Title 1

Contact Us

LITTLE ROCK SCHOOL DISTRICT
TITLE I OFFICE
Henderson/Instructional Resource Center (IRC)
401 John Barrow Road
Little Rock, Arkansas  72205
(501) 447-3350 (telephone) ~ (501) 447-3353 (fax)

Dr. Sheketa McKisick, Director
(501) 447-3367 – Email Dr. Sheketa McKisick

Chandra Martin - Auxiliary Programs Manager
501-447-3349 - Email Chandra Martin

Kaye Rainey, Parent Engagement Specialist
(501) 447-3358 - Email Kaye Rainey 

Jana Hunter, Family Service Coordinator
(501) 447-3339 - Email Jana Hunter 

Marisol Canchola, Title I Bilingual Family Liason
(501) 447-3361 - Email Marisol Canchola

Lisa Martin, Bookkeeper/Secretary
(501) 447-3351 - Email Lisa Martin

Katy Elliott, Federal Programs Manager
(501) 447-3331 - Email Katy Elliott

Federal Programs/Parent Engagement - What is Title 1?

Improving the Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged

Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), as amended, provides financial assistance to local educational agencies (Little Rock School District) and schools with high numbers or high percentages of children from economically disadvantaged families to help ensure that all children meet challenging State academic standards. Federal funds are currently allocated through four statutory formulas that are based primarily on census poverty estimates and the cost of education in Arkansas. It was originally enacted as the cornerstone of President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty. 

Purpose of Title 1

The purpose of Title I is to ensure that all children have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education and reach, at a minimum, proficiency on challenging State academic achievement standards and State academic assessments. This purpose can be accomplished by —

  1. ensuring that high-quality academic assessments, accountability systems, teacher preparation and training, curriculum, and instructional materials are aligned with challenging State academic standards so that students, teachers, parents, and administrators can measure progress against common expectations for student academic achievement;

  2. meeting the educational needs of low-achieving children in our Nation's highest-poverty schools, limited English proficient children, migratory children, children with disabilities, Indian children, neglected or delinquent children, and young children in need of reading assistance;

  3. closing the achievement gap between high- and low-performing children, especially the achievement gaps between minority and nonminority students, and between disadvantaged children and their more advantaged peers;

  4. holding schools, local educational agencies, and States accountable for improving the academic achievement of all students, and identifying and turning around low-performing schools that have failed to provide a high-quality education to their students, while providing alternatives to students in such schools to enable the students to receive a high-quality education;

  5. distributing and targeting resources sufficiently to make a difference to local educational agencies and schools where needs are greatest;

  6. improving and strengthening accountability, teaching, and learning by using State assessment systems designed to ensure that students are meeting challenging State academic achievement and content standards and increasing achievement overall, but especially for the disadvantaged;

  7. providing greater decision-making authority and flexibility to schools and teachers in exchange for greater responsibility for student performance;

  8. providing children an enriched and accelerated educational program, including the use of schoolwide programs or additional services that increase the amount and quality of instructional time;

  9. promoting schoolwide reform and ensuring the access of children to effective, scientifically based instructional strategies and challenging academic content;

  10. significantly elevating the quality of instruction by providing staff in participating schools with substantial opportunities for professional development;

  11. coordinating services under all parts of this title with each other, with other educational services, and, to the extent feasible, with other agencies providing services to youth, children, and families; and

  12. affording parents substantial and meaningful opportunities to participate in the education of their children.

Reference: U.S. Department of Education – Title I 

Arkansas Consolidated School Improvement Planning (ACSIP)

The Arkansas Comprehensive School Improvement Planning (ACSIP) is a framework for a comprehensive, specific and focused action plan. The plan provides the actions for implementing research-based practices to effectively implement the school’s goals for leadership, instruction, assessment, professional development, parent/community involvement and evaluation.  The ACSIP model is an annual planning and fund distribution design that must be used by all Arkansas public and charter schools, as defined by Ark. Code Ann. § 6-15-419.

