Title One list shrinks by 52 schools - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

Rich Van Wyk/Eyewitness News EducationBeat

Indianapolis, August 5, 2003 - The good news is that the list of Indiana Schools falling short of new federal mandates is getting shorter. The bad news? 117 title one schools across the state are still under orders to improve or face serious consequences.

Sixteen of the failing Title 1 schools are in Marion County - seven in the townships, and nine in IPS.

Title 1 schools educate Indiana’s poorest and most disadvantaged students. They are schools where three-quarters or more of the children live in poverty. In exchange for hundreds of millions of dollars in supplemental federal grants, the federal government is demanding results.

Although the number of Coleman Middle School students passing ISTEP exams has doubled, the IPS school fell short on Title 1 for the third year in a row. “We have a lot of things in place,” says Coleman Principal Michael Chisley. “We think we can make a tremendous difference in meeting our goals - enough to get off the list next year.”

An outside consultant will be sent in to advise Chisley.

The No Child Left Behind Act says schools that do not improve face consequences, such as transferring children to more successful schools, teacher training, changes in management, curriculum, and, in extreme cases, the state can take control of the school.

ISTEP scores of students must improve two years in a row or a school is put on the failing list. It takes two consecutive years of improvement to get off the list.

If test scores improve this year, Lawrence 's Harrison Hill Elementary will be off the failing list.

The school and its principal saw failure as an opportunity.

Sharon Smith, Harrison Hill Principal says Title 1 guidelines helped “to see how we could improve, what we could be doing better, how we could help all our children achieve."

Because Harrison Hill was failing, parents now registering their children had the opportunity to transfer them to other schools.

Smith says none did.