Title I Schoolwide Programs

Qualifications

A Title I school is eligible to become a Title I Schoolwide Program when the poverty level, (determined by free and reduced meal counts, Aid for Dependent Children [AFDC], census, or Medicaid) is at or above 40%.

Definition

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 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

Core Elements of Schoolwide Programs

• A school operating a schoolwide program must conduct a comprehensive needs assessment that identifies the school’s strengths and challenges in key areas that affect student achievement.
• The school must develop a comprehensive schoolwide program plan that describes how it will achieve the goals it has identified as a result of its needs assessment.
• The school must evaluate annually the outcomes and the plan’s implementation to determine whether the academic achievement of all students, and particularly of low-achieving students, improved, whether the goals and objectives contained in the plan were achieved, and if the plan is still appropriate as written.

Comprehensive Needs Assessment

As a school prepares to become a schoolwide program, it needs to understand its current status, a snapshot that will help illustrate the gap between where the school is now and where it wants to be when its vision is realized. A school profile provides that picture; it is a data-driven description of the school’s student, staff, and community demographics, programs, and mission. The school profile serves as a starting point for discussion by the planning team, and useful information for each of the focus areas of the needs assessment that follows.

Initial Planning Process

In general, every school that plans to operate a schoolwide program is required to spend an entire year conducting the planning process. However, an exception to this general rule can be made if the school district determines, in consultation with DPI, that the school needs less time to develop and implement its schoolwide program. All new schoolwides are required to submit the Schoolwide Programs Form, PI 9551 (Rev. 04-09), which provides information on the planning process that took place in preparation for this new service delivery model. DPI will review this document and advise district representatives on the status of their request.

The DPI has developed a Title I, Part A Schoolwide Program Resource with examples of strategies, as well as potential advantages and considerations for each strategy.

Annual Evaluation & Planning Process

A Schoolwide school must annually develop a Schoolwide plan and evaluate the impact of services on student achievement. The planning process must involve all staff, parents and community members in the implementation and evaluation of the Title I Schoolwide program. Districts with private schools must consult with private school representatives before making final determinations about the use of Title I funds.

Staff qualifications

All staff in a Schoolwide school, including teachers and paraprofessionals, must be highly qualified.

Schoolwide Resources

• An Idea Book on Planning: Implementing Schoolwide Programs, Vol.1, and Profiles of Successful Schoolwide Programs, Vol. 11.
• Hope for Urban Education: A Study of Nine High-Performing, High-Poverty Urban Elementary Schools, 1999.
• Title I Guidance for Schoolwide Programs
• PI 9551: Title I Schoolwide Assurances and Narrative (Rev. 04-09)
• Title I Schoolwide Federal Guidance

For questions about this information, contact Marcia L. Meyers (608) 266-3608

Last updated on 4/23/2009 2:43:46 PM