A New Title I
From a 'Hodgepodge of Efforts' to a Targeted K-3 Program
Long before his inauguration, President Barack Obama was signaling his intention to attack government waste and inefficiency. On “Meet the Press” in December, he talked about “pork coming out of Congress,” declaring: “Those days are over.” He has been clear and consistent in saying that he wants the federal government to stop funding programs able to produce little evidence that they succeed.
In the spirit of these messages of change, I offer the new president a recommendation about the federal role in education. In involves the nation’s largest investment aimed at improving the educational trajectory of poor children: Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, known currently as the No Child Left Behind Act.
Like the Head Start program, Title I was launched in 1965 by President Lyndon B. Johnson as part of a “war on poverty.” But unlike Head Start, Title I has never been a specific program with agreed-upon practices or standards. Rather, it is a stream of money bestowed on nearly all of the nation’s school districts and many private schools. School administrators can mount any type of initiative they feel will be beneficial to the academic...
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