The Title I Program includes measures designed to increase parental involvement in the education of Title I students.
Parents are a very important part of Title I. With the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, the involvement of parents at the state, district, and school levels was made stronger and more crucial to student success. The law is shaped around three components of parental involvement:
- Written policies for involvement at the school and district levels
- Shared responsibility for high performance, as evidenced in a school-parent compact
- Greater capacity for school and parent involvement by providing training for parents
In addition to these components, Title I schools also have some parental notification requirements. These are as follows:
- Parents in Title I schools must be notified at the beginning of each school year that they have the right to request, and the district will provide on request, information regarding the professional qualifications of the student's classroom teachers, including:
A. Whether the teacher has met state qualifications and licensing criteria for the grade levels and subjects the
teacher is teaching
B. Whether the teacher is teaching under emergency or other provisional status through which state qualification
or licensing has been waived
C. The baccalaureate degree major of certification or degree held by the teacher, and the field of discipline
of certification or degree
D. Whether the child is provided services by paraprofessionals and, if so, their qualifications
- Parents in Title I schools must be notified if their child is taught by a teacher who is not highly qualified, according to the definition in the No Child Left Behind law, for more than 4 consecutive weeks.
In Prince William County's Title I Program, parents are involved at both the school and the district levels. Each Title I school is required to hold at least three Title I meetings for parents during the school year. The first meeting is called the Annual Meeting, and is held early in the school year to explain the program to the parents of children who qualify for Title I services. The other two meetings are usually designed around ideas to help parents work with their children at home, or to give parents more information about what is happening with instruction at school.
In addition to meetings at the school, parents are also involved in their child's Title I program by becoming part of the Parent-Teacher-Student Compact. Each family of a Title I student is asked to meet with the Title I teacher to go over the roles and responsibilities of the teacher, parents, and child in the Title I program during the school year. The compact is a document that spells out three areas of responsibility:
- the school's responsibility to provide high-quality curriculum and instruction
- the parents' responsibility for supporting their child's learning
- the child's responsibility for learning at school and at home
Title I teachers are also required to send home quarterly progress reports on Title I students and to communicate with parents whenever the need arises.
Each Title I school also had a written parent involvement policy on file which is jointly developed with the parents of participating children and agreed upon by the parents of that school.
In Prince William County, we also have a Parent Involvement Specialist with the Title I office. Her name is Margaret Gnadt, and she can be reached through the Title I office at 703-791-7248. She can put Title I parents in touch with resources and information on an as-needed basis.
Mrs. Gnadt can be reached also by e-mail at gnadtma@pwcs.edu
In Title I, we strive to work closely with parent and community members to ensure the greatest possible learning experiences for our students.
Updated 10/25/06