Expanding Advocacy

Abstract

In this last of my series, of policy articles, I conclude with the policy and practice of advocacy. An advocate is one who pleads the cause of another, is a voice for another. The members of Congress who initiated the 1965 legislation enacting the Title I program were the voice of the children who lived in public school areas with high concentrations of low-income families. Clearly expressed in the original legislation and still in force today, the policy provides supplementary federal assistance to school districts in order to improve the performance of children who may not otherwise be successful. The many supporters of the Title I program agree that to "level the playing field" is good public policy and that student success is in the interest of the entire country.