Title I was originally enacted in 1965 as a corner-stone of President Johnson's "War on Poverty". In January, 2002, President Bush signed the "No Child Left Behind" Act. Title I is one of 10 titles covered by this latest version of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).
In short, all students will achieve high academic standards; schools will be held accountable for annual growth and improvement and that parents have the right to transfer.
Title I teachers and staff work in the following Cambridge elementary schools: Cambridgeport, Fletcher Maynard Academy, Graham & Parks, Kennedy-Longfellow, King Open, Martin Luther King, Jr., Morse, and Peabody.
All Title I schools are school-wide projects. All students are eligible for services with the goal of upgrading the entire educational program. Schools must have a poverty threshold of 40%. In the above mentioned projects, both school and Title I administrators, teachers and staff decide the grades that Title I teachers will work with and the types of programs that Title I teachers and staff will provide. Among these programs are:
- Reading Recovery: An intensive intervention program for grade 1 students who are experiencing difficulty in learning to read and write. Students are seen individually every day of the week for 30 minutes. In approximately 16-20 weeks, the goal is to have students reach the average reading level of their class.
- Guided Reading Groups: Title I teachers work in classrooms where they take responsibility for a small group of students. This is in addition to the instruction that takes place with the classroom teacher.
- Leveled Literacy Intervention (LLI): K-3 short term program designed to be used with small groups of children who need intensive support to achieve grade-level competency
Main components of Title I:
- additional instruction in the form of direct services to children
- support professional development for teachers in both ELA and Math;
- parent involvement and parent rights and responsibilities under No Child Left Behind. Parents play an important role in helping raise student achievement. Each Title I School has a parent involvement policy and a home school compact, to foster the home school collaboration.
For more information about this program speak to your school's Family Liaison or call the Title I Program at 617.349.6490.