Overlooked and Underpaid: How Title I Shortchanges High Schools, and What ESEA Can Do About It

This policy brief from the Alliance for Excellent Education describes how high schools have traditionally received reduced focus and funding from Title I. It includes several data tables and examples to demonstrate how the current system for calculating Title I eligibility works against high poverty high schools. Finally, it identifies several recommendations for policy makers to consider in the Elementary and Secondary Education Reauthorization Act that would help address the need for greater involvement and more resources for low performing and high poverty high schools under Title I. These include: 1) Use a more accurate indicator of poverty for high schools; 2) Strengthen and clarify Title I eligibility; 3) Reduce or eliminate the 75 percent threshold; and 4) Target Title I funds to high schools.