Title I 2024

DSST was founded on 6 Core Values, which create a common language to develop a strong community and are embedded in everything we do. These values include:

Respect: We appreciate each person and their story through our words, actions, and attitudes. We value their unique perspective and treat others with dignity.

Responsibility: We acknowledge that our actions and choices impact ourselves and our community. We take ownership for what we do and how we choose to do it.

Integrity: We act and speak with honesty, fairness, and thoughtfulness. We consistently align our words and actions.

Courage: We possess the confidence and resolve to take risks, push ourselves, and persevere in the face of pressure, adversity or unfamiliar circumstances.

Curiosity: We are eager to learn, question, and explore. We have a thirst for knowledge, a love of investigation, and a desire to learn about ourselves, our community, and our world.

Doing Your Best: We put our best effort into everything we do. We know that individual and collective effort for our community to thrive.

Guiding Principles

Integrated

• Create a community centered on our six core values which are lived and shared, not just talked about. And where equal importance is placed on character development and academic learning.
• Build a common understanding where each student and staff member embraces being a part of our community, sharing in the responsibilities and sacrifices such a commitment brings

• Build a unified team that embraces the challenges of gender, economic and racial diversity, and which fulfills our commitment to have a student body of at least 40 percent students from economically disadvantaged families and 45 percent women. Engaging with a diversity of backgrounds, experiences and viewpoints will prepare our students for a diverse society and workplace.
• Effectively use technology as a tool to enhance learning and integrate it across disciplines, preparing students for STEM careers and beyond
• Understand that a strong liberal arts education, including athletic, artistic, and service endeavors, is a vital piece of our academic blueprint.
• Actively encourage parents to partner with DSST and to play significant roles in the daily lives and work of their children.
• Create a community where each student is known and supported to achieve his/her potential.
• Provide an advisory where each student has personalized adult guidance and understands his/her unique place in the larger school community.
• Instill in students the desire and the knowledge of how to pursue independent learning.
• Teach with the aim of producing outstanding individual student learning results, not to adhere to a particular pedagogical philosophy that dictates how we teach.

Rigorous

• Create a campus environment in which everyone gives their best effort daily, provides the foundation for all students to succeed, and supports their efforts to do so.
• Create a world-class academic culture where core academic goals apply to all students.
• Provide academic programs centered on the belief that students need a strong foundation in each academic discipline to engage in rigorous project-based work.
• Achieve mastery in a set of core performance standards (writing, reading, math, science, critical thinking) that produces college- and career-ready graduates.
• Build thinkers who have the skills to solve real-world problems through the ability to understand, analyze, apply, and synthesize ideas and knowledge. Assess student learning in ways that challenge students to demonstrate mastery in a variety of forms, methods and settings.

Dear DSST CG HS Families:

We understand the importance of alignment within the school community in order to achieve our mission of preparing scholars to compete, achieve, and lead in college and in life. This mission can be best achieved when scholars, families, and school staff are all actively involved in education and working to meet the school's cultural and curricular expectations. We all share the responsibility of promoting student learning and, as educational partners, we value each person's contribution to our school community. The following contract outlines the expectations that need to be met to best support student learning, and will be signed each year by the parent/guardian, scholar, and teacher.

Parents & Guardians I/We agree to: 

• Read with your scholar for at least 20 minutes every night.
•  Support DSST CG HS demanding academic program, values, and extended school day and year.
• Ensure my scholar is at school on time, in uniform, every day, and is only absent in the case of illness.
• Monitor my scholar's school work, homework, grades, and behavior reports regularly.
• Communicate regularly with teachers and staff and attend the required parent events including conferences.
• Actively engage in support if my scholar receives multiple violations, which could include daily communications, weekly meetings, and/or a Saturday meeting.
• If necessary, engage in thoughtful discussion with administrators about remedial support and/or retention.

Parent Signature:

Scholars

 I agree to:

• Do my best to live at my personal DSST CG HS, at school, at any school events, and on the bus.
• Commit myself to Perseverance, Excellence, Adventure, and kindness all day, every day, and seek help when I need it.
• Arrive at school on time, every day, and prepare to learn. Complete my homework and read every night, and bring my homework folder to school every day.

