New Schoolwide Programs

New Schoolwide Programs Title I Iowa Department of Education Sandy Johnson Title I Consultant November 2009

New Title I Schoolwide Programs • Informational meetings for: • New Schoolwide Programs beginning Fall 2009 • Schoolwide programs in the 1st or 2nd year of implementation • Eligible Schools considering a move to Schoolwide Programming

Current Targeted Assistance Plan Description of supplemental instructional strategies/programs for mathematics and/or reading. Description of the method by which students with the greatest needs are selected for service. Description of professional development opportunities to ensure highly qualified staff. Strategies to increase parental involvement including a policy and a compact(for Title I identified students).

Title I Programs Comparison • Targets identified students • Multiple criteria ranked list and documentation required • Funds used for student success in math, reading, science and social studies only • Continuous planning process to target at-risk population • Increased documentation required to ensure only targeted population benefits from funds (supplement Vs. Supplant in services) • Program plan for ALL students • Focuses on most at-risk students but all students benefit • Must have above 40% poverty at the building level • Year long planning process • Funds may be combined with other federal funds for whole school reform and flexibility for the use of the funds Targeted Assistance Schoolwide

Why Schoolwide? • Schoolwide programs offer more service delivery options for Title I and other federal program services. • Title I students are not singled out. • Student needs can be met more effectively. • Federal program resources are available to all students. • Schoolwide programs offer greater staffing flexibility. • Professional development activities can be extended to all building staff. • Strategies to increase parental involvement including a policy and a compact for All students. • True school reform can occur when consolidating all available federal resources.

Eligibility to Apply for Schoolwide • Must have 40 percent or over free/reduced meal students. -Building Level • Must consult with all school’s stakeholders to ensure support of the decision. • Must fulfill the one year planning requirement while a targeted assistance program or during the year before the school actually becomes a Title I school and receives Title I funds. (some waivers may apply) • Must submit intent to become schoolwide to the Department by August 15. (some waivers may apply)

Eligibility to Apply for Schoolwide Abbreviated Timeline for use of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) Funds • Must have 40 percent or over free/reduced meal students. • Must consult with all school’s stakeholders to ensure support of the decision. • Must have fulfilled the planning requirement to become schoolwide within the previous 12 month period (some waivers may apply)

Schoolwide Considerations • Title I Allocations • Operating a schoolwide program does not mean that the Title I allocation will increase • Paraprofessionals & SWP • ALL paras in a schoolwide building must meet NCLB highly qualified requirements regardless of funding source • Parent Involvement & SWP • Requirements pertain to all students and all parents • Parent /School Compacts for all students • Parent Involvement Policy for all parents

Schoolwide Considerations • Private Schools & SWP • Have no option for operating schoolwide programs • May ONLY operate targeted assistance programs • Supplement vs. Supplant • Maintenance of Effort • Comparability • Title I funds may not be used to replace district funds

Additional Considerations • Purpose: • The purpose of operating a Title I schoolwide program is to ensure that ALL students benefit from this organizational structure. That does not mean that every child receives individual services. But rather that professional development activities, material purchases, scheduling changes, and personnel decisions can impact the learning opportunities for EVERY child. In order for a schoolwide plan to meet expected guidelines, it MUST reflect programming that is substantially different that the typical targeted assistance program.

The Planning • Present an overview to entire school explaining: • SWP Components • SWP Requirements • SWP Benefits • Form a SWP team (could be a part of another building leadership team) • Include parents on the team • Set team meeting dates • Notify State Title I Office • Fill out Indication of Planning – online application • Conduct building needs assessment • Use SINA data if applicable • Use Building level School Improvement planning

The Planning: Suggestions for Team Meetings • Team Meeting #1: • Analyze needs assessment data & building trends & patterns • Conduct building item analysis, review teacher surveys about instructional practices, & discuss local assessments • Team Meeting #2: • Analyze & discuss student demographics, professional development, parent involvement, school context and organization, and transitions. • Identify & prioritize concerns. • Identify professional development needs • Team Meeting # 3: • Begin writing the plan • Team Meeting #4: • Write the plan & review to ensure all required components are included • Present the Plan to Staff & Parents for input & feedback • Finalize the Plan, present to Staff & Parents

The Plan • Keep it simple and keep asking “how” you are going to address the ten (10) essential components. • Follow the bulleted points on the current Schoolwide Checklist • Include a table of contents with page numbers for each of the essential components. • List your planning committee including parents, and community representatives, AEA representatives used for school improvement. • The schoolwide plan must include the ten (10) minimum requirements.

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Components of a Schoolwide Program: #1 Comprehensive Needs Assessment • What is required for a COMPREHENSIVE needs assessment? Include this information in the SWP. • Consider the school, attendance area, and surrounding community. • Who is involved? • What instruments, surveys, procedures used? • What building level planning have we already done for the school improvement process and how will we incorporate this for our Title I schoolwide focus?

