In 1994,the Improving America?s Schools Act changed the direction of federal Title I programs
by mandating high standards for all students, including those receiving Title I services.
Even after several years of the federal policy, there is little evidence about how
schools with Title I schoolwide programs organize instructional resources to meet the
federal accountability mandates. This article examines how the federal accountability
mandates affect the design and implementation of Title I schoolwide programs in three
urban districts?Chicago, Cleveland, and Detroit. Using case studies developed in each
district, it examines Title I schoolwide programs within the context of state and district
policies adopted to meet the federal accountability mandates. The goal is to understand
if standards-based reform contributes to reducing curricular and instructional fragmentation
for students in schoolwide programs and whether standards-based reform creates
conditions that allow teachers to work with students of different ability levels. |