Increasing Targeting, Flexibility, and Transparency in Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to Help Disadvantaged Students. Policy Proposal 2016-01

Public discussion leading up to the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965 as the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in December 2015 focused on the controversial testing, standards, and teacher evaluation provisions of the previous reauthorization, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB; 2002), and its waiver process. These issues were so fraught that little attention was paid to the Title I program, long the bread and butter of ESEA. In this policy proposal I suggest (1) reforms to ensure that the Title I formula gets enough resources to the neediest areas, and (2) improvements in federal guidance and fiscal compliance outreach efforts so that local districts understand the flexibility they have to spend effectively. These are first-order issues for improving high-poverty schools, but so deeply mired in technical and bureaucratic detail that they have received little public attention in the reauthorization process. The following is appended: Body of Title I Guidance from the U.S. Department of Education Relevant in 2015.