Programs
Title I is the largest federal assistance program. The goal is to provide a high-quality education for every child. Title I serves the children who are furthest from meeting the state standards set for all children. Title I supplements the district’s instructional program for all students in Title I designated schools. The Office of Federal Programs manages the compliance of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act through the No Child Left Behind Act programs including Title I, Title III,Title VI, and Title I-Neglected & Delinquent. Title I is a federal program that ensures that all children have access to quality instruction and resources that will enable them to meet state academic standards.
Each Title I Schoolwide Program has an on-site Parent Center, facilitated by a Parent Liaison. Each Title I School is required to host workshops/training for parents that focus upon the academic needs of the students. While many of these workshops/training occur during daytime hours, others are held in the evenings. Additionally, these workshops/training are repeated, based upon attendance and parent requests.
Title II, Part A Improving Educator Quality State Grant
The purpose of the Title II, Part A grant is:
- to increase student achievement consistent with challenging State academic standards,
- to improve the quality and effectiveness of teachers, principals and other school leaders,
- to increase the number of teachers, principals and other school leaders who are effective in improving student academic achievement in schools, and
- to provide low-income and minority student greater access to effective teachers, principals and other school leaders.
The purposes of Title III is to help ensure that children who are limited English proficient, including immigrant children and youth, attain English proficiency, develop high levels of academic attainment in English, and meet the same challenging state academic content and student academic achievement standards as all children are expected to meet.
Jasper County has a wonderfully diverse population of English Language Learner (ELL) students in the English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) program. This year over 800 students from several countries representing many cultures are enrolled in 4 JCSD public schools. 6 teachers and 1 paraprofessional provides services for these students. The students learn the English language through balanced literacy approach to language acquisition as they study not just English, but science, social studies and math.
We focus on all content areas in the ESOL curriculum. The ESOL staff is as talented and diverse as the student population they serve. The ESOL Program is also supported by Spanish Speaking Parent Liaisons who are conduits between the schools and the parents of the ESOL students. 99% of the students enrolled in the JCSD ESOL program are of Hispanic descent.
The dedicated group of JCSD ESOL teachers works with children in school, at home and after school to ensure that language skills continue to progress and that the lines of communication with parents remain open. In addition, JCSD in partnership with Adult Education is offering adult evening classes for the parents of our students and focus on establishing and maintaining positive relationships between parents, teachers and all school personnel.
Grade Levels Served:
- Pre-K and Kindergarten students are monitored by the ESOL Staff at both Elementary Schools.
- Students in grades 1 - 12 received either pull out, push in,monitored, or sheltered content services
Best Practices
It is the philosophy of the JCSD ESOL teaching staff that ELL students should learn to communicate in English in a variety of modes within a wide range of cultural settings or situations. JCSD is therefore committed to educational excellence and continuous academic achievement for all English Language Learners and promotes ESOL instruction through content learning. This empowers students to meet the rigorous demands of the South Carolina curriculum by incorporating sound methodology with a curriculum aligned to the standards to maximize student learning.
The goal of the ESOL program is for students to exit the program at a high proficiency level with the ability to understand and adapt to different cultures and become productive members of society. The current method of instruction is the pull-out model in the elementary and middle schools. Students remain in regular classes for most of the day except for the time period spent with the ESOL teacher. ESOL teachers communicate regularly with classroom teachers to plan, modify instruction, and make the appropriate accommodations for the ELL student.
At the high school level, students receive classes for credit that count as Carnegie units towards graduation. The courses are content based and integrate reading, writing, listening, and speaking in a variety of content areas.
Linguistically and culturally ELL students face many challenges everyday in order to achieve. The role of the ESOL teacher in facilitating this process is a critical one. The successful ELL student in JCSD will be well prepared to meet the challenges of a changing technologically powered world.
Title VI - Rural Education Achievement Program
Grant funds awarded to local educational agencies as a formula grant (not competitive) shall be used for:
- teacher recruitment and retention, including the use of signing bonuses and other financial incentives;
- teacher professional development, including programs that train teachers to utilize technology to improve teaching and to train special needs teachers;
- educational technology, including software and hardware, as described in part D of Title II;
- parental involvement activities;
- activities authorized under the Safe and Drug-Free Schools program under part A of Title IV;
- activities authorized under part A of Title I; and
- activities authorized under Title III.
- Retrieved from the SCDE - Title VI Program Office.
Community members and stakeholders are asked to provide input into the writing of this plan each year. The district conducts the planning meetings in the spring of each academic year.