Title II, Part A: Teachers and Principals Training and Recruiting Fund

Title II, Part A is intended to increase student academic achievement by improving teacher and principal quality. This includes increasing the number of Highly Qualified teachers in classrooms, improving the skills of principals and assistant principals in schools, and increasing the effectiveness of teachers and principals.

Allowable Activities

Recruiting, Hiring, and Retaining Highly Qualified Teachers and Principals
Programs and activities designed to improve the quality of the teaching force
Teacher advancement initiatives that emphasize multiple career paths and pay differentiation.
Professional development activities that improve the knowledge of teachers, principals and superintendents
Hiring Highly Qualified teachers to reduce class size

Program Requirements

LEAs must conduct an assessment of local needs for professional development and hiring. There should be a clear connection between identified needs and Title IIA activities.
Title II-A Activities must be 1) aligned with state standards; 2) based on a review of research; and 3) designed to have a substantial, measurable, and positive impact on student achievement.
LEAs must target funds to schools that 1) have the lowest proportion of HQ teachers; 2) have the largest average class size; or 3) are identified for school improvement.
LEAs must develop a PD plan that addresses the needs of teachers and principals.
LEAs must ensure that all professional development activities are coordinated with other federal, state, and locally funded PD.
LEAs must ensure that teachers, paraprofessionals, principals, other relevant school personnel, and parents collaborate in the planning of II-A activities.
LEA shall use Title II-A funds to get core content teachers and Title I paras HQ, if necessary.

Title IIA Program Requirements and Overview - pdf

Mandates and Sanctions

LEAs accredited with a Priority Improvement or Turnaround Plan must enter into a financial agreement with the LEA on its use of Title IIA program funds. Title IIA funds should support professional development strategies the district will use to address its Priority Performance Challenges and Major Improvement Strategies. Identified districts must develop plans using the Unified Improvement Plan template and Title IIA addendum.

Title IIA Addendum
Unified Improvement Planning

Equitable Distribution of Teachers

LEAs must examine and address the issue that less experienced and qualified teachers are more likely assigned to teach poor and minority students. Equitable Distribution of Teacher (EDT) displays are available on SchoolView to assist with this analysis. The display enables users to examine the distribution of staff within a district by student (i.e., poverty, minority) and staff (i.e., teacher experience, Highly Qualified status) variables. The display also incorporates student growth ratings, recognizing that data on teacher qualifications and experience, without an examination of school performance, can have limited utility for understanding the impact of teacher equity gaps on student learning.

Detailed Directions for accessing EDT Display on SchoolView - pdf

How to analyze the Schoolview EDT display - pdf

Evaluation

The Federal Programs Unit is proud to release its state level Title IIA evaluation summary. CDE, in partnership with OMNI Research, Inc, conducted a state-wide assessment of Title II, Part A activities. The main focus of the study was to examine districts’ spending patterns with their Title IIA funds. In comparing early spending patterns (2003-04) with more recent patterns (2008-09), CDE was able to confirm that many districts did shift their budgets as encouraged. More than half of the available Title IIA dollars are invested in professional development (e.g., coaching, mentoring, ongoing training).

Colorado Title II, Part A Evaluation Summary: Trends in IIA Funded Activities - pdf

Legislation and Guidance

Title II, Part A Legislation

USDE Title II, Part A Non-regulatory Guidance - pdf

Non-public School Guidance - pdf

Equitable Services to Nonpublic School Students - pdf

Equitable Services to Nonpublic School Students - Frequently Asked Questions - pdf

CDE’s Highly Qualified Teacher Plan (Approved by USDE - November 2006)

Amendments to State Plan (Approved by USDE - January 2009) -pdf

Amendments to State Plan (Approved by USDE - July 2012) - pdf

High Quality Professional Development

The term professional development includes activities that:

Improve and increase teachers' knowledge of the subjects they teach and enable teachers to become Highly Qualified
Are an integral part of broad schoolwide and districtwide educational improvement plans
Are high quality, sustained, intensive, and classroom-focused
Are not 1-day or short-term workshops or conferences
Advance teacher understanding of effective instructional strategies that are based on scientifically based research

Full NCLB definition of high-quality professional development