Scholar Signature:

Teachers and Staff

We agree to:

• Arrive at school on time and prepare for an academically rigorous, values-driven environment every day.
• Assess scholars regularly and fairly.
• Enforce all rules and policies consistently and fairly.
• Communicate with parents openly, honestly and frequently with both positive and constructive feedback.
• Maintain the highest standards of academic performance and conduct.

Teacher Signature:

DSST CG HS Title I Parent & Family Engagement

Purpose

Title I, Part A helps to provide local educational agencies (LEAS) with high numbers or high percentages of children from low-income families with funds to help ensure that these students are receiving the same quality education as all students, helping them to meet challenging state academic standards. Engaging with parents, families and communities is one, important aspect of this program. Schools and LEAs must

actively engage the parents and families of Title I eligible students in the development of state and local education plans, school improvement plans as well as Title II, III, and IV plans and applications.

Policy

Under Title I, Section 1116, each LEA and school must have a written parent and family engagement policy developed jointly with, agreed on with, and distributed to parents and family members of participating children. This policy will be incorporated into the LEA's plan establishing the expectations and objectives for meaningful parent and family involvement. Additionally, each LEA must coordinate and integrate parent and family engagement strategies with other relevant Federal, State and local laws and programs.

LEAs may receive Title I funds under Section 1116 only if that LEA conducts outreach to all parents and family members and implements programs, activities and procedures for the involvement of parents and family members. These programs, activities, and procedures shall be planned and implemented with meaningful consultation with parents of participation children.

LEAs and schools may rely on parent groups already established, but only if they represent the demographics of the school and parents of at-risk students. Advocates for the intended beneficiaries of this program need to be included, even if they have not historically been partners. Additional outreach may be required to ensure involvement of the necessary parents and advocates: surveys, home visits, evening/weekend meetings, child care or child activities during meetings, interpreters, personal invitations, partnerships with community health centers, etc.

LEAs must provide the coordination, technical assistance, and other support necessary to build the capacity of all participating schools within the LEA in planning and implementing effective parent and family involvement activities to improve student academic achievement and school performance, which consultation with employers, business leaders, and philanthropic organizations, or individuals with expertise in effectively engaging parents and family members in education.

Fiscal Requirements

Each LEA must reserve at least 1% of Title I funds to carry out parent and family engagement activities. LEAs with a Title I allocation of $500,000 or less are exempt from this requirement. No less than 90% of those funds must be distributed to Title I schools, with priority given to high-needs schools. New, under ESSA, parent and family engagement funds must be used to carry out activities and strategies including not less than 1 of the following:

• Supporting schools and nonprofit organizations in providing professional development for LEA and school personnel regarding parent and family engagement strategies, which may be provided jointly to teachers, principals, other school leaders, specialized instructional support personnel, paraprofessionals, early childhood educators, and parents and family members.
• Supporting programs that reach parents and family members at home, in the community and at school
• Disseminating information on best practices focused on parent and family engagement, especially best practices for increasing the engagement of economically disadvantaged parents and family members.
• Collaborating, or providing sub grants to schools to enable such schools to collaborate, with community-based or other organizations or employers with a record of success in improving and increasing parent and family engagements.
• Engaging in any other activities and strategies that the local educational agency determines are appropriate and consistent with the LEA's parent and family engagement policy.

DSST CG HS Title I Program Requirements and Eligibility

Purpose 

The purpose of Title I, Part A is to provide resources to schools and districts to ensure that all children have a fair, equitable, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education and close educational achievement gaps.

Title I, Part A is intended to support LEAs in:

• Improving teaching by promoting effective instruction for at-risk children and for enriched and accelerated programs;
• Expanding eligibility of schools for schoolwide programs that serve all children; Encouraging school-based improvement planning;
• Establishing accountability based on results; Promoting meaningful parent and family engagement;
• Coordinating with health and social services agencies; Focusing resources on the schools with the highest percentage of students living in poverty.

