Title I

Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) is the largest federally funded program for elementary, middle and high schools.  The purpose of Title I is to provide funding to schools and school districts with a high percentage of students from low -income families.  To qualify as a Title I school, a school typically has 40% or more of its students qualifying for free or reduced lunch.  Students do not have to be from low-income families to receive Title I services.  Each district uses Title I money to provide services for children most in need of educational help.

 

All four of our schools: Mitchell County Primary, Elementary, Middle and High Schools, are school-wide Title I schools and receive additional federal funding to support instruction.

 

The new Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 (ESSA) was signed into effective by President Obama on December 10, 2015. The ESSA provides an extraordinary opportunity to secure educational security for all children. The most recent and significant alteration to the original Title I legislation to date. The legislation that President Obama signed on December 10, 2015, which Congress passed with strong bipartisan support, helps our schools build on this progress.

The Every Student Succeeds Act has in particular emphasis on the following highlights:

• Holding all students to high academic standards that prepare them for success in college and careers.
• Ensuring accountability and guaranteeing that when students fall behind, steps are taken to help them and their schools improve, with a particular focus on the very lowest-performing schools, high schools with high dropout rates, and schools where subgroups are falling behind.
• Continuing to ensure that parents and educators have annual assessment information about how students are doing, while supporting states and districts in reducing unnecessary, onerous and redundant testing
• Empowering state and local decision-makers to develop their own strong systems for school improvement
• Protecting students from low-income families and students of minority ethnicities from being taught at disproportionate rates by ineffective, inexperienced, and out of field teachers.

Tina Sharp, Federal Programs Coordinator, [email protected] 229.321-7002.