NC approved for NCLB pilot program


North Carolina is one of five states approved for a new pilot program that switches the order of the first two years of sanctions under the “No Child Left Behind” law.

Normally, schools that do not meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) as defined by the law must offer public school choice to students who attended that school.

Under the pilot program, seven districts in Burke, Cumberland, Durham, Guilford, Northampton, Pitt, and Robeson counties will be able to offer supplemental educational services, or free tutoring, to economically disadvantaged students in the first year a school is in Title I School Improvement instead of the public school choice options, the usual first-year sanction.

Vance County Schools would not qualify for the program, as all of its schools have met the requirements for Title I status for over a year. However, the school district has been using the additional funds gained from the Leandro education lawsuit to provide similar tutoring services for the past two years.

Title I is a federally-funded program. Title I status is conferred to schools whose needs meet a federal definition of low-income. The single most important criterion in the Title I qualification is the percentage of free- and reduced-price lunches a school serves to its students.

To read more, please go to the NCDPI Web site article here.