What Is A Title 1 School?

This program which is now the pillar of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), is our oldest and largest federally funded education program, according to the U.S. Department of Education. It dates from 1965 and its main purpose has been to help underpriviledged children meet challenging state academic standards. Title 1 funding helps those who are behind or at risk of falling behind, aiming to bridge the gap between low-income students and other students. The school-wide program is available to schools with a student base where at least 40% come from low-income families.

How Do Author Visits Help Bridge The Gap Between Title 1 and Non-Title 1 Schools?

The National Assessment of Education Progress reported in 2015 that the average fourth grader eligible for free lunch scored a 209 in reading, and the average fourth grader that was not eligible for free lunch scored a 237. That 28-point gap is roughly comparable to being behind by more than two grade levels. The gap is 25 points in eighth grade, which is still considerably large.

Author visits provide in-person mentorship, allowing students to personally connect and learn real-world skills that can be applied to the classroom for the educational advancement towards a better academic future.

How Your Donation Is Used

Your tax deductible donation allows a Title 1 school to obtain a free author visit mentoring up to 400 students. Each $500 donation provides one free visit. In addition to the visit, Student Author Movement will donate up to 50 children's books written by a student-author, or an author of Student Author Movement to promote literacy. One student at each school will be selected to become published by ReadyAimWrite Kids, LLC. This is a huge perk of the program. Your company’s logo will appear on the back cover of every book of the student-author you helped support at the Title 1 school. Your logo will show everyone you made a difference!
  • Mary I.
    As a Title 1 building, we found it important to include an author visit from Stephen Kozan so that our students could see that authors are real people. Because of how authentic Stephen is and how easily he relates to all young people, our students were highly engaged during his visit. They asked questions and even shared some of their future hopes and dreams. The value of this is that teachers were able to then channel the motivation he provided about writing and celebrating strengths into classroom discussions, thus increasing interest in literacy.
    Mary I.
    Reading Specialist | South Side Elementary School