Title I in
the West Chester Area School District
Notice of Parental
Rights: All parents/guardians of children in Title I schools have
the right to request and receive from the district's Office
of Human Resources timely information regarding the professional
qualifications of their children's classroom teachers.
First enacted in 1965 under
President Johnson’s
Great Society, the federal Elementary and Secondary Education
Act (ESEA) has funded hundreds of education programs with
taxpayer dollars. The ESEA umbrella includes funding for
all Title programs across the country. ESEA was reauthorized
on January 8, 2002, when President George W. Bush signed
the bipartisan bill commonly called No Child Left Behind
into law. ESEA 2001, or No Child Left Behind, represents
a significant increase of federal government involvement
in education, which has historically been left to individual
states. The No Child Left Behind Law allocates increased
funding to more financially distressed school districts and
eliminates funding to school districts with an economically
disadvantaged population of under 2%.
Each Title program authorized by ESEA is unique
is its attempt to meet the needs of all children enrolled
in a school
district that qualifies and receives funding. Funding to
districts in Pennsylvania is based on poverty information
from the 2000 census. One of the Title programs is Title
I, which serves children who are not performing on grade
level in reading and/or mathematics. Since 1965, the West
Chester Area School District (WCASD) has received Title I
funding. (The program has been called Chapter I in several
reauthorizations). The West Chester Area School District
also acts as the local educational agency for programs at
the Glen Mills School, St. Agnes, Ss. Simon and Jude, and
St. Maximilian Kolbe. Federal monies for these private programs
pass through the WCASD.
For the 2007-08 school year, the West Chester Area School
District is receiving $609,020 to serve approximately 240
students in K through fifth grades. The money supports
the employment of Title I Reading Specialists in six
elementary schools. This use of funding is based on the belief
that early interventions may help prevent later significant
reading problems. The amount of time that a Title I Reading
Specialist can spend in a specific building is dependent
upon the number of students who are eligible for Free and
Reduced Lunches in that building. However, all students who
qualify for reading support in a building are served.
Supplemental reading instruction offered
through the WCASD Title I Program is in addition to regular
classroom reading
instruction. The Title I Reading Specialist works very closely
with the child’s classroom teacher to design appropriate
reading instruction. Title I Reading Specialists offer a
variety of teaching strategies and materials depending upon
each child’s strengths and weaknesses. The Title I
Program provides extra time for reading instruction through
both push-in (the Title I Reading Specialist goes into the
classroom to work with students) and pull-out (the Title
I Reading Specialist takes students from the classroom to
work in a separate area) methods depending upon the student’s
needs.
Title I funding in the West Chester Area School
District also supports a Title I Coordinator, Title I Secretary
and Title I Parent Coordinator. All three
positions
provide administrative support and
staff development opportunities for teachers and parents.
One district-wide parent
meeting is held throughout the year on various educational topics and each
building conducts two meetings for parents of Title I students during the
year.
If a parent/guardian has any questions about
the reading instruction that a child receives in the Title
I program, it is important to first contact the Title I Reading
Specialist assigned to their child's elementary school for
information. If a parent/guardian believes that she or he
still needs additional information, they should contact the
building
principal or Mr. James Householder, Title I Coordinator.