Requirements and Eligibility

Title I, Part A targets resources to districts and schools in greatest need. The program is the largest ESEA program supporting both elementary and secondary education. The USDE allocates funds based on census poverty rates from ages 5 through 17. Eligibility is based on statutory formulas. Although the amount of Title I, Part A funds a school and district may receive is based on poverty rates, the children that benefit from the program(s) are not, necessarily, students in poverty. Rather, Colorado's Title I, Part A programs work to address the needs of a school's lowest performing students and those students most at risk for not meeting the Colorado English Language Proficiency (CELP) and Colorado Academic Standards (CAS).

Comprehensive Needs Assessment

Activities supported with Title I, Part A funds must be planned based on a comprehensive needs assessment and in consultation with parents, teachers, principals, and other relevant stakeholders. The LEA must also engage in continued consultation with these stakeholders to evaluate and improve supported activities.

Meaningful Stakeholder Engagement 

Title I, Part A requires LEAs to engage stakeholders in developing the Unified Improvement Plan (UIP), the ESEA Consolidated Application, schoolwide plans and in the planning of Title I funded activities. Additionally, LEAs must implement programs, activities and procedures for the involvement of parents and families in Title l-funded activities. There are several Parents Right to know notifications that are required as part of receiving Title I, Part A including notifying parents of the qualifications of their child's teacher, information regarding the assessments, and language instruction identification. Click here for more information regarding parent Title I parent engagement and notification requirements.

Title I, Part A Programs

Title I, Part A funds are intended to support student achievement and growth at the school level. Schools eligible for Title I, Part A funds are determined based on school attendance areas and rank order. Districts may choose to provide support and services to increase student achievement and growth through schoolwide programs or targeted assistance programs. Additionally, districts may support some district level Title l activities through district-managed activities and/or parent and community engagement activities.

• Schoolwide Programs - A Title | Schoolwide Program is an option for schools with high numbers of at risk students and poverty rates of 40% or higher. Schoolwide programs use Title I, Part A funds to upgrade the educational program of the entire school, with special attention to providing services to students identified as at-risk. Title I, Part A funds must be used to address the educational needs of the school.
• Targeted assistance programs are designed to provide supplemental services only to eligible students that are identified as at-risk of failing to meet the state's academic content standards, rather than upgrading the entire schoolwide instructional system.
• District Managed Activities – An LEA may set aside a portion of Title I-A funds to support Title I schools under the following circumstances:

• Additional services and supports for Title I schools, with special attention to schools identified for comprehensive or targeted support and improvement or Title I schools assigned a Priority Improvement or Turnaround plan type
• Summer school, if the program consolidates the activity to specific sites
• Pay differential for Title I schools with any plan type assignment
• Additional parent activities

Parent and Family Engagement Activities – Title I, Part A requires LEAs that receive more than $500,000 in Title I, Part A funds to set aside funds for parent and family engagement activities.

English Learner Identification

Under ESSA, the requirement to identify English learners has moved from Title III, Part A to Title I, Part A. Title | grantees must notify parents if a student has been identified as an EL. This notification must be sent no later than 30 days after the beginning of the school year (CDE defines the date of October 1 for beginning of school year), and must include:

• the process by which the child was identified,
• the child's level of English proficiency, how such level was assessed, and the status of the child's academic achievement,
• the programs offered by the district designed for English Learners,
• how the programs will meet the educational strengths and needs of the child,
• how the programs will specifically help their child learn English and meet age appropriate academic achievement standards,
• the specific exit requirements of the programs, and,
• how the program meets the objectives of an individualized education program, if applicable.

Notifications must be understandable and, to the extent practicable, in a language the parent can understand.

Use of Funds

The purpose of Title I, Part A funds is to enable schools to provide opportunities for children to acquire the knowledge and skills required to meet the Colorado English Language Proficiency (CELP) and Colorado Academic Standards (CAS). The law provides many flexibilities and opportunities for districts and schools to meet the purpose of Title I, Part A. In schoolwide programs, the use of Title I, Part A funds is based on a comprehensive needs assessment. In targeted assistance schools, the program is designed to provide extra educational assistance beyond the regular classroom to identify at-risk students.

