Title I, Part A is a federal program designed “To provide all children significant opportunity to receive a fair, equitable, and high-quality education, and to close educational achievement gaps."

Title I, Part A funding can support early learning and Kindergarten to grade 12. These programs and services provide customized instruction and curricula that helps students meet academic standards and take an active, engaged interest in what they can learn and do. As the oldest and largest federal education program, Title I, Part A programs build equity of opportunity for children whose struggles often keep them on the academic sidelines. One-third of the public schools in Washington state operate Title I, Part A programs, providing academic services to over 350,000 students annually.

The Learning Assistance Program (LAP) provides supplemental instruction and services to students who are not meeting academic standards in basic skills areas (reading, writing, and mathematics as well as readiness associated with these skills) as identified by statewide, school, or district assessments or other performance measurement tools.

These services may include academic and nonacademic supports that focus on accelerating student growth to make progress towards grade level and addressing barriers preventing students from accessing core instruction. The intent is for LAP-served students to increase academic growth during the period of time they are provided services.

Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) is a framework for enhancing the adoption and implementation of a continuum of evidence-based practices to achieve important outcomes for every student. The MTSS framework builds on a public health approach that is preventative and focuses on organizing the efforts of adults within systems to be more efficient and effective. MTSS helps to ensure students benefit from nurturing environments and equitable access to universal instruction and supports that are culturally and linguistically responsive, universally designed, and differentiated to meet their unique needs.

This year in Title I/LAP, we are lifting up the sky! There’s a legend in the Snohomish tribe where the people came together to lift up the sky that was hanging too low. Although they didn’t speak the same language, they listened to one another and worked together to lift the sky up! We are here to serve our students and families, so that they are successful and feel a sense of belonging.

In all of our identified schools, we are implementing multi-tiered systems of support to provide the appropriate interventions for our students. Equity-based MTSS is a complex schooling structure that brings together educator knowledge of context, science, and systems, resulting in positive benefits for all students, specifically historically underserved and marginalized students. It is an organizing framework that uses specific data sources to inform decisions coordinating diverse cultural, academic, behavioral, multilingual, and social resources to meet the needs of each and every student in a dynamic and timely fashion.

In the Puyallup School District, we currently have 15 Title I Schoolwide schools, 8 Title I Targeted Assistance schools, and 22 LAP schools (all elementary schools receive LAP support). Here is the list of our identified schools:

Title I Schoolwide: (in rank order by free & reduced percentage): Firgrove, Waller Road, Stewart, Wildwood, Sunrise, Spinning, Karshner, Zeiger, Ridgecrest, Dessie F. Evans, Pope, Woodland, Hunt, Carson, & Mt. View. 

Title I Targeted Schools: Ferrucci, Ballou, Aylen, Stahl, Edgemont, Puyallup High School, Emerald Ridge High School, and Rogers High School.