Title I News - December 2020

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Title I News

 

December 2020

Volume 4, Issue 10

Monitoring Update

Consolidated monitoring notifications were sent to 10 districts. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, monitoring will be virtual and will begin in January 2021.

The district consolidated monitoring checklist, the schoolwide program consolidated monitoring checklist and the targeted assistance program consolidated monitoring checklist are used in the consolidated monitoring process to evaluate compliance and effectiveness of Title I, Part A activities.

Twelve districts were notified of their selection for Title I desk monitoring. These districts have been submitting evidence and Kentucky Department of Education Title I consultants soon will begin reviewing the documentation. The desk monitoring checklist is used in the desk monitoring process for the evaluation of Title I, Part A activities.

Title I coordinators can use these checklists to self-assess and monitor their programs and ensure they are keeping documentation to address each of the monitoring indicators.

Suggested Ongoing Parent and Family Engagement Activities

  • Engage in family and community involvement following state and local COVID-19 guidelines. Maintain documentation of these activities (meeting agendas and notes, meeting notifications, sign-in sheets, etc.).
  • Review and update school parent and family engagement policy based on data (e.g., evaluations).
  • Review and update school-family compact.

Recommendations to Develop Effective Parent and Family Engagement

  • Recruit and encourage families to become partners in learning. Actively engage parents in planning and learning and target school-parent programs to the needs of the community and families.
  • Encourage parents to be more than volunteers. Parents participate in planning, review and evaluation of the program, as well as school activities and organizations.
  • Communicate with parents to maximize instructional time for students and foster a team effort.
  • Follow a philosophy that school is a place where parents, as well as children, can learn. Entire families should use school facilities to meet their needs.
  • Communicate information to parents through their native language.
  • Provide examples of classroom events (e.g., videos, newsletters, open houses and displays of student work) for parents in order to broaden their understanding of the program.
  • Provide transportation and childcare services for parents to participate in school activities.
  • Develop partnerships with local businesses and community groups to foster successful schools.

Helpful Tips from Districts – One school gets creative with PFE funds

Stephanie Harris, Title I Coordinator
Montgomery County Public Schools

Editor's Note: Parent and Family Engagement (PFE) has been a “buzz” topic throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. This month, Montgomery County’s Title I Coordinator Stephanie Harris shares how one school is reaching out and getting creative with the use of their Parent and Family Engagement funds.

The Camargo Elementary School Title I Committee is proposing that we use parent involvement funds to support parents/guardians in becoming empowered partners in their child’s learning.

We want to purchase a digital reading library that will give parents access to quality leveled texts to read with their children. This resource allows families to have access to every leveled reader we have in our leveled reading library. We plan to provide educational opportunities to our students’ parents/guardians, teaching them how to utilize the digital reading library and how to apply a variety of strategies with their students as they read. We also will provide grade-level specific individual guided reading toolkits for students whose parents/guardians participate in the training.

In addition, we plan to purchase additional leveled readers specifically to create a take-home shared library for those students who have limited access to digital resources. We already have a take-home library for our K-3 students that they can check out. We plan to add this option for our 4th- and 5th-grade students.

Digital Reader Grades K-5 all students

  • All book titles in digital format along with lesson cards modified for remote learning
  • Access to books

Individual Guided Reading Toolkits

  • Contains all the manipulatives, graphic organizers and journals needed at each grade level to support reading
  • Manipulatives to support reading

Additional Supports - Grade 4-5

  • 80 titles and lesson cards
  • Access to books

Grade-Level Specific Parent Information Session

  • Demonstration of how to access the books and how to support reading strategies within those books
  • One live Zoom per grade level and an archived video for those unable to attend or wanting to review
  • Support with reading strategies

For more information on how Camargo Elementary School in Montgomery County is getting creative with parent and family engagement, email their Title I Coordinator Stephanie Harris,

If your district would like to share practices for any Title I project management in any area, email Brenda Considine.

Resources are not endorsed by the Kentucky Department of Education and are provided for informational purposes only.

Tentative 2021-2022 Title I, Part A Census Poverty and Hold Harmless Rates Available

An explanation of tentative census poverty data and tentative hold harmless rates can be found on the Kentucky Department of Education Title I Part A Documents and Resources webpage. These numbers, used in part to allocate Title I, Part A funds, can now be used to produce an estimate of your 2021-2022 school year Title I, Part A allocation.

Carefully review the information included in the document and bear in mind that all data provided in the attachment is tentative and is provided for planning purposes only. It does not represent your district’s final Title I, Part A allocation for next school year.

For more information, contact your Title I, Part A consultant.

 

Title I Year at a Glance – December

The day-to-day activities and many hats you wear may make it hard to keep up with tasks in the Title I world, especially as this school year progresses differently from any other school year you have had.

As a reminder, the following activities should be taking place sometime this month:

  • Collect signed Time and Effort records for staff who work on multiple cost objectives.
  • Ensure that methodology regarding supplement, not supplant is on file at the district if applicable.
  • Principals may submit requests to amend the school grant, as needed, to the district Title I coordinator. This request should follow district protocol for amending the grant.
  • Monitor implementation of parent and family engagement plans.

 

National ESEA Conference

The virtual National ESEA Conference will take place Feb. 8-11. This conference is four days of learning and skill building focused on supporting students served by ESEA programs. The conference welcomes thousands of K-12 educators from across the country each year.

Participants include state agency officials, school district administrators, school building leaders and teachers. There will be updates from several offices of the U.S. Department of Education about federal education programs. Conference participants will have opportunities to meet and learn from professionals who have taken significant steps to help students succeed.

Conference details, including registration materials, are available at the ESEA website. If you have questions about the conference, email Bob Harmon, CEO of the National Association of ESEA State Program Administrators, or call him at (800) 256-6452.

 

CONTACTS

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