievement through strategies such as improving teacher and principal quality and increasing the number of highly qualified teachers in the classroom and highly qualified principals and assistant principals in schools.
State and local level activities include, but are not limited to:
- improving teacher performance through professional development and training materials
- improving teachers' instructional practices by providing instructional coaching
- teacher retention programs
- recruiting and retaining highly qualified teachers and principals
- increasing the number of highly qualified teachers in classrooms
- class-size reduction programs
- leadership programs for highly qualified administrators
- supporting paraprofessional, teacher, and principal certification programs
Activities must be based on district's needs assessment, and be aligned with state academic content standards, student academic achievement standards, and state assessments
SSAE-Student Support and Academic Enrichment
The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA). ESSA reflects the civil rights tradition of ESEA, which reflects our nation’s longstanding commitment to equity of opportunity for all students. The new law has a clear goal of ensuring that our education system prepares every child to graduate from high school ready to thrive in college and careers. The ESEA includes a number of provisions that promote equitable access to educational opportunity, including holding all students to high academic standards, ensuring meaningful action is taken to improve the lowest-performing schools and schools with underperforming student groups and providing more children with access to high-quality preschool.
Newly authorized under subpart 1 of Title IV, Part A of the ESEA, the Student Support and Academic Enrichment (SSAE) program is intended to help meet these goals by increasing the capacity of State educational agencies (SEAs), local educational agencies (LEAs), schools and local communities to:
- Provide students with access to a well-rounded education,
- Improve safe and healthy school conditions for student learning, and
- Improve the use of technology in order to improve the academic achievement and digital literacy of all students. (ESEA section 4101).
*Funds are allocated based on the Title I formula.
*If a school district receives an allocation below $30,000, the law does not require a needs assessment or setting aside percentages for well-rounded and safe and healthy students programs. The school district must spend money on activities in at least one of the three categories. However, there is a 15 percent technology spending cap for devices, equipment, software and digital content.
Rural & Low Income Schools Program (RLIS)
The Rural and Low-Income School Program is a formula grant that provides financial assistance to rural districts to meet local academic needs. RLIS funds a variety of activities including teacher recruitment and professional development, support for educational technology, parental activities, and more.
The Rural and Low-Income Schools (RLIS) Program provides grant funds to rural school districts where
- 20 percent or more of children served ages 5 through 17 years are from families with incomes below the poverty line and
- designated with a School Locale code of 6,7, or 8, as determined by the United States Department of Education's National Center for Educational Statistics
Families Engaged in Education
Schools can thrive when families and teachers work together, as genuine partners, to maximize student learning inside and outside the school.
Parent Family Engagement meetings are where parents can learn exactly where their child is in comparison to academic standards, where their child needs to be by the end of the school year, and how they can help support their child's learning outside of the classroom.
The latest Parent and Family Engagement Plan can be viewed at :2021 - 2022 Family Engagement Plan
Title IX- McKinney/ Vento
The purpose of this program is to provide activities for, and services to, homeless children and youth that enable them to enroll, attend, and succeed in school.
Homeless children and unaccompanied youth must have access to public school educational programs and services that allow them to meet the same challenging state academic standards to which all students are held.
Program elements:
- Designate a homeless liaison in each school district.
- Identify and immediately enroll any homeless child or youth (preschool to grade 12), even without academic or medical records.
- Continue children or youths in their "school of origin" for the duration of their homelessness.
- Inform parents/guardians of the educational rights of their children.
- Provide transportation, at the request of the parent, to the school of origin.
- Ensure no barriers exist (for example, residency requirements, lack of transportation or school fees) for full educational participation.
- Develop partnerships with community agencies to identify and assist with basic services for homeless families, children, and youth.
- Ensure homeless students are not segregated or stigmatized.
Title I
1. What is Title I?
A federal assistance program providing services in needy schools.
Title I is the largest and oldest federal program for funding education. Established in 1965, Title I serves as the cornerstone for the NO Child Left Behind Act of 2001(NCLB). The Department of Education serves over 50,000 Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) with Title I funds.
The goal of Title I is to ensure that all students, especially those from a lower economic status receive a fair, equal and significant opportunity to a acquire a high-quality education.
2. What is a Schoolwide program?
A Title I Schoolwide program is a method of delivering Title I services in eligible schools. It allows the school to address the educational needs of children living in the impoverished communities with comprehensive strategies for improving the entire school so every student achieves the high levels of academic proficiency.
Schoolwide programs have great latitude to determine how to organize their operations and allocate the multiple funding sources available to them. They do not have to identify particular children as eligible for services or separately track federal dollars. Instead, Schoolwide programs can use all allocated funds to increase the amount and quality of learning time. In this way, they can embrace a high-quality curriculum, according to a comprehensive plan that ensures that all children meet the state's challenging academic standards.
Schoolwide programs serve all children in a school. All staff, resources, and classes are part of the overall Schoolwide program. The purpose is to generate high levels of academic achievement in core subject areas for all students, especially those students most in need. This purpose is achieved through:
- High quality instruction
- Comprehensive reform strategies and methods that are based on the use of scientifically based research
- Strategies and methods to improve teacher quality and professional development
- Consolidated use of funds
3. What are the advantages of becoming a Schoolwide program?
- When an entire school is the target of change, schools serving the most disadvantaged youth can achieve success.
- A Schoolwide program is built upon whole school reform strategies rather than separate, fragmented or add-on services.
- The whole school takes responsibility for the success of each student.
- Integration and coordination of efforts toward the unified goals provide for greater success.
4. What are the eligibility requirements for Title I Schoolwide programs?
- The school's poverty level must be at least 40%.
- The school and district together decide the school should be Schoolwide.
- High-quality assistance and support is available to the school.
- The district approves, (with external technical assistance provider recommendations) the school's Schoolwide plan.
Title IX- Homeless Education
1. What is the purpose of Title IX?
Make sure homeless children and unaccompanied youth have access to public school educational programs and services that allow them to meet the same challenging state academic standards to which all students are held.
2. Who is considered homeless?
If any of the following choices apply to you and your family, your child could be eligible for homeless services.
Where does the student stay at night?
- in a shelter
- in a home with family or friends because we do not have a place of our own
- in a car, campground or park
- in a hotel or motel
- somewhere other than in the care or custody of a parent or guardian
- in a place that is not meant for people, like an abandoned building or shed
Title V
1. What is Title V?
Rural and Low-Income School Program
Title V is the Rural and Low-Income School Progam. It is intended to meet the unique needs of rural and low-income districts by providing resources and flexibility to supplement selected No Child Left Behind priorities.