PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Murphy, Jerome
TI  - Title I of ESEA: The Politics of Implementing Federal Education Reform
AID  - 10.17763/haer.41.1.gv0n223076667l75
DP  - 1971 Apr 01
TA  - Harvard Educational Review
PG  - 35--63
VI  - 41
IP  - 1
4099  - http://harvardeducationalreview.org/content/41/1/35.short
4100  - http://harvardeducationalreview.org/content/41/1/35.full
SO  - herp1971 Apr 01; 41
AB  - Most of the literature on Title I of ESEA focuses either on activities at the federal level—the passage and early administration of the law—or at the local level—the quality of programs or alleged abuses in using Title I funds. Little attention has been paid to the intergovernmental problems of implementing education reform in a federal system. In this article, the author examines the interaction between the different levels of government concerning Title I, focusing mainly on the program's management and on specific federal efforts to issue strong guidelines. The discussion reveals the political and bureaucratic obstacles which constrain federal efforts to redirect local priorities and explores the notion of countervailing local power as a way for the poor to gain greater leverage in the program's operation.