Academic performance in Title I schools

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Monitoring school effectiveness and efforts to improve academic performance is a key function of state education agencies. Many states are seeing a greater proportion of Title I schools (schools with a high proportion of low-income students) consistently failing to make adequate yearly progress than in earlier years.

This brief, Achievement Trends of Schools and Students in Arizona’s Title I School Improvement Program, describes the numbers and distribution of Arizona public schools and students across school levels (elementary, middle, high) from 2005/06–2008/09 for three school types: Title I schools in the school improvement program, Title I schools not in the program, and non–Title I schools. It reports how schools in the program are distributed across program statuses, compares trends in reading and math proficiency for students attending each school type, and examines patterns of movement in and out of school improvement among Title I schools.

Key findings include:

• The number and proportion of Arizona Schools in Improvement is growing.

• In 2008/09, more Arizona Title I middle schools (52 percent) than Title I elementary schools (18 percent) and Title I high schools (39 percent) were in improvement.

• Reading and math proficiency increased over the study period for students in all three school types, based on 2008/09 school type.

• Among the 978 schools receiving Title I funding throughout the study period, more schools, both by number and percentage, entered the school improvement program than left it.