Title 1

Title 1 is a federal program design to help economically disadvantaged students succeed at the state mandated levels, or realistically the TAKS test. This program financially helps Local Education Agency and schools containing larger numbers of underprivileged children. Schools receive these funds by meeting one of four statutory formulas based primarily on census poverty estimates and the cost of education in each state. The title one program has served more than 17 million children, of which, 60 percent are elementary aged. This program can use the financial resources to fund supplemental reading and mathematics programs, as well as some pre-school, after school, and summer programs. Generally, Title I funds are aimed to help those schools with the highest percent of children from low income families, and generally the school must focus Title I services on those students who are failing, or most at risk of failing to meet state academic standards. A school may use Title I funds for school wide programs to serve all children if the school has enrollment of 40 percent low income families.

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) raised educational standards and expectations for all students across the board. The idea behind this act, passed by President George W. Bush, was to help students improve academically by raising the expectations. He also wanted to close educational gaps between the races. With the passage of NCLB, funding has increased a great deal on the educational. NCLB also allows students with Limited English proficiency to gain assistance without the necessary economic requirements. This program also created funding and programs to assist with the students who are at risk of dropping out. Also, Title I funds are now available to private elementary and secondary schools. The private school programs are designed to help students meet their educational needs by providing supplemental educational services. These services are developed with the assistance of the private school officials and should be equitable those of public school programs.

Another branch of the Title I program comes from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). This program provides billions of dollars of additional funding to Title I Part A. The funds for this are allocated on four principles: (1) spend funds quickly to create and save jobs, (2) improve student achievement through school improvement and reform, (3) ensure transparency, recording and accountability, and (4) invest one time ARRA funds thoughtfully to minimize the "funding cliff." Due to the nature of this program, funding will not be available long-term. Therefore, schools should invest in short term programs or resources that will create long-term results. They should not commit these funds to programs that will be on-going. These types of programs include after school tutoring programs, professional development programs, and academic coaches.

Ultimately, Title I funds can be used on a plethora of programs to help all students be successful. I think one of the hot ticket topics over the last several years has been technology. It would seem that you could allocate some of the Title I funds to create and expand resources on the campus. This could include career and technology courses, labs, and personal technology such as itouches and ipads. As I continue to learn everyday in my teaching career, one thing I have noticed is how much students are tied to technology. Students are around and use technology on a daily basis. Why not embrace their culture and intrigue by supporting education with the most current technology available. Also, for those students at risk, why not invest in special tutoring programs or classes. One thing I like about our school is the fact that we use pull-out classes to aid these students with improving their state test scores. Why not fund these types of classes through Title I or ARRA? One thing I think that needs to be added to the pull out program is a special counseling program. I think that it is important to talk to these students on a regular basis; checking with them not only academically, but emotionally as well. Hold group sessions explaining the risks of failing and dropping out and what their futures hold if they choose that path. Finally, why not financially support a mentor type program for the students identified as at risk? Mentors can do wonders for a lost child. If given the funding, using a creative head, there is so much you can do to help a student in danger of failing not only TAKS, but life as well.