Accountability

Title I is a federally funded program through the Elementary & Secondary Act (ESEA) designed to provide support to students who are performing below grade level in reading and/or math. The goal is to emphasize high academic standards in an effort to help students succeed in the regular classroom and reach grade level performance.

What are some typical Title I services?

At Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS), we offer Title I programs to meet the needs of students at individual schools.  At some buildings, this may mean a ‘targeted’ program where selected students receive additional academic instruction or other types of assistance to support them in school.  The majority of schools in MPS have a ‘school-wide’ Tile I program which means additional services are available to address the needs of all the students at that school. Typically services focus on providing additional help in reading and/or math instruction, but services could include social skills instruction, attendance support, health services, etc.

Do all MPS schools have a Title I program?

No. The Federal law requires that Title I programs are available in schools with the greatest concentration of low-income families.  Once a school qualifies, academic need – not economic status – determines the school programming and whether students receive extra instruction.  Contact your child’s school for more information about its Title I program and ask when the school’s annual Title I meeting for families will be held. 

Who are Title I students?

Typically students identified as needing Title I services are those who are having academic difficulties or other concerns that are affecting their academic achievement in school.  Usually students’ needs are identified by their classroom teachers based on their test scores and other measures of academic performance.  Those who show the greatest educational need and are not already receiving special education services are served first. 

How are parents/guardians involved?

• In ‘school-wide’ and ‘targeted’ programs, parents are invited to attend the school’s annual Title I Meeting
• In ‘targeted’ school programs, parents are notified of their child’s eligibility for and participation in Title I
• Parents, staff and students may participate in the development and carrying out of a compact that spells out the goals and shared responsibilities of the child, school and parents for student success
• Parents are encouraged to participate in Title I meetings and learning opportunities

As a parent/guardian, you have the right...

• to know the qualifications of your child’s teacher
• to know when your child has a substitute teacher for more than four weeks and the qualifications of the substitute teacher
• to know how your child’s school is rated on its state test scores
• to expect regular communication with your school in a language that you can understand
• to work with other parents and staff to develop a school-level parent compact between the school and its families
• to help plan how money for family involvement should be spent
• to work with teachers, parents and the school principal to develop your school’s family involvement plan
• to ask for a meeting with your school principal or your child’s teacher at any time

The Minneapolis Public School district holds itself accountable for continuous improvement to close the achievement gap while raising achievement for all students. The MPS Continuous Improvement Process addresses the needs of all schools and all academic departments. MPS is committed to using data to inform and focus improvement efforts.

The MPS Continuous Improvement Process is also aligned to the strategies and actions outlined in the MDE Waiver School Improvement Plan.

The World's Best Workforce (WBWF) was developed in 2013 (Minnesota Statutes, section 120B.11) to ensure that school districts and charter schools in Minnesota enhance student achievement through teaching and learning supports. School boards that govern districts and charter schools are required to develop comprehensive, long-term strategic plans that address the following five WBWF goals:

• All children are ready for school.

• All third-graders can read at grade level.

• All racial and economic achievement gaps between students are closed.

• All students are ready for career and college.

• All students graduate from high school.

Minnesota Statutes, section 120B.10, requires school boards to establish advisory committees. The advisory committee should:

• Ensure that community members have an opportunity to participate in the strategic planning process.  

• Be reflective of the district's diversity and its schools, and thus include, to the extent possible, teachers, parents/guardians, support staff, students, and other community residents.

• Make recommendations to the school board concerning rigorous academic standards and student achievement goals and measures.

Minneapolis Public Schools’ (MPS) World’s Best Workforce Committee members, appointed by the MPS Board of Education, meet monthly. Materials from these meetings, in addition to other WBWF documents,  are available under “Resources”.

About ESSA

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) is the most recent re-authorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, previously known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB). President Barack Obama signed ESSA into law in 2015. Like previous re-authorizations, the law sets requirements for what states must do to receive federal education funding. While ESSA maintains standards-based components, including annual standardized testing, it grants states more control around setting goals, establishing standards, and determining the consequences for schools and districts deemed low performing. 

