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In an effort to help the community
understand current basic concerns about civil rights, we have published
the following Civil Rights in Brief which summarize
these issues and can help you learn what you can do to protect them.
Title I, "Better Schooling for Educationally
Deprived Students," was created to improve the quality of education
for our nation's poor children. The program, an integral part of
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, is the largest federal
compensatory education program in American history. Since its inception,
it has been the cornerstone of federal support to public education.
Established in 1965 at the height of the Civil Rights
Movement, Title I became the largest educational component of President
Johnson's "War on Poverty". It was designed "in recognition
of the special educational needs of children of low-income families
and the impact that concentrations of low-income families have on
the ability of local educational agencies to support adequate educational
programs" (Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965,
Section 101). The creation of the program was an acknowledgement
that education was a key part of the larger struggle to attain social,
political and economic equality.
Some common uses of Title I funds include hiring classroom
aides, implementing reading and math tutoring programs, and lowering
class size.
Title I funding is allocated to schools with high
numbers of low-income students. As of 1993, it reached over six
million children each year, extending to about three-quarters of
all elementary schools, and about half of middle and high schools.
The average Title I student is poor, non-white, has undereducated
parents, including many for whom English is not their native language,
and often lives in an urban area plagued with violence and other
social problems. These children tend to score lower on standardized
tests and receive lower grades than their more affluent peers.
Title I has undergone several reauthorizations since
its creation. It will again be considered for reauthorization this
year, 1999, as part of the Improving America's School Act. Critics
of Title I claim that there have been no significant gains for Title
I students and that it should be terminated. They point to alternatives
to this large federal program, such as Ed-Flex, a plan that would
disperse the funds in the form of "block grants," giving
states and localities ultimate authority in distributing funds.
Supporters of Title I fear that such decentralization would be harmful
to poor children, as there would be no federal authority to ensure
that the funds actually reached them or improved their schools.
Supporters also claim that Title I produced major
gains, especially for black students, during the early years of
the program due to better implementation of the law. They recommend
that the legislation incorporate provisions requiring stricter enforcement
of the law.
The Civil Rights Project recently commissioned a volume
of research on Title I entitled "Hard
Work for Good Schools: Facts Not Fads in Title I Reform."
The main findings from this research are as follows:
- Although states report on the performance of groups of students
(by race, class, gender), they are not held accountable for ensuring
that these groups, or individual students, meet the same high
standards.
- Decentralized block grants to schools do little to ensure that
the needs of low-income students are met.
- There needs to be a more explicit connection between the federal
and the district levels. The district is the institution that
can monitor and communicate these findings with the federal government
to ensure proper accountability.
- Reducing class size in the early grades is associated with an
improvement in test scores.
- Historically, Title I has focused on intervention in the elementary
grades. In order to ensure lasting results, there needs to be
a greater investment in high school students and their acquisition
of higher order thinking skills.
- The effects of concentrated poverty both in schools and neighborhoods
is a central educational problem that lowers achievement. Title
I needs to incorporate provisions that aim to lessen the concentration
of poverty.
- Further incentives should be created to encourage districts
to implement programs that have proven to be successful. Ineffective
programs should be terminated and replaced by effective alternatives.
- Further incentives should be created to encourage districts
to adopt Title I reform models that benefit all children in low-income
schools. These school-wide models are more successful than remedial
pull-out programs that often stigmatize children and remove them
from the regular class setting.
- Title I programs should assess the overall organizational needs
of a school. Without proper organization, funding may not be used
in the most effective ways to ensure the success of all students.
In addition to these findings, a report by the Citizens'
Commission on Civil Rights has found that the U.S. Department
of Education has failed to implement or has misinterpreted key aspects
of the law, which were designed to equalize learning opportunities
between poor and non-poor children. For example, the law requires
states to adopt uniform standards, yet the Department of Education
has allowed states to accept different local standards and assessments.
Because minority children, particularly blacks and
Latinos, are much more likely to live in concentrated poverty than
white children, Title I is an extremely important device for equalizing
educational opportunities across race and class. While current assessments
of Title I programs measure overall student success, it is necessary
that the success of all groups— especially minority and low-income
students —be assessed and reevaluated. In addition, it is
crucial that states and localities be held accountable for real
gains for all groups.
If Title I is terminated and federal control is turned
over to states, there is no guarantee that these funds will reach
poor children for whom they were originally intended, as there is
no effective enforcement of civil rights at the state level. In
fact, research on the impact of block grants has shown that increased
local control of funding has a negative impact on states with large
numbers of children in poverty and on minority children. When another
federal program, Chapter 2, was turned into block grants, the funds
were spread out more evenly among all schools and children. The
funds, therefore, did not reach the poor children who needed them
most, particularly those in urban areas.
Oversight of Title I is primarily the responsibility
of the State, but parents may file written, signed complaints against
a school or school system with the State. The local school district
is required to provide parents and students with adequate information
about complaint procedures. Complaints must state both the facts
and the specific federal requirement violated. The State must attempt
to resolve all complaints in a timely fashion, but is not required
to do an onsite investigation. Title I affords a great deal of leeway
to the State in responding to a complaint about a failing school,
but a parent can appeal the State's final decision to the Secretary
of Education of the United States. If appropriate services were
not provided, the State must specify a remedy, which can include
monetary reimbursement and must address the needs of the child.
The State must also provide future services for other children with
similar issues.
Title I programs that have a discriminatory effect
can also be challenged under federal civil rights statutes and the
United States Constitution. For example, if Title I placements have
the effect of segregating students within the school, the Title
I program may be in violation of Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights
Act. Claims of unlawful discrimination under Title VI are generally
filed with the United States Department of Education, Office for
Civil Rights (OCR), or directly in Federal Court. A lawyer's assistance,
however, is not required to file with OCR.
- Communicate with your Congress people and local organizations
to show your support of Title I. You can find their contact information
at your local library.
- Refer to The Civil Rights Project's findings on successful programs.
They may provide you and your district with suggestions on improvements
in the Title I program in your community. These findings also
raise issues that should be considered in designing local educational
programs.
- Find out what your district is doing with Title I dollars and
what evidence it has of benefits.
- Contact professors at your local universities, in Education,
Sociology and Public Policy, to share ideas on attaining more
successful outcomes. Often these researchers know a great deal
about these issues, but do not know how to connect with interested
members of the community.
- Get the media interested. Contact local newspapers, radio stations
and TV programs to inform them of the issues surrounding Title
I and educational opportunity in your community and what has worked
in other parts of the country.
Download the full volume of research commissioned
by The Civil Rights Project, "Hard
Work for Good Schools: Facts Not Fads in Title I Reform",
from our web site.
Filing with OCR: U.S. Department of Education, Office
for Civil Rights, Customer Service Team, May E. Switzer Building,
330 C Street, SW, Washington, DC 20202. E-mail: OCR@ED.Gov.
The Washington office does not handle complaints, but will direct
you to one of twelve regional enforcement offices that accept complaints.
For complete information call 1-800-421-3481 or visit their web
page at http://www.ed.gov/offices/OCR/index.html.
You may also download "Title
I: Better Schooling for Educationally Deprived Students"
in PDF Format. 
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