The Lesterville School District offers a District-operated Title I Preschool program for students who are one or two years away from Kindergarten entry, reside in the school attendance area, and who are identified as most at risk of failing to meet the State’s academic achievement. The school uses the Brigance Early Childhood Screen for potential preschoolers. The Brigance is a screening tool that is used to identify learning delays, as well as strengths and weaknesses in language, motor, self-help, social, emotional and cognitive skills. Skill areas include personal data (name, age, address), color recognition, picture vocabulary, visual discrimination with both forms and letters, visual motor skills, gross motor skills, rote counting, body part identification, ability to follow verbal direction, number concepts, and speech syntax and fluency.

     The preschool program uses the Project Construct approach to teaching children in early childhood. The Project Construct approach states that children actively construct their own knowledge and values as a result of interactions with the physical and social worlds. This process-oriented framework not only supports young children’s ways of learning but also provides teachers, families, and administrators with the information they need to make appropriate decisions regarding the education of young children.

     The Lesterville Title I program also provides supplemental instruction in reading. The purpose of this additional instruction is to assist students in becoming more successful in the classroom and in passing grade level requirements and/or benchmarks. As students become more proficient in the mastery of skills and are presented with new challenges, needs change. This necessitates a flexible Title I program that adjusts to eliminate current deficit skills and support daily classroom instruction. Therefore, the components of the Lesterville Title I program, such as recipients of services, instructional groupings, and delivery of instruction, are altered throughout the school year.

     Inclusion in the Lesterville Title I program is based on data analysis and is modified depending upon the needs of students. The following factors are considered in determining which students are eligible to receive Title I services:

  • Recommendations for inclusion made by the classroom teachers from the previous year
  • Retention
  • Test Scores
  • Recommendations for inclusion made by teachers
  • Early Literacy Assessment scores – Developmental Reading Assessment

Title I students may be taught by the Bearcat Literacy Teacher in small groups or one on one. Location of Title I instruction varies and may include instruction in the resource classrooms, in the computer lab, within the regular classroom, or in other areas designated for instruction. Supplemental instruction provided by the Bearcat Literacy Teacher may include vocabulary study, phonics/word study, reading strategies, comprehension skills, spelling, language skills (oral and written), writing skills, handwriting, and test taking strategies. Teachers are consulted regularly to determine student progress and areas of greatest need for remediation. Test scores, deficit skills reports, and other data are reviewed and analyzed each nine weeks to provide additional information to use in adjusting instruction. Finally, in-service workshops, observations, and research provide best practices information to enhance the delivery of instruction to all Lesterville Title I students.


Schoolwide Program

  • Schools must have 40% poverty or greater to implement a Schoolwide program
  • Funds are used to improve the overall academic program of the school
  • A Title I Schoolwide team must annually develop a Schoolwide plan that includes the following:
    ○ Comprehensive needs assessment
    ○ Schoolwide reform strategies
    ○ Provision for instruction by highly qualified professional staff
    ○ Strategies for increasing parental involvement
    ○ Plans to facilitate transition from preschool to elementary school
    ○ Measures for including teacher input to improve student performance and the overall instructional program