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Large enrollments and a general drop in student performance during the middle school years may account for the high number of Title I middle schools identified by the federal government as needing improvement under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, concludes a policy brief released by the Washington-based Center on Education Policy.
The brief notes that 18 percent of middle schools that receive federal Title I funding were found to need improvement, based on figures from the 2002-03 school year. That percentage doubled to 36 percent for the 2004-05 school year.
By contrast, the number of Title I elementary schools identified for improvement dropped from 13 percent in 2002-03 to 10 percent in 2004-05.