1# Comprehensive Needs Assessment - Cont. • How will the needs assessment be conducted in an inclusive manner so it reaches all members of the school community (including regular education, special education, talented and gifted, migrant, Limited English Proficient, as well as low-achieving student), paying particular attention to the need so of educationally disadvantaged children. • Summarize strengths & needs of the school’s current educational program • As a result of this current comprehensive needs assessment, list by priority the specific need areas and objectives to be addressed this year of the schoolwide plan. (as plans are annually revised..list by priority)

#1 Comprehensive Needs Assessment - Cont. • Conclusions are reached from the data collected: • The major strengths we found in our program were… • The major needs we discovered were… • The specific academic needs of those subgroups of students that are to be addressed in the schoolwide program plan will be… • Causes that we discovered for each of the needs were…

Components of a Schoolwide Program: #2 Implementation of Schoolwide Reform Strategies • Provide opportunities for all children to meet proficient and advanced levels of student academic achievement. • Use effective methods and instructional strategies that are based on scientifically based research that: • Strengthens the core academic program; • Increases the amount of learning time; • Includes strategies for serving underserved populations; Describe the Reform Strategies that:

#2 Implementation of Schoolwide Reform Strategies (cont.) • Includes strategies to address the needs of all children in the school, but particularly low-achieving children and those at risk of not meeting state standards; • Addresses how the school will determine if those needs of the children have been met; • Are consistent with and are designed to implement state/ local improvement plans. Describe the Reform Strategies that:

Components of a Schoolwide Program: #3 Instruction by Highly Qualified Teachers • Describe how the school will ensure a highly qualified professional staff is employed at the school and how the staff will be employed in a manner that best enhances this schoolwide plan. • Ensure that all paraprofessionals (regardless of funding source) employed at this school meet the NCLB qualification. Documentation must be kept on file at the school. • Examples: • We have incorporated a teacher mentoring program…

Components of a Schoolwide Program: #4 Provide High Quality & Ongoing Professional Development • Describe the process of determining the professional development needs of all principals, teachers, paraprofessionals, and others as appropriate in this Title I schoolwide program. • Describe how the school will implement high quality and ongoing professional development.

Components of a Schoolwide Program: #5 Strategies to Attract Highly Qualified Teachers • Strategies to attract high-quality, highly qualified teachers to this school. • Hiring incentives, additional benefits, etc • Example: Extra stipends for high need areas • Tuition incentive for extended learning opportunities

Components of a Schoolwide Program: #6 Strategies to Increase Parent Invovlement • Describe how parents will be involved in the design, implementation, and evaluation of the schoolwide program. • Describe how parents will receive timely information about the Title I program; how they will be informed of the curriculum, assessments and proficiency levels students are expected to meet; and how they will be encouraged to participate in decision making opportunities about their child’s education. • List specific training activities and decision making opportunities for parents. (Include meeting dates for the planning, implementation and evaluation of the Parent Involvement Policy, compacts and school plan.) • Describe the yearly parental evaluation of the schoolwide program and how this information is used to improve the plan

Components of a Schoolwide Program: #7 Plans for Students’ Transition • Plans for assisting preschool children in the transition from early childhood programs such as Head Start, Early Reading First, or a State-funded preschool program. • Other district transition strategies, before kindergarten round up, home visits, placement programs • Include transition plans for students entering middle school or high school • Include transition plans for students entering the school throughout the school year • Example: We have attached our plans for assisting preschool children in the transition from early childhood programs and we annually hold a Kindergarten Round-Up each summer. Also included are transition plans for students entering middle school or high school and entering from private schools, plus plans for students entering our school throughout the school year…

Components of a Schoolwide Program: #8 Include Teachers in Decisions Regarding the Use of Assessment • Include teachers in decisions regarding the use of academic assessment information for the purpose of improving student achievement. • How do building leaders gather input from teachers • How does the building use teacher recommendations

Components of a Schoolwide Program: #9 Strategies for Increasing Academic Achievement for Students Having Difficulty Mastering Standards • Describe how the school provides activities and programs to ensure that students having difficulty mastering proficient and advanced levels of the academic achievement are provided with effective, timely additional assistance. • Example: We are providing activities to ensure that students who experience difficulty mastering proficient or advanced levels of academic achievement standards shall be provided with effective, timely additional assistance. Those activities are…

Components of a Schoolwide Program: #10 Coordinate and Integrate all Federal, State, and Local Services and Programs • Schoolwide programs are expected to use the flexibility available to them to integrate services & programs with the aim of upgrading the entire educational program and helping students reach proficient & advanced levels of achievement. • …could include programs under this Act, nutrition programs, housing programs, Head Start, adult education, vocational and technical training programs. • Example: Our listing of Federal, State, and local services and programs and a full explanation of how we are coordinating and integrating those services and programs follows…

Annual Evaluation of Plan • The school must evaluate annually the outcomes and the plan’s implementation to determine whether the academic achievement of all students, and particularly of the low-achieving students, improved; whether the goals and objectives contained in the plan were achieved; and if the plan is still appropriate as written. • In addition, the schoolwide plan must describe how the school will provide individual student assessment results, including the interpretation of those results, to parents of the student. • Describe how the results of annual evaluation of the effectiveness of this schooolwide plan will be used to make revisions to the plan to ensure continuous improvement of students in this schoolwide program. • Has overall student achievement increased as a result of the schoolwide plan? • Has the targeted subgroup(s) achievement increased as a result of the schoolwide plan? • What needs to be changed in the schoolwide plan to address the needs of the students as a result of the current data? • Teachers, Parents, Schoolwide planning/review team has given input into the review of the Schoolwide program.

Schoolwide Program Resources • http://www.ed.gov/pubs/Idea_Planning/index.html • Iowa Department of Education web site • Title I Schoolwide programs • Title I Reference Manual • Found on the Iowa DE web site

Contact Information Title I Schoolwide Programs Sandy Johnson (515) 281-3965 Sandra.johnson@iowa.gov

New Schoolwide Programs