Using ARRA Funds to Improve Teacher Effectiveness and Equitable Distribution: An Interactive Mapping Tool

Funding Stream: All examples provided below may be supported using funds made available through the Title I, Part A, and State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF) programs. To the extent consistent with program requirements, districts and schools also may use SFSF funds for approved activities under Title I and IDEA, Part B, funds to support these or similar strategies and are encouraged to do so. The U.S. Department of Education will supplement these examples over time with ideas about best practices from schools throughout the nation. Current guidance documents are available for Title I, Part A, and the SFSF program at http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/leg/recovery/programs.html.

Release of Funds: These funds are available during Phases 1 and 2.

Readiness to Pursue Steps

• Review current hiring policies and procedures.

Promising Practices

Although teacher hiring generally occurs at the local level, there are several ways that states can support districts in reforming their hiring practices:

• Streamline the application process using technology (e.g., a statewide online teacher recruitment system).
• Ensure that any state-sanctioned recruitment or hiring process allows for and facilitates information sharing between districts and applicants.
• Create policy that requires districts to implement early hiring timelines.
• Support districts in implementing new hiring timelines.

Timing and Requirements for ARRA Funding

Title I

• In the second phase of Title I ARRA funds were scheduled for distribution on September 30, 2009. On Monday, August 3, 2009, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) issued a press release announcing that the release of the second half of these funds will accelerate to “on or around September 1, 2009.”
• The Title I fact sheet issued on April 1, 2009, stated that “In order to receive the remaining Title I, Part A ARRA funds, a state must submit, for review and approval by the Department, additional information that addresses how the state will meet the accountability and reporting requirements in section 1512 of the ARRA.” At the Title I directors meeting held the last week in July, however, ED announced that no additional information would be required to receive the second half of the Title I ARRA funds.

SFSF

• On July 29, 2009, a notice of proposed requirements, definitions, and approval criteria for the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund, Phase II, was published in the Federal Register. The deadline for comments on these draft materials is August 28, 2009.
• The metrics by which ED will monitor state progress are contained in these documents and identified as “assurance indicators and descriptors.” ED also published a table that indicates, for each reporting item, whether the state is required to provide new information or if it is already being reporting to ED.