The Chapter 1 program is federally funded through the Texas Education Agency. The funds are designated to be used for the improvement of the education of disadvantaged students. Campuses are identified by the percentage of students receiving free or reduced price lunches. A Chapter 1 school is one where the percentage of students on free and reduced price lunches is equal or greater than total district percentage. Once a school has been designated, achievement test scores in math and/or reading, as well as other indicators, identify students to be served. There are 26 Chapter 1 schools which serve the educational needs identified students through the instructional and support services described below.

INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAM COMPONENTS

Chapter 1 identified students receive computer assisted instruction (CAI) in reading and math. This program is designed to serve students who are having difficulty in basic and advanced skills. Skills are reinforced through higher order thinking activities. The computer offers a highly motivational means of practice. The computer labs are staffed by highly trained computer technologists who spend a portion of their day working with Chapter 1 students and a portion of their day teaching computer literacy. Two schools have the Success Maker program from the computer Curriculum corporation. This program assists in building reading and math achievement.

HOSTS (Help One Student to Succeed) is a program designed for students who met more individual attention than possible in the classroom setting. Community tutors help students read. HOTS (Higher Order Thinking Skills) is a program to generate gains in basic skills utilizing computers. Campuses are to become schoolwide projects if their percent of disadvantaged students is 75% or more.

The Chapter 1 Resource teacher provides individual and small group instruction to meet the needs of identified students. These teacher supplement the foundation program in a team teaching situation or a modified pull-out program.

In a Writing to Read (WTR) lab or a Josten's Primary Integrated Language Arts (PILA) lab, kindergarten and first grade students learn to express their own thoughts through writing. These programs create a multi-sensory, multi-dimensional language center that is specially tailored to the needs of children. The computer based instructional system is designed to teach children how to write what they can say and to read what they write. This method builds writing and reading skills before a child has mastered formal spelling.

Teaching Assistants provide instructional support under the supervision of the regular classroom teacher for students in English/language arts and math. Teacher assistants are assigned to regular classes with the highest numbers of Chapter 1 students.

Another way service is provided for Chapter 1 students is through the home/school liaisons. Liaisons are 100% funded from Chapter 1 funds and must spend all of their time on Chapter 1 related activities. These activities may include visiting all Chapter 1 families to identify needs of the families and providing assistance for them to obtain needed services from the various agencies. Another responsibility of the liaison is to arrange parent meetings with programs on relevant topics, such as parenting skills and dropout prevention programs available in the district.

All Chapter 1 program components have a common goal: to help educationally disadvantaged students develop the skills necessary to be successful in school. All programs emphasize positive self concepts, can-do attitudes, and cooperative learning.

Support personnel available through the Federal Programs office include two demonstration teachers in math, two demonstration teachers in reading, a parental involvement specialist, a social worker, a technology specialist and an evaluation specialist.

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