Title II
Professional Development Program
•
Legislation
• Allocations of Funds
to Districts
• Development of Title
II Plan
• Allowable Expenditures
of Title II Funds at District Level
•
Legislation
The No Child Left Behind
Act of 2001 (NCLB), which reauthorized the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), places a major emphasis
upon the importance of teacher quality in improving student
achievement. To help ensure all teachers of core academic
subjects are highly qualified no later than the end of the
2005 – 2006 school year, Title II, Part A of ESEA –
the Improving Teacher Quality State Grants program –
provides nearly $3 billion a year to the States. These funds
can be used to prepare, train, and recruit high-quality teachers
and principals capable of ensuring that all children will
achieve to high standards. In designing their teacher training,
recruitment, retention, and professional development activities,
States and local districts must incorporate scientifically
based strategies that have been shown to increase student
academic achievement. States, districts and schools are also
required to establish annual measurable objectives to ensure
that they make progress each year in meeting the highly qualified
teacher challenge. Title II, Part A replaced the Eisenhower
Professional Development and the Class-Size Reduction programs.
The Eisenhower program focused on professional development
in mathematics and science, while Title II, Part A can support
teacher professional development across all core academic
subjects.
•
Allocations of Funds to Districts
After the State Department
of Education receives notification of the State’s grant
amount from the US Department of Education, districts are
notified of their district allocation. School districts must
target funds to schools that (1) have the lowest proportion
of highly qualified teachers, (2) have the largest average
class size, or (3) are identified for school improvement under
Section 1116(b) of Title I, Part A [Section 2122 (b)(3)].
Title
II, Part A funds provides the Aiken County School District
with flexibility to use these funds creatively to address
challenges to teacher quality, whether they concern teacher
preparation and qualifications of new teachers, recruitment
and hiring, induction, professional development, teacher retention,
or the need for more capable principals and assistant principals
to serve as effective school leaders.
•
Development of Title II Plan
Each fiscal year, the
Aiken County School District may receive a Title II, Part
A sub-grant by submitting to the State Department of Education
a consolidated application consisting of a local needs assessment,
the activities that the district will carry out with program
funds, including the professional development provided to
teachers and principals and how these activities will align
with challenging State academic content standards, student
academic achievement standards, State assessments, and the
curricula and programs tied to those standards.
The
Aiken County School District Office of Federal Programs conducts
a needs assessment with the assistance of a Title II Constituency
Committee, comprised of a mixture of private, public, and
charter school teachers, administrators, district staff, student
services program staff, paraprofessionals, and community representatives.
This committee provides input with regard to the needs assessment
and proposed activities for the Title II plan. The purpose
of the needs assessment is to identify local needs for professional
development and hiring, as identified by the district and
school staff. In particular, the school district conducts
the needs assessment to determine the activities and professional
development that are necessary to ensure a highly qualified
teaching force. In developing the plan, school district/special
school administrators, teachers, other school staff, and participating
charter and private schools work together to examine all activities
and professional development to be considered in the Title
II grant application.
• Allowable Expenditures
of Title II Funds at District Level
The Title II, Part A
program offers flexibility to design and implement a wide
variety of activities that can promote a teaching staff that
is highly qualified. Funds can also be used to provide school
principals with the knowledge and skills necessary to lead
their school’s efforts in increasing student academic
achievement. The Title II grant specifically authorizes the
following types of activities:
-
Developing and implementing
strategies to recruit, hire, and retain highly qualified
teachers and principals. These strategies may include
(a) providing monetary incentives such as scholarships,
signing bonuses, or differential pay for teachers in
academic subjects or schools in which the district has
shortages; (b) reducing class size; (c) recruiting teachers
to teach special needs children; and (d) recruiting
qualified paraprofessionals and teachers from populations
underrepresented in the teaching profession, and providing
those paraprofessionals with alternative routes to obtaining
teacher certification.
-
Providing professional development activities that
improve the knowledge of teachers, principals, and paraprofessionals
in content and classroom practices and instructional
practices that address the needs of students with different
learning styles, particularly students with disabilities;
students with special needs ( including students who
are gifted and talented), and students with limited
English proficiency.
-
Purchasing supplies or instructional materials that
are used as part of professional development activities.
Title II, Part A, does not permit the use of program
funds to purchase instructional materials and supplies
that, although may benefit students, are not directly
connected to the teachers’ professional development.
-
Developing and implementing initiatives to promote
retention of highly qualified teachers and principals,
and support for new teachers and principals during their
first three years.
-
Carrying out programs and activities that are designed
to improve the quality of the teaching force, such as
professional development programs that focus on technology,
literacy and integration.
-
Carrying out professional development programs that
are designed to improve the quality of principals and
superintendents, including the development and support
of academies to help them become outstanding managers
and educational leaders.
-
Hiring highly qualified teachers, including teachers
who become highly qualified through State and local
alternative routes to certification, and special education
teachers, in order to reduce class size, particularly
in the early grades.
-
Carrying out teacher advancement initiatives that promote
professional growth and emphasize multiple career paths
(such as paths to become a mentor teacher).
-
Administering rigorous State tests required of new
teachers and current teachers to determine whether they
have subject matter competence, and to assist them in
meeting State certification requirements by paying for
the costs of additional required courses.
-
Paying salaries for teachers
hired for the purpose of reducing class size. Title
II funds can also be used for teacher incentives or
to pay the salaries of master teachers who provide or
coordinate professional development services for other
teachers.
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