Title 1 program
Despite having a 50-year history, the Title 1 program has not shown significant improvement in the performance of its beneficiaries. Its purpose was to enhance education for educationally disadvantaged students. However, the funding provided is low, the funds are not used effectively, and most importantly, it does not address the root cause of disparities in schools; hence it does not qualify as a form of social justice.
Disparities in schools are a result of deep-rooted social issues: racial discrimination and segregation, which exclude minority groups from opportunities such as quality education, jobs, good neighborhoods, and wealth-building opportunities. Black students are four times more likely to attend high poverty schools compared to their white peers. Poverty affects the physical and psychological growth of children; therefore, poor students who need the most help become concentrated in schools that can hardly address their needs. Title I funding has short term benefits for such low-income students. Still, it is not enough to tackle the discriminatory systems which put minority groups at a greater disadvantage of growth opportunities.
Title 1 is also limited by other factors: the funding per student, $500 to $600, is too little to go a long way, and the funds are not used effectively. Therefore, the program’s funds fail to serve the purpose they were meant for: to bridge the achievement gap between low-income students from poor backgrounds and their better-off peers, hence creating equal opportunities.
For Title I to be effective, different strategies need to be used, such as: addressing racial segregation as the root cause of the problem, conducting more research on effective strategies, and increasing the threshold at which schools qualify for a Title 1 school-wide program.