2012-2013 Title I Schools	2012-2013 LAP Schools
Ardmore Elementary	Phantom Lake Elementary
Lake Hills Elementary	Woodridge Elementary
Sherwood Forest Elementary	Highland Middle
Stevenson Elementary	Odle Middle
Highland Middle	Interlake High
	Sammamish High

              

 

Title I and LAP Programs in the Bellevue School District

 

The following information is provided in an effort to help all members of the Bellevue community and other interested persons with an overview of our Title I and LAP programs.  Please direct any questions or comments to LeAnn Tuupo, the Supervisor of Title I & LAP, She can be reached at 425-465-4135 or by emailing tuupol@bsd405.org.

 

What is Title I?

Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, is officially labeled “Title I—Improving the Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged.”  This legislation was signed into law in 1964 by President Johnson.  The legislation is commonly referred to as “Title I, Part A,” or simply “Title I.”  The Title I programs in our school district have been designed to support Bellevue’s most at-risk (high poverty) youth as we help them realize our district mission of achieving success in college, career, and life.

 

What is LAP?

The Learning Assistance Program (LAP) is a Washington-state based program.  It is intended to extend the support schools receive beyond what is possible through the Federal Title I grant.  The LAP programs in our school district have been designed to extend the reach of our Title I programs into schools that also have large percentages of at-risk (high poverty) youth.  The purpose of LAP programs is to help students realize our district mission of achieving success in college, career, and life.

 

How do Title I and LAP Programs Work?

There are three types of programs:

• Targeted Title I:  In a Targeted Title I building, the funds used by a school district and/or school must be directed to the education of students who are the most underperforming students in a building.  These are the students who do not pass district or state assessments.  (As an example, a Title I-qualified student in a Targeted Title I building might be a student who scored a Level 1 or a Level 2 in reading or math on the Measurement of Student Progress.)  The rationale behind targeting support is that, although there are 35% or more students qualifying for free/reduced lunch, the impact of poverty on the entire school building does not warrant serving all students.  Rather, the school’s Title I program should focus on the students who are struggling the most to achieve standard.

 

• School-wide Title I:  In a School-wide Title I building, the funds used by a school district and/or school can serve all students in a designated building.  This is because the percentage of free/reduced lunch rate is or has exceeded 40% and the school has engaged in a year-long process to become a school-wide building.  Once a school is a school-wide Title I building, it is always a school-wide Title I building, even if the free/reduced lunch percentage declines.  A school-wide building can serve all of its students because the free/reduced lunch percentage is great enough to warrant a broader service model than a Targeted Title I service model.

 

• LAP: In a LAP building, the funds used by a school district and/or school must be directed to the education of students who are the most underperforming students in a building.  These are the students who do not pass district or state assessments.  As with a Targeted Title I building, the rationale behind focusing support on the lowest performing students is that the impact of poverty on the entire school building does not warrant serving every student.  Rather, the school’s LAP program should focus on the students who are struggling the most to achieve standard.

 

In general, any use of Title I or LAP funds must align with the school’s goals for improvement, which must be based on a comprehensive review of data and school needs.  Further, funds must provide educational programs or materials that are in addition to basic education funding.  This means the programs or materials funded through Title I or LAP must be on top of the basic education program that we provide all of Bellevue’s students.

 

How does a school get Title I or LAP funds?

Schools qualify for Title I or LAP funds based on the free/reduced lunch rates of a school.  Federal law allows schools with over 35% to receive Title I dollars.  Schools with over 75% of students qualifying for free/reduced lunch must be given Title I dollars.

 

In Bellevue, we provide elementary and middle schools with free/reduced lunch percentages of 36% or more with Title I dollars.  Currently, we provide elementary schools with free/reduced lunch percentages between 25% and 35% with LAP funds, and high schools with over 25% free/reduced lunch rates with LAP funds.

 

Because the ultimate goal of the Title I and LAP funds is to improve the academic achievement of students living in poverty, the Bellevue School District directs its Title I and LAP funds to schools with free/reduced lunch percentages that exceed our district average.  In so doing, we are targeting our most at-risk student populations.

 

 

 

How do schools use their Title I or LAP dollars?

In our elementary schools receiving Title I or LAP dollars, the funds are used for the following purposes:

•  Facilitators—Facilitators are teachers on special assignment who assist the building principal, Instructional Leadership Team, and classroom teachers in examining data, identifying the most under-performing students, and designing and implementing interventions that will help the at-risk students meet or exceed grade-level standard.  Facilitators also help keep the schools keep accurate student lists and report accurate information on a regular basis to the Title I and LAP offices.
•  Professional Development—Professional development activities are designed by individual schools.  All professional development activities focus on each school’s specific improvement goals and are intended to build teachers’ capacity for examining data, designing and implementing interventions, and teaching diverse student populations.
• Parent Involvement—Parent involvement is an important part of any school’s Title I or LAP program.  Involving parents in the education of their children is an expected outcome when schools receive Title I or LAP dollars.  Each school is responsible for developing and offering parent involvement events that are specific to each school’s parent group’s needs and interests.  All parent involvement events are intended to help parents support the learning of their youth.
•  Materials—Materials such as books or technology can only be made if the requested materials or technology has never been purchased using school district or other funding sources.  Therefore, the materials typically purchased with Title I or LAP funds support the professional development goals or are supplemental curriculum materials that have not been used in other school buildings.

 

 

In our middle schools and high schools receiving Title I or LAP dollars, the funds are used for the following purposes:

• Support Classes—Support Classes in English, reading, writing, or math can be funded through Title I or LAP dollars if they are courses offered in addition to the basic education courses students take during a typical school year.  The courses that do exist use supplemental curriculum materials such as READ 180 or Math Navigator.  Students take the courses in addition to their regularly assigned English, reading, writing, and/or math courses.
• Credit Retrieval—Credit retrieval opportunities in LAP-funded high schools are offered for students in 11^th and 12^th grade.

 

Middle and high schools with Title I and LAP dollars also use their funds for professional development parent involvement, and materials.

 

 

 

What is our progress?

All of our Title I buildings are committed to providing each and every student with an exemplary educational program that will prepare them for success in college, career, and life.  To fulfill their commitment, staff members in every Title I building meet regularly to look at student work and review student progress.  By looking at student work and reviewing data, they are able to determine how to best serve the needs of each student and support them to meet or exceed our standards in the core subjects of reading, math, science, and social studies.  Additionally, school staff participate in school-specific learning through book studies, attend district-wide professional development offerings, and work with their grade-level or departments as ways to build their professional knowledge of promising practices for improving student learning.  Bellevue’s Title I schools are excited to see the growth in student achievement over time that will result from the teachers’ efforts at developing their knowledge and skills.Measurement of Student Progress (MSP) and teacher quality data will help track this growth in student acheivement. Click here to view an on-line version of our scorecard, complete with explanation of measurements.