Kentucky Department of Education

TWO TITLE I SCHOOLS RECOGNIZED NATIONALLY

Mason County Intermediate and Pineville High were recognized as National Title I Distinguished Schools during the National Title I Conference held in Long Beach, California, in late January.

            The two schools join approximately 60 others from across the nation honored as National Title I Distinguished Schools.

            As mandated under the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, the Title I Distinguished Schools Recognition Program identifies schools that ensure all children have access to effective instructional strategies and challenging academic content and that demonstrate success in ensuring that all children, particularly educationally deprived children, make significant progress towards learning that content.

            Eligibility for the program is based on two main criteria:

·         Schools must significantly close achievement gaps among student populations.

·         Schools must exceed state-defined adequate yearly progress (AYP) targets under NCLB for two or more consecutive years.

 

Schools also must have demonstrated the following attributes:

• opportunities for all children to meet proficient and advanced levels of performance
• professional development
• coordination with other programs
• curriculum and instruction to support achievement of high standards
• partnerships among schools, parents and communities

 

Through Mason County Intermediate’s Making Connections with Students program, each of the school’s 645 3^rd- through 5^th-grade students receives a home visit from his or her teacher prior to the beginning of the school year. This project has helped parents feel more comfortable about visiting the school and students feel more secure about approaching teachers.

Pineville High School serves 264 students in 7^th through 12^th grades, and its percentage of students ages 5 to 17 who live at or below the poverty line is the highest in the state. In addition to the core subjects of English, math, science, social studies and physical education, students are required to successfully complete a practical living, humanities and career planning component prior to graduation.

            Title I is the largest federal aid program for K-12 education and has served more than 150 million children across the nation since 1965. The program emphasizes improving instruction in high-poverty schools.

            In Kentucky, nearly 900 schools operate Title I programs, serving approximately 300,000 students.