1. Parent Orientation Meeting
Welcome to Title I
Parent Orientation Meeting

2. What is Title I?
Title 1 provides supplemental federal funding for low achieving children, especially in high-poverty schools.
Title 1 is a program which provides extra academic support and learning opportunities for children farthest from meeting challenging state standards. 2

3. How Does the Money Get to My School District?
The money travels from the US Government to your school district then to your school building.
Census data is used to determine the amount of Title 1 money your district receives. 3

4. How Does a School Become a Title 1 School?
The number of students that get free and/or reduced lunch is used to determine the district-wide poverty and school poverty.
Title 1 can serve schools at or above the district-wide poverty average. 4

5. Will My Child Receive Title 1 Services?
Services are given to students
who are in need of academic
help, according to the state
standards and the collection of
the school's data. This is NOT
based on the poverty of the
student's family. 5

6. How Does Title 1 Help Schools?
Title 1 helps your school by SUPPLEMENTING
and improving the regular education programs
offered at your school to help students meet
the State standards.
Small Group in Class Assistance
Supplemental Education Services
Title I Tutoring
Parent Involvement

7. What Types of Services are Offered?
It is up to the individual schools to design a program
to help students improve academic achievement to
meet the challenging State standards, meet the needs
of students, and provide professional development
for teachers and parents.
Small Group in Class Assistance
Supplemental Education Services
Title I Tutoring
Parent Involvement 7

8. Henry P. Fieler Elementary School
Title I Services
Henry P. Fieler
Elementary School 8

9. Student Selection Process
Students are selected for Title I services
based on data from three assessments:
Gr. K: IRDA assessment, Pre-Kids Readiness Test, Peabody Vocabulary Test
Gr. 1:  IRDA assessment, DIBELS Nonsense Word Fluency Check
Gr. 2-4:  IRDA assessment, Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI) Lexile, DIBELS Fluency Check
Gr. 3-4:  Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI) Lexile, MacMillan Reading Series Placement results, DIBELS Fluency Check

10. Description & explanation of the curriculum to be used
Working in small groups, students use the
Macmillan and Rigby Reading Series, along
with supplemental materials, to review the
five areas of reading instruction. This
includes:
Phonemic awareness
Phonics
Fluency
Vocabulary
Comprehension.
The goal of all instruction is to help students
master the Indiana Academic Standards for
Reading & Language Arts. 10

11. Phonemic Awareness
Phonemic Awareness is the ability to hear, identify and manipulate sounds in words.
Phonemic Awareness is important because it is the basis of spelling, word reading, and comprehension.
We work on Phonemic Awareness by making words with letter tiles and switching letters to make new words. 11

12. Phonics
Phonics helps children learn the relationships between letters and sounds.
Phonics is important because it enables children to decode words and helps them use predictable patterns in spelling.
We work on Phonics by sounding out nonsense words to see if students can apply the rules we’ve taught. 12

13. Fluency Fluency is the ability to read a text accurately and quickly.
Fluency is important because it frees students to understand what they read.
We work on Fluency by doing “Partner Reading”. We take turns reading aloud to show how read smoothly and how to change your voice when reading sentences with question marks or exclamation marks. 13

14. Vocabulary
Vocabulary refers to the words we must know to communicate effectively.
Vocabulary Instruction is important because readers must know what most of the words mean before they can understand what they are reading.
We introduce new words and make connections with words we already know. For example, we talk about antonyms and synonyms for words. 14

15. Comprehension
Comprehension, or understanding what is read, is the reason for reading.
Comprehension instruction is important because readers need to learn strategies to help them make sense of what is being read.
We help students comprehend what they read by introducing strategies such as predicting before reading and summarizing after reading. 15

16. Forms of academic assessment used to measure student progress
Fluency – DIBELS (words per minute) screenings.
Comprehension - Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI) 3 times a year.
Treasures & Rigby Reading Series Weekly and Unit Tests (80% Mastery) 16

17. Proficiency levels that students are expected to meet
DIBELS Fluency Screening (Words Per Minute)
End of Gr. 1: 40 words/minute
End of Gr. 2:  90 words/minute
End of Gr. 3:  110 words/minute
End of Gr. 4: 118 words/minute 17

18. Proficiency levels that students are expected to meet
Scholastic Reading Inventory Lexile Scores
End of Gr. 1: Lexile 300
End of Gr. 2: Lexile 500
End of Gr. 3: Lexile 600
End of Gr. 4: Lexile 700 18

19. Proficiency levels that students are expected to meet
Kindergarten Reading Skills
Knowledge of Letters & Sounds
Recognition of Basic Sight Words
Ability to read 3-4 Letter words and short sentences
Awareness of Vocabulary Concepts 19

20. Parent Involvement 20

21. Parents are an Important Part of Title 1!
Schools offer a variety of workshops, to parents, about many topics on how to help their child.
Parents are needed and encouraged to help plan/change Title 1 school's policy, participate in classroom visitations, attend informational meetings, attend Parent/Teacher conferences, and to help evaluate the overall program of the school.
Title 1 helps parents understand the laws of education. 21

22. Fieler School Parent Involvement Policy
This document informs you of your rights to be involved
in your child’s education. Parents of children enrolled in
the Title I Reading program shall be invited to participate
in the following events:
A Parent Orientation Meeting
Winter Parent and Child Workshop
A Scheduled Parent Teacher Conference
A Spring Parent Input Meeting 22

23. Merrillville Community School Corporation Parent Involvement Policy
This document informs you that the school district, Merrillville
Community School Corporation, will provide assistance to each
school as it prepares for the parent meetings.
The school district will also conduct, with the involvement of
parents, an annual evaluation of the content and the
effectiveness of the district parent involvement policy. 23

24. Parent Concern Procedures
A complaint may be submitted by any individual or organization, and is defined as a written, signed allegation that a federal or state law, rule, or regulation has been violated by a Local Educational Agency (LEA) or the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE).
A complaint may be filed by parents, teachers, administrators, or other concerned individuals or organizations.
An examples of complaints might be failure to host an annual meeting or failure to allow parent input into the Title I program. 24

25. Title 1 Parent Concern Form
School Name:
Parent Name:
Student Name:
Grade:
Date:
Address:
Phone #:
Description of complaint:
Person/Persons you have talked to prior to this formal complaint:
TO BE FILLED OUT BY PRINCIPAL/ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL
What was resolved during this process:
Description of next step:
Signature of Parent
Signature of Principal/Assistant Principal

26. Online Resources
Merrillville Community School Corporation
Merrillville Community School Corporation Student Information Indiana Department of Education Title I The Indiana Partnerships Center ISTEP+ Student Reports & Parent Network Information 26

27. Elementary Websites Macmillan Reading Series
treasures.macmillanmh.com/indiana/students
Starfall learn-to-read website for Pre-K-2nd
Clifford, the Big Red Dog for K and 1st grade teacher.scholastic.com/clifford1/
Indiana Academic Standards K- 8 Activities
Website listing for each area of the curriculum 27

28. Questions? 28

29. Thank You for Attending!29