Title I

The federal Title I program provides funds to public schools with at least a 35 percent enrollment of children from low-income families. The program is intended to help ensure that all children meet challenging state academic content and student academic achievement standards. Staff development and parent involvement are key components of the Title I program. About half of North Carolina’s traditional and charter public schools and all of the state’s 115 school districts receive Title I funding. The program was established by the federal government’s No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act in 2001 and is now regulated by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).

For more than a decade, both Park View Elementary School and South Elementary School operated highly successful Title I programs providing targeted assistance to K-3 students, with a focus on early intervention to improve reading skills. In the 2014-2015 school year, Park View and South both transitioned to operating school wide Title I programs, which offer greater flexibility in offering services to all enrolled students.  Beginning in 2015-2016, Title I school wide services were expanded to both Mooresville Intermediate School (MIS) and East Mooresville Intermediate School (EMIS).

Title I funds enable the schools to provide enhanced literacy instruction and remediation tutoring to students at risk of failing to meet the North Carolina’s end of grade performance standards. The district is extremely proud of the exceptional performance of all of its schools. In 2018-2019, MGSD ranked 9th in the state based on its overall grade level proficiency of 69 percent, which is 10 percentage points higher than the state average. On September 1, 2022, North Carolina released its state accountability results for the 2021-2022 school year. Despite the many challenges school systems faced navigating the COVID pandemic, North Carolina public schools were held to the same high standards for 2021-2022 as they were pre-pandemic. Out of 115 public school district's, MGSD was ranked #4 for Grade 5 End of Grade Math and Science, #5 for Grade 3 End of Grade Reading, and #16 overall for students testing proficient or advanced on state End of Grade/End of Course tests.

Although MGSD’s impressive academic results clearly demonstrate the value of the district’s focus on early intervention, a key component of which is the Title I program, MGSD’s success is rooted in more than test scores. "We are grateful for the dedication of the MGSD staff and our community as we navigated one one of the most challenging times in public education," said Superintendent Jason Gardner. "We understand that climbing back to pre-pandemic proficiency is a multi-year effort, and we believe the results from the 2021-2022 school year are the first step in that journey. We will continue to unite as a community and focus on providing the best educational experience possible for every child, every day."