In addition to the requirements for schoolwide and targeted assistance programs, Title I,

Part A funds must also meet the following fiscal requirements:

• Maintenance of Effort - An LEA may only receive Title I, Part A funds if it maintains educational expenditures from State and local funds from one year to the next. An LEA cannot reduce its own spending and replace those funds with Federal funds.
• Comparability - An LEA may receive Title I, Part A funds only if State and local funds will be used in Title I schools that are at least comparable to those in non-Title | schools. An LEA may meet this requirement on a grade-span or school-by-school basis.
• Supplement not Supplant - Title I funds must supplement the amount of funds that would, in the absence of Title I funds, be available from non-Federal sources for the school, including funds needed to provide services that are required by law for children with disabilities and English learners.
• Reasonable and Necessary - All expenditures must be reasonable and necessary.

Monitoring and Evaluation 

Monitoring of federal programs is conducted to ensure that: (1) every child has a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education; (2) programs comply with federal requirements that are most closely related to positive outcomes for students; and (3) taxpayer dollars are administered and used in accordance with how Congress and the United States Department of Education intended.

ESSA Comprehensive and Targeted Support and Improvement

Under ESSA, Colorado identifies schools in need of improvement as either Comprehensive Support (CS) schools or Targeted Support (TS) schools. For Comprehensive Support schools, Colorado will annually rank all schools based on the total percentage of points earned on the State's accountability system using data from the 3 preceding years. Title I schools with the lowest total percentage of points earned, to include a minimum of 5 percent of all Title I schools, will be identified Improvement schools. The state will also identify all public schools with a four-year, plus extended year, graduation rate below 67 percent, based on three years of graduation data, as a comprehensive and Improvement school. For Alternative Education Campuses (AECS), the state will identify schools with a four-year, plus extended year, completion rate below 67 percent, based on three years of completion data, for Comprehensive Support. Schools will exit from Comprehensive Support if they no longer meet the criteria that led to identification after the third year.

Targeted Support schools will also be identified annually. Colorado will use the following indicators from the statewide accountability system for annually evaluating the performance of disaggregated groups: English Language Arts achievement, Math achievement, English Language Arts growth, Math growth, the "other indicator" of school quality and student success (when available), Graduation Rates (high schools only) and English Language Proficiency growth (for schools with a large enough population of English learners).

Please visit the Comprehensive and Targeted Support for Improvement webpage for additional information

Parent School Compact

 At Conservatory Green Middle School, we understand the importance of alignment within the school community in order to achieve our mission of preparing scholars to compete, achieve, and lead in college and in life. This mission can be best achieved when scholars, families, and school staff are all actively involved in education and working to meet the school’s cultural and curricular expectations. We all share the responsibility of promoting student learning and, as educational partners, we value each person’s contribution to our school community. The following contract outlines the expectations that need to be met to best support student learning, and will be signed each year by the parent/guardian, scholar, and teacher.

Parents & Guardians

I/We agree to:

· Read with your scholar for at least 20 minutes every night.

· Support __________ demanding academic program, values, and extended school day and year.

· Ensure my scholar is at school on time, in uniform, every day, and is only absent in the case of illness.

· Monitor my scholar’s school work, homework, grades, and behavior reports regularly.

· Communicate regularly with teachers and staff and attend the required parent events including conferences.

· Actively engage in support if my scholar receives multiple violations, which could include daily communications, weekly meetings, and/or a Saturday meeting.

· If necessary, engage in thoughtful discussion with administrators about remedial support and/or retention.

Parent Signature _____________________________________________________________

Scholars

I agree to:

· Do my best to live at my personal _________at school, at any school events, and on the bus.

· Commit myself to Perseverance, Excellence, Adventure, and Kindness all day, every day, and seek help when I need it.

· Arrive at school on time, every day, and prepared to learn.

· Complete my homework and read every night, and bring my homework folder to school every day.

Scholar Signature _______________________________________________________________

Teachers and Staff

We agree to:

· Arrive at school on time and prepared for an academically rigorous, values-driven environment every day.

· Assess scholars regularly and fairly.

· Enforce all rules and policies consistently and fairly.

· Communicate with parents openly, honestly and frequently with both positive and constructive feedback.

· Maintain the highest standards of academic performance and conduct.

Teacher Signature ___________________________________