Kannapolis City Schools
Title I
Title I, the cornerstone of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), is the largest federal education program. Its intent is to help ensure that all children have the opportunity to obtain a high quality education and reach proficiency on challenging state academic content and performance standards.
What is a Title I school and what does it have to do with No Child Left Behind (NCLB)?
A Title I school is a school that receives Title I money, the largest single federal funding source for education. Title I began with the passage of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. It is intended to help ensure that all children have the opportunity to obtain a high quality education and reach grade-level proficiency. Title I funds help students who are behind academically or at risk of falling behind. Services can include: hiring teachers to reduce class size, tutoring, computer labs, parental involvement activities, professional development, purchase of materials and supplies, pre-kindergarten programs, and hiring teacher assistants or others.
How is Title I school funding determined?Title I is a federal entitlement program, or non-competitive formula fund, allocated on the basis of student enrollment for ages 5-17, census poverty and other data. The U.S. Department of Education distributes these funds to State Education Agencies (SEAs) that in turn, distribute the funds to Local Education Agencies (LEAs) or school districts. NC Department of Public Instruction holds 1 percent of the funds for state administration and 4 percent of the funds for school improvement purposes. Local school districts must allocate the funds to qualifying school campuses based on the number of low-income children in a school.
What are the state and federal standards for low-income students and schools in poverty?Low-incomestudents are defined as those meeting free or reduced-price lunch criteria. Schools in poverty are defined by the percentage of low-income students. A Title I school must have: 1) a percentage of low-income students that is at least as high as the district's overall percentage; or 2) have at least 35 percent low-income students (whichever is the lower of the two figures). Only about one-third of the schools eligible for Title I are funded nationwide.
What happens to Title I schools that do not make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP)?Title I schools not making AYP in the same subject (reading/language arts or mathematics) for two years in a row are identified for Title I School Improvement. In the first and subsequent years of Title I School Improvement, the school must provide students with public school choice. In the second and subsequent years of Title I School Improvement, schools must offer tutoring services to economically disadvantaged students who choose not to transfer. These special tutoring services, known as supplemental educational services (SES), are offered while continuing to offer transfer option(s) to all students. For districts participating in a federal SES pilot program, the options are reversed. Schools in these districts offer SES after not making AYP in the same subject for two years in a row and offer transfer options in the next year if they continue to not make AYP. In the third year of Title I School Improvement, schools must take corrective actions, such as replacing school staff, implementing a new curriculum, or changing the school's internal organization structure. In the fourth year of Title I School Improvement, schools must plan for restructuring. Schools in the fifth year of Title I School Improvement must implement the restructuring plan.