The Effectiveness of Title I : Synthesis of National-level Evidence from 1966 to 2013

Established in 1965, Title I seeks to improve the educational achievement of U.S. students from disadvantaged backgrounds. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 made this goal more specific. Because its mandate is to attain 100 percent proficiency, in effect this means closing the achievement gaps between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged students by 2013-14 This paper reviews prior research to assess the effectiveness of Title I in closing the achievement gaps of disadvantaged students vis-à-vis their non-disadvantaged counterparts. We focus on the effects of the overall Title I compensatory program nationwide. We use a research synthesis approach based on narrative techniques to summarize the results of national assessments of Title I conducted since 1966 until 2013. We find little evidence that Title I has contributed significantly to closing achievement gaps nationwide. For those studies that show gains in some grades and for some academic subjects, the gains are quite modest, of around 0.1 standard deviations or less over extensive time periods. Given the modest academic gains attributable to Title I, and considering that the program costs about $15 billion per year, we conclude that Title I compensatory program has been largely ineffective in closing the achievement gaps of disadvantaged students. We recommend that a portion of Title I funds should be used for research-based demonstration programs designed to help disadvantaged students that have been validated as effective by rigorous evaluations, as for example the Knowledge Is Power Program