Brownsville Road Optional Elementary

1. Brownsville Road Optional Elementary Annual Title One Meeting

2. What is Title I ? • Title I (pronounced “Title One”) is the largest federally funded program for elementary, middle, and high schools. Through Title I, the Federal government gives money to school districts around the country based on the number of low-income families in each district.

3. You may know Title I by its old name, Chapter 1. But the new Title I isdifferent. It is based on three important ideas: 1. All students should work toward the same high standards. Title I’s job is to provide help to students who need it to make sure they reach the same standards as everyone else in their school or district. Standards describe what students should know and be able to do at each grade level. Schools cannot have different standards for Title I students compared to other students. 2. Local districts, schools, and parents know best what their students need to succeed. Title I allows them to decide how to use Title I money to help students who are behind. 3. Parents are partners in helping all students achieve. Parents have the right to be involved in the design and operation of their school’s Title I program. At the same time, parents have a responsibility to help their children succeed in school.

4. How can Title I money be used? Districts, schools, and parents and have a lot of choice in how they set up their Title I program, as long as it helps low-achieving students meet the same standards that have been set for all other students. For example, Title I money can be used to: o provide after-school, weekend or summer school programs; o train teachers and other staff; o buy equipment and learning materials; o support parent involvement activities; o hire special teachers, tutors or aides (usually in reading, language arts or math).

5. How can Title I help me as a parent? Title I money can be used for many types of parent involvement activities. It can be spent on: o Family literacy activities; o Parent meetings and training activities; o Materials that parents can use to work with their children at home; o Parent resource centers. How can I find out what my Title I program offers parents? All Title I programs must have in place a plan for how it will involve parents. This plan, called a parent involvement policy, explains how the school and district support the important role of parents in education. The parent involvement policy must include a compact, which is a written statement of what schools and parents are each supposed to do to help students achieve.

6. How can I help my school’s Title I program? There are many ways you can become involved: o You can help plan or review your school’s Title I program. o You can help develop your school’s plans for how parents and schools can work together (its parent involvement policy and its compact). o You can work on the committee that reviews your state’s Title I policies.

7. Title I programs generally offer: Smaller classes Additional teachers and assistants Additional training of school staff Extra time for instruction A variety of teaching methods and materials Counseling and mentoring

8. The School’s Title I program is reviewed……. each year by administrators, teachers and parents. If goals have not been met, the plans must be revised.

9. Policies for Family Engagement Brownsville Road Elementary School’s handbook contains our Family Engagement Plan. All parents received the handbook during registration . Reporting Pupil Progress Brownsville Road will convene a number of parent meetings with flexible times to discuss the forms of academic assessment used to measure student progress. Parent Conferences Brownsville Road will hold parent conferences where the progress of students will be discussed and explained. Teachers will schedule meetings before school, during their planning time, and after school to accommodate parent schedules. SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT PLAN The SIP is updated yearly to meet the needs of the students at Brownsville Road.

10. Parent’s Right to Know • A teacher’s professional qualifications, licensure, grade(s) certification, waivers • A teacher’s baccalaureate and/or graduate degree, fields of endorsement, previous teaching experience • A paraprofessional’s qualifications • An annual notice of Student Education Records Privacy and notice for disclosure of School Directory Information • An assurance that their child’s name, address and telephone listing not be released to military recruiters

11. All parents will receive information on the following: • Their child’s level of achievement on each of the state’s academic assessments • Notification of right to transfer their child to another school in the district if the student becomes the victim of a violent crime or is assigned to an unsafe school • District Family Involvement Policy and School Parent Involvement Policy • Their right to public school choice, Supplemental Educational Services and more effective involvement if their child’s school is identified for school improvement

12. Get to know your child’s school……. • Attend school events • Visit classroom • Join parent’s organizations • Volunteer • Consider becoming an assistant • Attend parent-teacher conferences • Request additional meetings • Keep teachers informed • Ask about training programs