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 Teacher Quality Enhancement Grant program. Current guidance documents are available at http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/leg/recovery/programs.html.

Release of Funds: These funds will become available for use during Phase 2.

Readiness to Pursue Steps

• Create a partnership between state education agency (SEA), state agency for higher education (SAHE), and institutes of higher education (IHE) staff.
• Estimate the cost of programs.
• Develop a plan to identify funding sources beyond ARRA for sustainability.

Promising Practices

• Conduct a review of current licensure standards and requirements with stakeholders to determine which exist as artificial barriers to allowing high-quality candidates to enter the profession and revise the licensure system based on that review.
• Encourage and support teacher preparation programs that utilize a variety of pedagogical approaches to develop teacher candidates' knowledge and expertise. Examples include the following:
  • Case study methods
  • Practitioner research
  • Video and hypermedia materials
  • Laboratory experiences
  • Logs, journals, diaries, reflective reports, and/or autobiographical sketches
• Encourage and support teacher preparation programs that provide clinical experiences for teachers to help candidates make connections between theory and practice. For more information on using clinical experiences in teacher preparation, see Teaching as a Clinical Practice Profession: Implications for Teacher Preparation and State Policy.
• Require programs to actively recruit teachers from diverse backgrounds.
• Aid programs in establishing clinical education settings in high-needs schools with students from diverse backgrounds.
• Ensure that programs utilize assessments of candidate work (e.g., portfolios, student work samples) that provide evidence that teacher candidates are capable of implementing differentiated instruction.
• Support programs that offer training in multicultural awareness.
• Encourage collaboration between general education and special education programs.
• Ensure that assessments utilized for certification and licensure are reflective of the content knowledge and pedagogical skills deemed essential for beginning teachers.
• Require teacher candidates to demonstrate content knowledge as well as proficiency in the use of a range of pedagogical tools to convey content and curriculum.
• Make entry requirements for teacher preparation programs more selective and rigorous.
  • Set competitive minimum grade point average (GPA) requirements for all potential teacher preparation candidates entering a program.
  • Ensure that all teacher preparation candidates have the dispositions necessary to be high-quality and highly effective teachers.

Intersects With: Induction and Professional Development

Funding Stream: All examples provided below may be supported using funds made available through the Teacher Quality Enhancement Grant program. Current guidance documents are available at http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/leg/recovery/programs.html.

Release of Funds: These funds will become available for use during Phase 2.

Readiness to Pursue Steps

• Create a partnership between SEA, SAHE, and IHE staff. Make sure to include staff from the SEA information technology department.
• Through the working group, determine the capacity of the current data collection system, what information needs to be collected, and how to reform the data system.
• Develop a plan for reforming the data collection system in the state and how the stakeholder groups can collaborate on the project.
• Estimate the cost of programs.
• Develop a plan to identify funding sources beyond ARRA for sustainability.

Promising Practices

• Promote statewide teacher preparation report activities through the linkage of K–12 and higher education institutions to stimulate systemic policy and practice changes in such areas as teacher preparation, certification and licensing, and practice.
• Encourage programs to be responsive to district needs, paying particular attention to the specific subject areas in which teachers are needed most.
• Direct resources and support legislation to aid districts and universities in establishing "grow-your-own" programs that match the needs of the district with the subject-area preparation of teachers.
• Require preparation programs to provide data that demonstrate teacher candidate preparedness, such as follow-up studies of program graduates and corresponding administrators, performance assessments, and portfolio evaluations.

Funding Stream: All examples provided below may be supported using funds made available through the Teacher Quality Enhancement Grant program and the Enhancing Education Through Technology State Grant program. Current guidance documents are available online at http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/leg/recovery/programs.html.

Release of Funds: These funds will become available for use during Phase 2.

Readiness to Pursue Steps

• Create a partnership between SEA, SAHE, and IHE staff. Make sure to include other relevant stakeholders.
• Through a working group, determine where there are gaps in teacher preparation.
• Develop a plan for reforming teacher preparation in the state that aligns with SEA needs.
• Estimate the cost of programs.
• Develop a plan to identify funding sources beyond ARRA for sustainability.

Promising Practices

• Support induction and professional development programs that are designed to improve the use of technology in schools.
• Provide funding to teacher preparation programs that provide coursework in the use of technology as an instructional aid.
• Require technology coursework for certification and licensure.

Timing and Requirements for ARRA Funding

Teacher Quality Enhancement Grants

• On July 1, 2009, the president signed into law H.R. 1777, which makes corrections and other changes to the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended. Included in this act are technical corrections to the Teacher Quality Partnership Grant Program. The technical corrections include the following:
  • Allowing fifth-year initial licensing programs to be eligible to apply along with prebaccalaureate programs under the Pre-Baccalaureate Program Absolute Priority #1
  • Extending the requirement to acquire a master’s degree from one year to 18 months after beginning the Teaching Residency Program (Absolute Priority #2)
• Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: September 21, 2009
• Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: July 23, 2009
• Deadline for Notice of Intent to Apply: June 26, 2009