What is a title one teacher?
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Title One teachers — everyone’s heard of them, but not everyone knows what they are and what they do. We have all the info.
Everyone’s heard of Title One teachers, but there are still tons of misunderstandings regarding who they are and what they do. In the following paragraphs, we’re taking a look at Title 1 teachers, their job, and all the differences that set them apart from other school teachers.
What is a Title One teacher, and how these teachers differ from traditional teachers?
In short, a Title One teacher is a specialist working in schools with a high percentage of students from low-income families. Note that these schools are not a form of special education centers. They are simply schools for learners at risk of poverty.
These schools are funded by the Title One program of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Title One teachers themselves provide support and tailor education programs to help disadvantaged students meet academic standards at their grade level.
So what are the differences between Title One teachers and other teachers in your school district? In essence, it’s all about funding. Title One teachers work in Title One schools and teach impoverished children, but their work is still largely the same.
What is a Title One school in the US?
So, a Title One school is an institution with a high percentage of low-income students funded by the Title One program of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), also known as the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).
Who are low-income students, and how do we determine that? The percentages of low-income students are determined based on their participation in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), which provides food at a reduced price for those who cannot afford it.
Title One schools use their funding to provide not only affordable food, though, but additional teaching hours, tutoring, specialized programs, and supplemental tools throughout the school year. By providing students in need with equal learning opportunities, Title 1 schools help them keep up with their peers and ensure a high academic achievement.
Title One schools can be found across the country, just like any kind of public school. They are common in urban and rural areas, and they have been present in virtually every state since being under the jurisdiction of the federal government.
The different levels of teachers and why their roles in education matter
There are many ways we can classify teachers. We can classify them according to the year they teach, the type of school they work in, the subjects they teach, etc. This time, however, we can look into their responsibilities and group them into three groups.
- Classroom teachers: These are the regular classroom teachers you had in, say, high school. They instruct their students daily and go through the lesson plans with them. They don’t necessarily have to organize whole curricula and schoolwide programs, but they do cover them with their students.
- Lead teachers: Lead teachers have a bit more on their plate. For example, they support and aid other teachers on their professional development journey. In addition, they provide them with feedback and assess their performance.
- Special education teachers: Special education teachers work with students suffering from all sorts of disabilities, learning disorders, etc. They are a bit more specialized and have the skills necessary to provide disabled students with the tools necessary for student progress. These teachers are very important in early childhood education and elementary schools.
Tools to help support low income students achieve a high quality education
There are many ways we can support low-income students. We can contact local educational agencies and use Title One funds to provide them with necessary materials, etc. But what can we do outside the classroom?
Family engagement and parent involvement
It is no secret that going to school and listening to lectures is only one step toward student achievement. The next step is arguably just as important, and it entails studying at home. If we want to help students do more at home, we need to engage with their parents and family members.
Students trust their parents the most, and with good guidance, they can do a lot of work at home at a more relaxed pace and in a welcoming environment. Whenever possible, you should organize events and assign homework that will encourage your students’ parents to participate.
Additional after school tutoring
Not everyone can pick stuff up immediately. Some learners need to review and revise constantly, and they might need additional tutoring, too. If you can, provide them with additional support and devote more time to them after school, during consultation hours.
They will feel relaxed knowing they are not competing with their peers, and they might open up more regarding their strengths and weaknesses, which can be beneficial to their academic self-esteem.
Text to speech
Some students are auditory learners, so they prefer listening to their lesson materials instead of reading them. Sometimes, however, getting all the necessary audiobooks and recordings might be expensive. You can remediate that with text-to-speech (TTS) programs like Speechify.
Speechify is a TTS tool with tons of customizable features and adjustable settings that can turn any kind of text into audio files. It can even convert printed text and images into MP3 and WAV format thanks to its fantastic OCR features.
It also supports lots of languages, so it’s great for teaching pronunciation and getting in some additional auditory input for those who cannot afford foreign language audiobooks.
FAQs
What is the difference between a teacher and an educator?
All teachers are educators, but not all educators are teachers. Teachers instruct learners in a school setting, while educators can do it anywhere. For example, there are YouTube educators.
What is the salary of a teacher in America?
Teacher salary in America varies greatly depending on various factors. Those include location, experience, education levels, the subject they teach, the institution they work in, etc. On average, though, a teacher in America makes about $60,000 a year.
Cliff Weitzman
Cliff Weitzman is a dyslexia advocate and the CEO and founder of Speechify, the #1 text-to-speech app in the world, totaling over 100,000 5-star reviews and ranking first place in the App Store for the News & Magazines category. In 2017, Weitzman was named to the Forbes 30 under 30 list for his work making the internet more accessible to people with learning disabilities. Cliff Weitzman has been featured in EdSurge, Inc., PC Mag, Entrepreneur, Mashable, among other leading outlets.