GES Title I Annual Meeting 2025-26

Welcome parents and community members! We are glad to welcome you to our school’s Title I Annual Parent Meeting. We will be reviewing and discussing our school’s Title I program. We will cover the following items that are important to you as parents:

What is a Title I School?

How does our school spend Title I money?

How does our school participate in the Title I program?

What are our school's Title I requirements?

Graysville Elementary School's Schoolwide Program

What curriculum does our school use? What tests will my child be taking?

What are our school wide goals?

What is the state's grade report for our school?

What is required by law for Parent & Family Engagement?

Does my child's teacher meet professional qualifications?

What opportunities does the school provide for family engagement?

How to contact the school when I have questions?

Title I of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) provides financial assistance to state and local education agencies to meet the needs of at-risk children. The goal of Title I is to provide instructional services and activities which support students in meeting the state’s challenging performance standards.

At Graysville Elementary we participate in Title I by:

· Additional teachers and paraprofessionals

· Opportunities for professional development for school staff

· Additional teaching materials which supplement their regular instruction

· Technology

· Parent & family engagement in children’s education

The purpose of schoolwide Title I programs is to improve the entire educational program in a school. This should result in improving the academic achievement of all students, particularly the lowest achieving students. See the handout on Schoolwide Components. We always want your input on how GES can carry out the schoolwide program.

GES is a Title I schoolwide program. This means all enrolled students are eligible for Title I services.

Catoosa County Schools use the state adopted standards as the basis of curriculum. Currently, the adopted curriculum is the Georgia Standards of Excellence (GSE). These standards provide clear expectations for instruction, assessment, and student work. Teachers are encouraged to use instructional frameworks which include an opening, work session, and closing for delivery of instruction. Pacing guides and curriculum units called “frameworks” are some of the resources used to support the implementation of the Georgia Standards of Excellence. These standards provide a consistent framework to prepare students for success in college and/or the 21st century workplace. Resources can be found online at https://case.georgiastandards.org and in the Family Resource Center

Students in grades three through twelve take the Georgia Milestones assessment. Instruction is centered on the Georgia Standards of Excellence. At the Elementary level, third and fourth grade students take ELA and Math. Fifth grade students take ELA, Math, Science, and Social Studies.

Students will also take a reading and math benchmark test three (3) times a year using the MAP assessment program for kindergarten through fifth grade students.

Students whose native language is not English are given the WIDA screener to identify English Learners and to measure their progress in English language proficiency. WIDA ACCESS and WIDA Alternate ACCESS are administered annually to all identified English Learner (ELs) students. These assessments meet federal requirements and measure ELs’ progress and proficiency levels and to determine whether they should exit or be reclassified as ELs.

The purposes of the Georgia Student Assessment Program are to measure student achievement relative to the state-mandated content standards, to identify students failing to achieve mastery of content, to provide teachers with diagnostic information, and to assist school systems in identifying strengths and weaknesses in order to establish priorities in planning educational programs. The assessment program includes customized criterion-referenced tests at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. See the Student Testing in Georgia handout.

Georgia Milestones relies on the Georgia Student Growth Model (GSGM) initiative designed to provide students, parents, educators, and the public with important information on student progress. Academic achievement only tells part of the story. The addition of student growth tells a more complete story about the academic performance of students. Now we not only know where students end up, but we also know how much progress they made to get there. This is an exciting time for students and their parents!

· Increase the percentage of students who score in the proficient or distinguished learner categories in ELA on the GA Milestones by 3%.

· Increase the percentage of students who score in the proficient or distinguished learner categories in Math on the GA Milestones by 3%.

This is a snapshot of our school’s grades report

• 60.05% of its 3rd and 5th grade students are reading at or above the grade level target.

A full report can be found at https://gosa.georgia.gov/dashboards-data-report-card/georgia-school-grades-reports

School systems must ensure that strong strategies are in place to:

· Build capacity in parents as partners

· Share and support parents in attaining high student achievement

Parental involvement means the participation of parents in regular, two-way, and meaningful communication involving student academic learning and other school activities, including ensuring that:

1. Parents play an integral role in assisting their child’s learning

2. Parents are encouraged to be actively involved in their child’s education

3. Parents are full partners in their child’s education and are included, when appropriate, in decision-making as well as being a part of the advisory committees to assist in the education of their child.

4. Policies that are jointly developed with parents guide what we do in parent & family engagement. Check out the Catoosa County Parent & Family Engagement Policy and the Graysville Elementary Parent & Family Engagement Policy. We welcome your recommendations on these policies at any time. A copy of the GES Policy was sent home the first week of school.

5. Each Title I school jointly develops, through meaningful consultation with parents, a family-school compact that outlines how families and schools will share the responsibility for improved student academic achievement and the means by which the school and parents will build and develop a partnership to help children achieve the state’s high standards.

As a Title I school, we must meet federal regulations related to teacher qualifications as defined by ESEA. These regulations allow you to learn more about your child’s teachers’ training and credentials. We are happy to provide this information to you. At any time you may ask:

· Whether the teacher met state qualifications and certification requirements for the grade level and subject he/she is teaching

· Whether the teacher received an emergency or conditional certificate through which state qualifications were waived

· What undergraduate or graduate degrees the teacher holds, including graduate certificates and additional degrees, and major(s) or area(s) of concentration

· You may also ask whether your child received help from a paraprofessional, and information about the paraprofessional’s qualifications.

All teachers at Graysville Elementary School are highly qualified in the content area they are teaching, meeting Title I regulations. If you have any questions about the above, please contact Kerri Sholl at 706-937-3147 or email her at ksholl.ges@catoosa.k12.ga.us.

Parent & family engagement opportunities offered this year:

• Title I Annual Meeting - August 14, 2025

• Parent Volunteer Orientation - August 19th & 20th 2025

• Fall Parental Survey - September 15, 2025

• Fall PAC Virtual Meeting - September 15, 2025

• Literary Movie Night - October 16, 2025

• Fall FAST Meeting - October 2025

• Family Engagement Month - November 2025

• Winter FAST Meeting - January 2026

• Spring Title I Survey - March 2026

• Spring PAC - April 2026

• Kindergarten and 5th Grade Transitions - May 2026

Volunteer opportunities:

• Attend volunteer orientation on August 19th & 20th

• Help our teachers and staff by volunteering in the Parent Resource Workroom (room 302)

• Join the GES PTO

• Volunteer to help with special events hosted by the schools, such as APEX Fun Run, PBIS Reward Days, Grow Day Celebrations, the Book Fair and more.

Parents are always welcome to contact their child’s teacher or administrators through the school website (www.ges.catoosa.k12.ga.us), email, phone calls (706-937-3147) and written notes.

How do parents lodge complaints?

Parents should bring school complaints to the school principal. There is a procedure to address your concerns. Parents should bring Title I complaints to Gina Haynes, Catoosa County Schools Title I Coordinator. She may be contacted at 706-965-2297 or ghaynes@catoosa.k12.ga.us

GES Title I Annual Meeting Agenda

GES 2025-26 School Policy
2025-26 District Policy
GES 2025-26 Title I Budget
Student Testing in Georgia
Components of a Schoolwide Program
Tips for an Effective Parent-Teacher Conference
Georgia Standards of Excellence