Steps in Complying with the Private School Provisions of NCLB
This checklist is designed to provide an easy to use reference in applying the NCLB, Title I private school provisions. For a fuller understanding of the more detailed requirements, be sure to refer to the PEN Private School Action Brief, or to the actual provisions of the law itself.
 

Step	Private School Provisions
1.	School district should identify the private schools that would have students who would quality for NCLB services and invite them to a consultation meeting, preferably before the beginning of the school year in August. District should review procedures for student elibility, equitable funding of programs, parent involvement and assessment.
2.	Parents and the community should know the NCLB law, regulations and U.S. Department of Education Guidance, and the private school provisions.
3.	Determine student eligibility: The student must attend a private schools; live in an area where the public school participates in Title I, and be identified by the school district as failing or at risk of ailing to meet the state OR private school standards.
4.	Upon consultation with the private school and you have determined residential requirements, you must then determine the criteria and set priorities for those students who will actually be served. For instance, poverty data could be gleaned from scholarship information, or results from a standardized test could be used to determine the lowest performing students.
5.	Section 1115 (b) says that the method you and your private school used to determine student eligibility must use multiple, academically related, objective criteria. It isn’t enough to set just poverty criteria or academic criteria. The school district and the private school have to come up with at least two different criteria that are not duplicative.
6.	Once the eligibility and criteria have been established, the school district and the private school must come up with a plan to implement the criteria. For instance, it could be decided that all low reading students in grades K-3 will be as priority, or a cut-off score below a certain point could be used from an agreed to standardized test. The criteria should be as accurate and objective as possible.
7.	The private school sends the school district appropriate student information such as names, addresses, grades, test scores, or other data necessary to reconcile with the student selection criteria. The school district also determines which students meet the residential requirements.
8.	It is the local school districts responsibility to choose the students to be served who are failing or most at risk of failing. Regardless of the criteria, some students are automatically eligible including those who are homeless or in a program for neglected or delinquent children or youth, or participate in Head Start, Even Start, Title I preschool, Early Reading First, or migrant education programs in the prior two years.
9.	The school district must provide equitable funds to involve parents in private schools as they do for parents in the public schools to implement programs, activities and procedures. These must be implemented with meaningful consultation with private schools parents. In addition, parents of private school students eligible to receive NCLB services must be given an equal opportunity to participate in programs and activities provided public school parents.
10.	Once the school district makes the student selection, it should meet to consult with the students’ parents in developing a parent involvement plan along with programs and activities, and the means to continually advise the district on parental needs.
11.	Find a program location, either at a private school, public school, or an alternative location and a way to provide transportation from the private school to the set location.
12.	Find teachers for the Title I programs. They can either be public school teachers, which means they must be highly qualified, private school teachers or a third party contractor. If the school district decides to hire private school teachers or a third party contractor they do not have to be highly qualified, they do have to attend a professional development program which is then funded by NCLB.