Federal Programs
Contact
Scott W. Houston
Director of Federal Programs
scott.houston@wcsga.net
(706) 217-6733
Hope Bran
Federal Programs Specialist
hope.bran@wcsga.net
(706) 217-6733
About Federal Programs
Federal programs are in place to ensure that all children have an opportunity to obtain a high quality education and to achieve proficiency on the state's high academic achievement standards. This area of the website provides documents and other information to explain how federal programs support students in Whitfield County Schools.
- Title I-A Improving the Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged
- Title I-A Family School Partnership
- Title I-C Education of Migratory Children
- Title II-A Supporting Effective Instruction Grant
- Title III-A Language Instruction for English Learners and Immigrant Students
- Title IV Student Support and Academic Enrichment (SSAE)
- Title IX McKinney-Vento Education for Homeless Children & Youth
Title I-A Improving the Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged
Improving the Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged
The Title I-A program provides supplementary services and materials for economically disadvantaged children. The focus of these funds is to promote academic success for at-risk students in core content areas (math, reading, language arts, science, and social studies). Some examples of support are: additional teachers/paraprofessionals, a strong family engagement component, and added technology. Parent involvement is an important component of Title I-A programs.
How do you determine who qualifies?
Poverty, economic disadvantage, is determined by those students who qualify for free and reduced lunch.
What is the source of the funding?
Funds are provided by federal taxes paid by individuals and businesses.
Are there special guidelines?
Schools must meet specific poverty percentages (40%) to qualify. Schools may provide services as Targeted Assistance Programs (TAP) (to specific children who qualify), or as School-Wide Programs (SWP) (to all students attending the school). Funds may only be used to provide additional, supplemental services and materials. They may not replace (supplant) services already provided to the general student population through state and local funds. Funds must be made available to private schools serving children living in the district.
How much funding does WCS receive?
Funding varies from one year to the next because it is based on the number of poverty children who qualified in the previous October student count (fall FTE count).
Services are provided to students in 20 schools. All elementary schools , all five middle schools, and two high schools in Whitfield County Schools (WCS) are Title I-A funded.
Who benefits from the funding?
In school-wide programs, all students benefit from Title I funds. In targeted-assistance programs, only the group of students meeting criteria set by the school benefit from the funds. Schools must operate for one full year as a targeted program before they may become school-wide.
All elementary and middle school students are directly impacted by Title I-A funds in WCS as well as qualifying students in the two high schools served by Title I-A. Additional homeless and migrant children in grades 9–12, plus students designated as neglected who attend WCS schools also benefit through tutoring services.
Title I-A Family School Partnership
Family Engagement
Family Engagement means the participation of parents and family members in regular, two-way, and meaningful communication involving student academic learning and other school activities, including ensuring:
View the WCS Parent & Family Engagement Plan
- That parents play an integral role in assisting their child’s learning.
- That parents are encouraged to be actively involved in their child’s education.
- That parents are full partners in their child’s education and are included, as appropriate, in decision-making and on advisory committees to assist in the education of their child.
- The carrying out of other activities, such as those described in Section 1116 of the ESEA.
Title I-C Education of Migratory Children
Contact
Raquel Moore
Student Service Provider
Title I-C
raquel.moore@wcsga.net
MIGRANT EDUCATION
The Migrant Education Program (MEP) provides supplemental educational and support services to eligible migrant children.
What is the source of the funding?
United States Department of Education through federal taxes paid by individuals and businesses.
Are there special guidelines?
Specific guidelines are followed to identify eligible students (type of work, qualifying moves). Priority for Services is based upon migrant children whose education has been interrupted during the school year and who are failing, or at risk of failing.
How much funding does WCS receive?
The amount of funding varies each year depending on how many students qualify and are served in the previous year. Migrant populations move according to work availability which is often dependent on the economy and weather.
Who benefits from the funding?
WCS uses migrant funds to provide: a migrant liaison, individual and group tutoring of priority for service students during the school year and through the summer, recruitment, EXITO parent education classes, parent involvement through PAC (Parent Advisory Committees at local and state levels), emergency support for migrant families, student supplies for school, and staff training.
Title II-A Supporting Effective Instruction Grant
Professionally Qualified Staff
Title II-A funds are intended to recruit, prepare, induct, continually train, and retain professionally qualified teachers and paraprofessionals in public schools. The major emphasis is to improve instruction to students by providing high-quality instructional staff.
Current legislation focuses on preparing, recruiting, and on-going training of high-quality paraprofessionals, teachers, and principals. Title II-A requires states to develop plans with annual measurable objectives that will ensure all teachers who teach core academic subjects are professionally-qualified. The Title II-A Handbook: A Guide for Advancing Teacher Quality in Georgia Schools is available at the Georgia Professional Standards Commission (PSC) website.
What is the source of the funding?
Federal funds are authorized through Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
Are there special guidelines?
