The State ESEA¹ Title I Participation Summary Report for 2002-03 summarizes the participation data for the Title I, Part A (Title I), Grants to Local Education Agencies (LEAs) program. This program financially assists eligible school districts and schools in providing opportunities for at-risk children to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills to meet challenging state content and achievement standards. The Part A program can serve children from preschool to high school and provides supplemental services to many special populations, including children with disabilities, students with limited English proficiency (LEP), and migrant children. This program also provides services to eligible children in nonpublic schools and in local institutions serving neglected or delinquent students and offers other support services, such as family literacy services.

This report provides Title I participation data for 2002-03, the first year the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) was implemented. The report also presents comparisons with 2001-02 and previous years that were covered by prior laws, including the Improving America’s Schools Act of 1994 (IASA). Topics include districts, schools and students served, the range of instructional and support services provided, Title I staffing patterns, and schools’ progress toward meeting performance standards, as reported by states on Parts I and II of the Consolidated State Performance Reports (CSPR). The tables shown in this report reflect data submitted by the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), and Puerto Rico. State-by-state tables follow the text. This report supplements the information provided in the 2002-03 NCLB Annual Report transmitted to Congress in 2005.

The quality and timeliness of the state-submitted data continue to be an issue. Part I of the CSPR was due from the states to the U.S. Department of Education (Department) in December 2003, and Part II was due June 2004; however, not all states met these deadlines. As of February 2006, three states (Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wyoming) and the Bureau of Indian Affairs had not yet submitted 2002-03 Title I participation figures from Part II and as a result, the state-level tables at the end of this report show blank cells for these states. In addition, the state reports, once submitted, were often incomplete or included apparent errors and inconsistencies that required repeated follow-up calls to states. The problem of incomplete data is greatest when there are changes to the data collection instrument from one year to the next. There are, however, some instances in which states are unable to provide some of the required information even though the data collection instrument has not changed from the previous year. The Department continues to work with states to improve both the quality and timeliness of their submissions. Further, the Department’s Education Data Exchange Network (EDEN) and its EDFacts reporting system is intended to improve data quality and reporting in future years.

As part of the verification process, states could and did revise information submitted for 2002-03 as well as information submitted for earlier years. As a result of these revisions, some of the information shown in this report for years prior to 2002-03 differs from previously published figures. Additionally, a number of tables from previous reports are not in the 2002-03 report because of changes in the CSPR for 2002-03. Specifically, tables showing the number of Title I schools by poverty level, LEAs identified for improvement, schools meeting state criteria for adequate yearly progress (AYP), LEAs providing family literacy services, and extended time instructional programs were eliminated.

The 2002-03 achievement results will be reported separately in State Education Indicators with a Focus on Title I 2002-03. Refer to the Department’s Web site at http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/opepd/ppss/reports.html#title.

1. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended by the Improving America's Schools Act, Pub. L. No. 103 382, 108 Stat. 3518, et. seq. (1994). This act was further amended by the No Child Left Behind Act, Pub. L. No. 107 110, 20 U.S.C. § 6301 (2002) (enacted Jan. 8, 2002).