North Star Excellence and Equity System 

ESSA requires states to develop a data-driven system for holding schools and districts accountable for providing a fair, equitable, and high-quality education to all students. The Minnesota state plan established the North Star Excellence and Equity System to ensure that all schools are working well for all students, with an emphasis on closing achievement gaps, increasing equity, improving the quality of instruction, and increasing positive outcomes for all students.

North Star replaces the previous Minnesota accountability system, the Multiple Measurements Rating system (MMR). While the MMR accountability system looked at schools as a whole to designate schools for improvement, the new North Star accountability system looks at individual students and student groups within a school to make that determination. 

The new system is a more complex but also a more equitable system that better focuses on specific students and student groups within a school rather than the school at large. North Star includes broader measures of academic achievement and progress, and also examines how English Learner students are progressing toward their proficiency in English, how a high school’s graduation rates look across student groups, and how consistently students are attending school. The accountability measures under North Star try to look more holistically at a child as more than a test.

Going Forward

Schools identified under North Star will need to notify families of the school’s designation and then engage families and school community stakeholders in:

• Completing a comprehensive needs assessment looking at the reasons why the school was identified as needing support and improvement 

• Developing an improvement plan addressing the root causes behind low student achievement or gaps, which must include at least one strategy backed by rigorous research showing its effectiveness 

• Implementing and monitoring the improvement plan once it goes into effect

Once identification status is made, schools will communicate directly with families and community members about how they can be involved in the comprehensive needs assessment and improvement plan development process.

Non-Public Title Services Resources 

Eligible private schools located within the geographic attendance boundaries of Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) are given the option of participating in equitable services for private school students and staff under the Elementary Secondary Education Act (ESEA).  Under ESEA school districts are required to provide eligible children attending private elementary and secondary schools, their teachers and their families with services or other benefits that are equitable to those provided to eligible public school children, their teachers, and their families.  Services, not funding, are provided by the district to eligible students, their families, and staff at the nonpublic school sites.  MPS currently provides services to 17 nonpublic schools.

MPS provides services in three areas under ESEA

Title I, Part A: These are educational services that supplement students’ education at the private school so that all children have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education.  Generally, to qualify for assistance under Title I, a student must reside within the attendance area of a participating public school located in a low-income area and be failing, or at risk of failing, to meet student academic achievement standards.  MPS provides instructional services before, during and after school in reading and math as well as support services such as academic counseling.

Title II, Part A:  These are professional development services that supplement professional development provided to private school teachers, principals, and other educational personnel at the private school.  The law requires that all uses of Title II, Part A funds supplement non-federal funds (i.e., private school funds) that would otherwise be used for activities.  Professional development provided with federal funds needs to be in addition to, and not in place of, what the private school would otherwise provide.  These services can be provided in areas such as training, workshops/conferences, mentoring/coaching, professional learning communities, etc.

Title III: These are supplemental language instruction services to teach English to limited English proficient and immigrant students as well as assist them in achieving grade-level and graduation standards.  Professional development services can also be provided to private school staff to support them in serving English learners.  MPS provides instructional services before, during and after school in English as well as professional development to staff.

Title IV, Part A: The purpose of this annual program is to improve access to a holistic education. Minnesota received approximately $12 million dollars FY20. Title IV, Part A funds are distributed to Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) as a formula grants to LEAs that spent Title I, Part A awards during the prior fiscal year. Title IV, Part A is for improving student academic achievement through activities and programs in three broad areas: Well-Rounded Education, Safe and Healthy Students, and Effective Use of Technology.

All of these services are planned and provided through meaningful consultation with private school officials. Together, district personnel and private school officials determine what services best meet the needs of participating children and staff.

All equitable services under ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act, formerly No Child Left Behind) are secular, neutral, and non-ideological. All goods and materials used for equitable services for private schools are the property of the district.