Instruction
Title I
Title I Instructional Program
Title I is leading the vision to provide personalized, exciting, and challenging instruction to connect students with learning. With the implementation of Schoolwide Programs and comprehensive reform models and the continued early childhood focus in preschool through grade 5, reading, math, and parental involvement are critical areas of focus for the success of our students. The beginning of the new era in literacy gives us an opportunity to forge ahead with our commitment to maximize opportunities to achieve high standards for all students.
PRESCHOOL PROGRAM
The preschool program provides services for eligible and selected 4-year-old children who, without early intervention, are likely to experience difficulty in kindergarten. The preschool program is a highly structured, developmental program allowing children to choose from a variety of instructional activities. Together, these experiences are designed to improve language development, social development, decision-making skills, and readiness for kindergarten mastery of the Standards of Learning objectives (SOLs). Each preschool class serves l8 students. Classroom design and instruction are based on the High/Scope curriculum. The content of the program revolves around the following key experiences for child development: social relations and initiative, creativity, music and movement, language and literacy, classification, seriation, number, space, and time. The teachers establish a daily schedule that includes opportunities for students to participate in center play, as well as engage in whole group reading, music, movement, and outside activities. Field trips and special activities supplement the daily experiences within the classroom. All instruction is designed to support and enhance the normal cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development of participating students. Exposure to language activities and books is extensive. At the end of the year, activities are developed to help students make a smooth transition to kindergarten. Each class is instructed by a certified early childhood teacher and an instructional assistant and operates as a full day quality preschool program.
Collaborative Model with Head Start: The Danville Public Schools and the Community Improvement Council - Head Start have established an innovative project that involves sharing resources and responsibilities to provide a quality preschool program for eligible children. The Title I/Head Start collaborative model fulfills the purposes of both Title I and Head Start by addressing the needs of disadvantaged four-year-old children. The program serves children from the Northside of Danville and operates for a full day (7½ hours), four days per week, from September to June. It follows the Head Start schedule (except for the additional hours each day). All children are screened using the locally developed Title I preschool screening instrument. Admission into the program is based solely on need as determined by this screening, teacher observations, and family situation. An Advisory Committee consisting of representatives from the Danville Public Schools and Head Start guides the program’s development.
KINDERGARTEN THROUGH GRADE 5 PROGRAM
Students in the K-5 Title I program receive additional instruction in reading and/or math from a certified Title I teacher. An instructional plan is developed for each Title I student based on the student’s strengths and weaknesses as determined by student achievement, placement on the reading/writing scale, and teacher input. The reading acceleration component of Title I serves approximately 700 children in grades K‑5. Instruction focuses on critical thinking, problem solving, creative writing, and the development of independent reading strategies. Computer software enhances student learning. The development of test taking skills is ongoing. One special program of the reading acceleration component, Student Opportunity for Success (SOS), offers individual reading instruction for 1st grade students identified as being at high risk for failure in reading. SOS students receive 30 minutes daily of reading instruction from a Title I teacher trained in SOS strategies. The goal of this program is to bring the student’s reading level up to the average or above average level within 3-4 months from the time the child enters the program. At that point, the child will be mainstreamed and another child will be added to the program.
PARENT INVOLVEMENT
Parents are critical to the success of Title I students. Danville's parent involvement program, the Home School Connection, has many facets. A Parent Resource Center offers parents the opportunity to check out materials that can be used at home to help their children become more successful in school. The Title I Family Services Coordinator also provides home visits, seminars, additional resources, and workshops for parents of eligible students.