Federal Legislation 
Title I of “Every Student Succeeds Act” provides federal assistance to school districts to help fund high quality, challenging instructional programs for children in schools that have highest concentrations of poverty. 

Program Description 
Title I is a federal program that provides opportunities for the children served to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to meet challenging state content standards. Resources are distributed to schools where needs are the greatest, in amounts sufficient to make a difference in the improvement of instruction. Title I coordinates services with other educational services, and to the extent feasible, with health and social services programs. Title I provides greater decision making authority and flexibility within the schools and for teachers. However, greater responsibility for student performance in the exchange made for this flexibility. 

School Selection 
Title I schools within the Institute are selected based on information obtained from the 5th Day Attendance Count, and the percentage of students who are on free and reduced lunch. A poverty index for the district is determined and the schools are ranked from highest to lowest poverty.

A school qualifies for a Title I School-wide program based on its poverty percentage. School-wide programs may use funds or services in combination with other Federal and State funds it receives, to upgrade the entire educational program within the school. School-wide programs are eligible to use funds to support systemic reform and instructional improvement. All students attending school at a School-wide Title I site may use materials and/or be serviced by personnel funded through Title I.

Targeted Assistance: Currently, the Institute only has School-wide Title I programs and does not have any Target Assistance Title I programs. Targeted Assistance schools must implement a scientifically-based instructional program to assist the identified students. 

Allocation of Funds 
The amount of funds allocated to each Title I school is based on a per poverty student enrollment allocation. The district Title I allocation is, in turn, allocated to schools based on the number of poverty students in each Title I school as determined by the free/reduced lunch report. Allocation may change from year to year, depending on a change in the number of students receiving free or reduced lunch within each school and/or a change in the Institute’s allocation. 

Planning Committee 
A school-level planning team must be assembled in each Title I school to give input on the use of all Title I expenditures. The required planning team representatives must include, but are not limited to: 1-principal, 2-teachers, 2-additional staff members, 2-parents, 1-student services worker, 1-district administrator, 1-technical assistance provider, 2-community members, and, if the school is a high school, 1-student. The planning team should meet regularly throughout the year to discuss the implementation of the current plan and to decide on changes or additions to the plan for the next school year. The planning team should be given an agenda and sign-in attendance sheet for documentation purposes. The Title I committee chairperson will need to take notes in order to keep track of adjustments that need to be made to the plan. 

Comprehensive Needs Assessment 
The law requires that in each Title I school, a comprehensive needs assessment should be conducted in order to identify the needs of the students. The plan developed at each school must reflect needs identified by the needs assessment and programs designed to meet these needs. The needs assessment should discuss discrepancies between what exists and what students need in order to achieve and provide a reason for areas where the greatest need exists. The needs assessment is based on test data and additional data received from attendance reports, teacher surveys, parent surveys, etc. A needs assessment will not only identify areas that need to be addressed by the Title I plan, but will act as a basis for building a priorities list on which subsequent plans can be based. 

Research-Based Instruction 
Once the areas of greatest need have been determined, research-based strategies must be selected to address them. The South Carolina Curriculum Standards should be used as a basis for deciding which instructional strategies should be selected. Only the best and most effective research-based instruction should be included to address the needs of the students within the Title I school. 

Parent and Family Engagement
Parent involvement is a critical portion of the Title I plan. Every Title I school is expected to include a certain percentage of the total allocation toward improving Parent and Family Engagement within the school. Each school must also develop a Parent and Family Engagement policy, outlining expectations and opportunities for including parents in the education of their children. Parents must be included on the planning committee and should be notified of all activities implemented through Title I. Parents must also be offered the opportunity to give feedback on the plan.