Title II-A funds must be spent for preparation, recruitment, training, and retention of professionally qualified teachers, paraprofessionals, administrators, and principals. Each local educational facility receiving Title II-A funds must have a written plan which is approved by the Georgia Professional Standards Commission and Georgia Department of Education Title II, Part A staff.
How much funding does WCS receive?
The amount of funding available to each school district is dependent upon the size of the system (number of instructional staff which depends on the number of students served). The funding is used to recruit, train, and retain professionally qualified staff to provide high-quality, engaging work for students which will result in profound learning for students in Whitfield County Schools.
Who benefits from the funding?
All students are impacted by Title II-A funds. These dollars help WCS maintain high-quality staff with ongoing training and to attract new staff members who are professionally qualified and focused on students.
WCS uses funds to support new teachers with high-quality teacher training programs, to maintain an online application website to broaden the scope of applicants (especially in high-need areas such as math and science), to pay content-area test fees for educators to upgrade certification meeting our students needs, to provide professional learning in the Georgia Performance Standards which will soon evolve into the common core standards, academic content area strategies, differentiation of instruction through working on the work to help teachers provide engaging learning experiences for all students, leadership training for teachers and administrators, and numerous other professional learning opportunities to provide high-quality instruction to students.
Title III-A Language Instruction for English Learners and Immigrant Students
Contact
Richard Knox
Title III-A Coordinator
richard.knox@wcsga.net
(706) 217-6721
Brianna Evans
Title III SIOP Instructional Coach
brianna.evans@wcsga.net
Language Instruction for English Learners and Immigrant Students
Learn more about English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) in our Department of Teaching & Learning.
Title III-A funds provide eligible school districts with sub-grants. The grants help fund supplemental services for English learners (ELs) through a program known in Georgia as English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL).
Both Title III-A and the ESOL Program require school districts to hold students to the same rigorous performance standards as their English-speaking peers. They must attain proficiency in English while learning the academic content outlined in the Georgia Standards of Excellence (GSE).
What is the source of the funding?
United States Department of Education through federal taxes paid by individuals and businesses. Are there special guidelines?
ESOL students must progress in English-language proficiency and academic content in order to meet the guideline of Title III-A. In order to qualify for ESOL services, students are screened using a Home Language Survey and, if indicated, a language-proficiency test to determine the level of instruction. In addition to standard academic testing, ESOL students are assessed annually using the ACCESS test which measures language proficiency levels and academic knowledge. The ACCESS helps determine students’ readiness for exit from the ESOL Program. ESOL teachers work in tandem with regular classroom teacher to meet the learning needs of EL students.
How much funding does WCS receive?
Funding to provide supplemental educational support to EL students and their teachers is based on the number of students who qualify for ESOL services each year. The additional instructional support provided to students and their teachers helps them to integrate academic and language learning for EL students and accelerates their progress in meeting the Georgia Standards of Excellence goals.
Who benefits from the funding?
Students identified as English Learners (ELs) benefit from Title III-A funding. Also, many regular education, ESOL, and special education teachers benefit from the teaching skills they learn during training. Although the professional learning is focused on EL students’ instructional needs, this training provides strategies that benefit other students who struggle to meet the Georgia Standards of Excellence.
Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) training has been implemented since 2007 to help teachers differentiate instruction according to students’ English proficiency level. The goal is to develop language while teaching grade-level academic content.
Title IV Student Support and Academic Enrichment (SSAE)
Student Support and Academic Enrichment
Authorized in December 2015, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) introduced a new block formula grant under Title IV, Part A with a wide range of allowable uses. Title IV, Part A, Student Support and Academic Enrichment (SSAE) grants are intended to improve students’ academic achievement by increasing the capacity of States, LEAs, schools, and local communities to:
- provide all students with access to a well-rounded education,
- improve school conditions for student learning, and
- improve the use of technology in order to improve the academic achievement and digital literacy of all students. (ESEA section 4101).
Title IX McKinney-Vento Education for Homeless Children & Youth
Contact
Melanie Watson
Homeless Liaison
melanie.watson@wcsga.net
Yugeily Manriquez
Homeless Caseworker
yugeily.manriquez@wcsga.net
McKinney-Vento Education for Homeless Children and Youth
McKinney-Vento Education for Homeless Children and Youth program is designed to address the problems homeless children and youth experience enrolling, attending, and succeeding in school.
What is the source of the funding?
United States Department of Education through federal taxes paid by individuals and businesses. These are Title X special grant funds.
Are there special guidelines?
State education agencies must ensure that each homeless child and youth has equal access to the same—free and appropriate education, including a public preschool education—as other children and youth. Homeless children and youth must have access to educational and other services that enable them to meet the same challenging academic achievement standards to which all students are held.
How much funding does WCS receive?
Title X funding is based on the number of qualifying students during the previous year.
Who benefits from the funding?
Students identified as homeless benefit from these funds. McKinney-Vento dollars provide a portion of the salary for a homeless education liaison, tutoring, after-school and summer programs, school supplies, transportation, and assistance with enrollment and finding local resources to meet the students’ needs.