Summary: To ensure that individual schools are effective in helping Chapter 1 students improve their skills in such areas as reading, math, and language arts, Congress created a new accountability system that measures student achievement. Local education agencies are required to identify schools with ineffective Chapter 1 programs and work with them to develop program improvement plans. If results are not forthcoming, the state education agency must intervene, working with local officials to develop a joint improvement plan for the school. Local and state education officials and recent studies have raised questions about how accurately schools have been targeted for improvement. Recent studies have also raised concerns about schools' local program improvement efforts, although no studies have focused on state and local efforts in the joint phase. This report (1) assesses the process used to identify schools needing program improvement and makes suggestions for improving the process and (2) compares implementation of the joint and local phases of program improvement, including the roles of school, district, and state staff, as well as the program changes (or strategies) schools use to bring about improvement.
