I work in a really nice school in a really nice neighborhood. When I drive my clunker to work, property values drop. So I was a bit surprised when my school went Title 1. My old school, where my clunker was in danger of being stolen, had been Title 1. I always thought that meant the school was in a poor neighborhood.
A lot of the 'why' was cleared up for me by this post from Under Assault. It appears that all city schools are Title 1 now, and while that carries some financial benefits (that were immediately canceled out by the budget cuts), the funding also carries some responsibilities along with it.
Apparently, if a school is a Title 1 school and fails to meet AYP in standardized testing for a number of years, it can be closed, and perhaps drawn and quartered. Read the post for all the gory details.
With years and years of dumbing down the tests, most protein based lifeforms can get a 2 or better. But if the tests start asking actual questions, just try meeting your AYP. And now that your school, and mine, are Title 1, they can be closed for declining scores.
Everyone in the ATR pool.
1 comment:
I wasn't as surprised when my school went Title I--I was more like surprised that we weren't already. But your explanation makes sense, in a sick, sad way.
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