School Improvement Plan (ACSIP)

Each school’s comprehensive plan is developed by a local school team and based on priorities indicated by the school’s comprehensive needs assessment. The comprehensive needs assessment is based on (1) an analysis of student performance data and other relevant data that provide a plan of action to address deficiencies in student performance and any academic achievement gap evidenced in the Arkansas Comprehensive Testing, Assessment, and Accountability Program; and (2) includes a general description of the public school or school district’s use of federal and categorical funding. This plan shall be reviewed annually by the district and monitored by the Arkansas Department of Education in accordance with Ark. Code Ann. § 6-15-426.

Priority Improvement and Targeted Improvement Plans

The Priority Improvement Plan (PIP) is a three year Priority Intervention Plan as a component of the Arkansas Comprehensive School Improvement Plan (ACSIP) for Priority Schools as defined in the Arkansas 2012 ESEA Flexibility Waiver.  The PIP addresses leadership, teacher effectiveness, schedule redesign, and Interim Measurable Objectives.

The Targeted Improvement Plan (TIP) is a plan that will result in Focus Schools reducing the magnitude of the identified achievement gap as measured by their Annual Measurable Objectives (AMOs) for the Targeted Achievement Gap Group (TAGG) and each subgroup as defined in the Arkansas 2012 Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Flexibility Waiver.  The TIP addresses LEA technical assistance in support of Focus Schools including diagnostic analysis and needs assessments critical to provide flexibility to meet specific low performing student’s needs to investigate the factors contributing to achievement gaps.

Parent Involvement Plan

Parental Involvement (refer to LRSD/Title I Parent Involvement link)

Parental Involvement has always been a centerpiece of Title I.  The statute defines parental involvement as the participation of parents in regular, two-way, and meaningful communication involving student academic learning and other school activities ensuring:

  • that parents play an integral role in assisting their child’s learning;

  • that parents are encouraged to be actively involved in their child’s education at school;

  • that parents are full partners in their child’s education and are included, as appropriate, in decision-making and on advisory committees to assist in the education of their child; and

  • that other activities are carried out, such as those described in section 1118 of the ESEA (Parental Involvement). [Section 9101(32), ESEA.] 

Parent Information Resource Center

LRSD/Title I Parent Involvement Office and Parent Center

Instructional Resource Center (IRC)

3001 South Pulaski, Room 7

(30th & Martin Luther King Drive)
Little Rock, Arkansas 72206
Telephone:  (501) 447-3358
Fax:  (501) 447-3359

The LRSD/Title I Parent Involvement Office is available to facilitate workshops for parents and professional development for administrators and teachers.   Free books and pamphlets are available, including videos and DVDs on various topics for checkout. 

For more information, call (501) 447-3357 or E-mail:

Dr. Sheketa McKisick, Title I/Federal Programs Coordinator
(501) 447-3367 – Email Dr. Sheketa McKisick

Kaye Rainey, Parent & Family Engagement District Specialist
(501) 447-3358 ¨ Email Kaye Rainey 

Federal Cost Principles

All Costs Must –

  • Be in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles

  • Not included as a match

  • Be of net applicable credits

  • Be adequately documented

Necessary and Reasonable –

  • Must be necessary for the performance or administration of the grant

  • Must follow sound business practices

  • Fair market prices

  • Act with prudence under the circumstances

  • No significant deviation from established prices 

Practical Aspects of Necessary –

  • Do I really need this?

  • Is this the minimum amount I need to spend to meet my need? 

Practical Aspects of Reasonable –

  • Do I have the capacity to use what I am purchasing?

  • Did I pay a fair rate?

  • If I were asked to defend this purchase, would I be comfortable?

Frequently Asked Questions

Resource References

DISTRICT (LRSD)

  • Department of Procurement and Materials Management

Title I Programs
Allowable Expenditure Guidelines
Training Materials & Resources