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The Title I program has four major goals. They are:

1. Improve language arts strategies and skills.
2. Develop math concepts and skills.
3. Promote critical thinking and problem solving skills.
4. Encourage family involvement in the education of children.

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Title I operates schoolwide programs and targeted assistance programs. Schools are identified for one of these programs based on percentages of students receiving free and reduced-price lunches.

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Schools with more than forty percent of students receiving free and reduced-price lunches are eligible to become schoolwide programs (PDF, 173K). Schoolwide programs use Title I funds to upgrade the entire educational program of the school. Schoolwide programs assess whole school needs and, in consultation with Cluster and Title I offices, design their own plans for raising the level of achievement for all students. Each school's plan includes components that research suggests are essential to any high-functioning school. Click here for more information about Title I School-wide programs in FCPS.

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In targeted assistance programs, Title I teachers work with students identified by the classroom teacher as needing additional academic assistance. Title I teachers reinforce classroom instruction in language arts and mathematics. Students receive approximately 40 minutes of instruction a day with a Title I teacher.

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Reading Recovery® (RR): Reading Recovery offers short-term early intervention to help first grade students become successful readers. Reading Recovery® focuses on beginning reading strategies, phonics, fluency, and comprehension of written language. Instruction is individualized with an emphasis on acceleration of reading development. Reading Recovery® teachers carefully observe how the child works on tasks, and use this information to plan appropriate instruction.

Literacy Collaborative™: Literacy Collaborative™ is a long-term professional development model designed to provide a comprehensive, school-wide approach to literacy instruction. Implementation provides a framework for systematic instruction that is explicitly taught during literacy lessons. Literacy coordinators in each school are trained to coach staff in improving their abilities to teach skills and strategies within the Literacy Collaborative framework.

Step Up Language Arts (SULA): Title I language arts teachers work with students and classroom teachers to develop reading, writing, and oral communication skills.  Title I teachers and classroom teachers work together to assess students' strengths and needs.  They plan appropriate literacy instruction that helps students meet the challenging standards in the FCPS Program of Studies (POS) and the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL).

 

Step Up Math (SUM): Title I math teachers provide instruction to help students develop math concepts, problem solving strategies, and computational skills.  Math teachers and classroom teachers work together to assess students' strengths and needs, and to plan appropriate mathematics instruction that helps students meet the challenging standards in the FCPS Program of Studies (POS) and the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL).  Using manipulatives and other instructional techniques, teachers help children learn to apply math skills to real-life situations.

Title I teachers provide coaching and staff development for classroom teachers to help strengthen and refine mathematics and literacy instruction.  Collaboration is the focus of the Title I program.

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The District Advisory Council (DAC) is a county organization with representatives from each Title I school. DAC collaborates with Title I staff to plan, implement, and evaluate the Title I program. DAC meetings are held five times a year. All parents are invited to attend DAC meetings.

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Fairfax County Public Schools’ (FCPS) Title I program is established to improve student achievement and help all students meet the objectives of the Fairfax County Program of Studies and Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL).

To ensure that this goal is met, a partnership with families is essential.  Therefore, the FCPS Title I program commits to working in partnership with families in the following ways:

1. A Title I District Advisory Council (DAC) shall be established by action of the Fairfax County School Board. The DAC, consisting of representatives from each Title I school, shall be comprised of parents of students served by the Title I program. Representatives shall attend DAC meetings and report back to the school. The DAC will:

• Meet at least four times per year.
• Develop and review the district-wide family involvement policy for Title I schools.
• Administer an annual survey of Title I schools to determine the effectiveness of the policy and determine schools’ efforts to overcome barriers to family participation.
• Provide the survey data in the annual report to the Superintendent or the School Board and submit program recommendations.
• Develop and distribute to each Title I school a Family Involvement Ideas Notebook (PDF, 1.3 MB) to share parent involvement strategies that are taking place in schools.
• Encourage parent involvement by providing financial and organizational support for educational family field trips to local museums.
• Stay abreast of changes to the No Child Left Behind law and provide updates to parents at the schools.

2. Each school receiving Title I funds will include a parent on their school plan committee.

3. Each school will collaborate with parents through meetings, surveys and informal discussions to determine appropriate programs to help parents understand the curriculum, instructional practices, and how to support their children at home to improve student achievement. Schools will offer a variety of events at times convenient to parents. Interpreters will be made available. Funds will be used for childcare, food, or transportation. Schools will offer programs such as:

• Family Math Night
• SOL Information Night
• Partners in Print Family Literacy Programs
• Principal’s Coffees
• Technology Night
• Advocacy Training for Parents

4. Each school will work jointly with parents to develop a School-Home Compact. The compact will be reviewed annually and revised as needed. Compacts will be translated and distributed to parents annually.

5. Each school will work jointly with parents to develop a school level Family Involvement Policy.

6. District Title I funds will be used to support the position of a Family Involvement Resource Teacher in the Title I office. To build schools’ capacity for strong parental involvement, the resource teacher will work with Title I schools to:

• Develop and strengthen family involvement by sharing successful programs and strategies, providing materials for parent involvement programs and conducting staff development for school personnel.
• Support development of parent centers in the schools by providing resources, information, and opportunities for collaboration.
• Provide informational resources such as brochures and CDs in a variety of languages to assist schools in explaining Title I and the No Child Left Behind law to parents.
• Write and distribute semiannually to each family a parent newsletter, informing parents about the DAC meetings, highlighting parent involvement events, and discussing instructional practices in Title I schools.
• Coordinate educational family field trips.
• Attend school meetings and assist with the development of School-Home Compacts and school Family Involvement Policies.
• Meet with the DAC and the FCPS School Board.
• Collaborate with the FCPS Family Services and Involvement Section Office and the English for Speakers of Other Languages Office to provide staff development and resources to assist schools in strengthening family involvement.
• Work with the Head Start Office to support the Partners in Print family literacy programs by providing schools with staff development sessions, books, and instructional materials for the program.
• Conduct, with parents, an annual review of the Title I program and the family involvement policy.  Use results of this review to develop the Title I program application and support school improvement practices.

7. Use the services of the FCPS Office of Language Services to enlist the help of translators and interpreters to communicate with parents whose first language is not English.

8. Collaborate with the FCPS Office of Adult Education and other available community programs to offer English classes to parents of students in Title I schools

No student, employee, or applicant for employment in Fairfax County Public Schools shall, on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, national origin, marital status, or disability, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity.

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Parents are more motivated to support their children's learning when they:

• receive clear invitations and support from school staff to be engaged in their child's education
• are clear about what they can do to support their child's learning

This Family Involvement Ideas Notebook (PDF, 1.30 MB) is a set of successful family involvement programs that have been used at our Title I schools to include and involve families in their child's education. Schools may wish to implement similar ideas.

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