Title I, Part A, Improving the Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged

Title I, Part A, is intended to help ensure that all children have the opportunity to obtain a high-quality education and reach proficiency on challenging state academic standards and assessments.  Title I provides flexible funding that may be used to provide additional instructional staff, professional development, extended-time programs, and other strategies for raising student achievement in high-poverty schools.  The program focuses on promoting schoolwide reform in high-poverty schools and ensuring students’ access to scientifically based instructional strategies and challenging academic content.  Title I provisions provide a mechanism for holding states, school districts, and schools accountable for improving the academic achievement of all students and turning around low-performing schools, while providing alternatives to students in such schools to enable those students to receive a high-quality education.

 Title I funds may be used for a variety of services and activities, most commonly for instruction in reading and mathematics.  The legislation encourages the use of strategies such as extended day (before and after school programs), extended year, and summer programs to increase learning time.

  Title II, Part A, Teacher and Principal Training and Recruiting

 Title II, Part A, increases student achievement by elevating teacher and principal quality through recruitment, hiring, and retention strategies.  The program uses scientifically based professional development interventions and holds districts and schools accountable for improvements in student academic performance.  This program was created because research shows that teacher quality is correlated with student academic achievement (Sanders and Rivers, 1996).  Because each community may face a variety of challenges with respect to teacher quality, this program allows funds to be used for a wide array of interventions.

 Title II, Part D, Enhancing Education Through Technology

 The principal goal of this program is to improve student academic achievement through the use of technology in elementary and secondary schools.  It is also designed to assist every student in becoming technologically literate by the end of eighth grade and to encourage the effective integration of technology resources and systems with teacher training and professional development to establish research-based instructional models.  In addition, the program supports the use of technology for promoting parental involvement and managing data for informed decision-making.  The program targets funds primarily to school districts that serve concentrations of poor students.

 Title III, Part A, English Language Acquisition, Language Enhancement and                                   Academic Achievement

 Title III, Part A, assists school districts in teaching English to limited English proficient (LEP) students and in helping these students meet the same challenging state standards required of all students.  Funds provide high-quality language instruction programs that are based on scientifically based research and that have demonstrated that they are effective in increasing English proficiency and student achievement.  In addition, the funds also provide high-quality professional development to classroom teachers, principals, administrators, and other school or community-based organizational personnel in order to improve the instruction and assessment of limited English proficient students.

  Title IV, Part A, Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities

 The Title IV, Part A, Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act supports programs to prevent violence in and around schools; prevent the illegal use of alcohol, drugs, and tobacco by young people; and foster a safe and drug-free learning environment that supports academic achievement.  Funds are used to support a variety of initiatives including substance abuse, violence, counseling and student assistance programs.

 Title IV, Part B, 21^st Century Community Learning Centers

 The Title IV, Part B, 21^st Century Community Learning Centers program provides services, during non-school hours or periods, to students and their families for academic enrichment, including tutorial and other services to help students, particularly those who attend low-performing schools, to meet state and local student academic achievement standards.  While the focus is on improving students’ academic achievement, other activities associated with youth development, recreation, the arts, and drug prevention, as well as literacy services for parents, are permitted. 

 Title V, Part A, Innovative Programs

 This program assists local education reform efforts that are consistent with and support statewide reform efforts.  It also supports state and local efforts to implement promising education reform programs, provide a continuing source of innovation and educational improvement, help meet the special education needs of at-risk and high-need students, and support programs to improve school, student, and teacher performance.  Funding can be used in a broad range of areas to improve academic achievement and the quality of education for students, to improve teacher quality, and to improve school performance.

Source:  U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education,                         No Child Left Behind:  A Desktop Reference.