Title II, Part A Requirements and Information

Purpose
Allowed Activities
Local Activities
Proper Use of Funds
Carryover
Budget Revision
Monitoring
High Quality Professional Development
Scientifically Based Research
Highly Qualified Teachers
Core Academic Subjects
Student Achievement
Serving Non-Public Schools
Coordination with Title II, Part D, and Title I, Part A
Evaluation
Supplement, not Supplant

PURPOSE: To increase student academic achievement by

Improving teacher and principal quality,
Increasing the number of highly qualified teachers in the classroom, and
Increasing the number of highly qualified principals and assistant principals in schools.

ALLOWED ACTIVITIES:

Providing professional development activities that improve the knowledge of teachers, principals, and paraprofessionals.
Developing and implementing initiatives to promote retention of highly qualified teachers and principals, particularly within schools with a high percentage of low-achieving students, and initiatives, including activities related to PI 34, to improve the quality of teachers, principals, and superintendents.
Staff advancement initiatives that promote professional growth and emphasize multiple career and pay differentiation, including activities related to PI 34.
Developing and implementing mechanisms and initiatives to assist in recruiting, hiring and retaining highly qualified teachers, principals, and pupil services personnel.

LOCAL ACTIVITIES must be:

Based upon a needs assessment (please refer to your 5-Year Comprehensive Educational Plan);
Based upon scientifically-based research;
Aligned to Wisconsin's content and performance standards;
Targeted to low-performing students, schools in need of improvement, and teachers who are not highly qualified; and
Improve student achievement in each sub-group.

A committee composed of teachers, paraprofessionals, principals, other relevant school personnel, and parents must design local activities. This committee includes representatives from each school in the district, each core content area, at least one Title I teacher, a principal, other relevant school personnel, and parents. When designing local activities, the committee must:

Look at the data committed to in the application,
Identify the greatest need in student achievement or teacher content or practice, and
Look for inequities and design objectives.

Please note that Title II-A does not provide educational materials, nor direct services to students. All activities must be coordinated with other ESEA titles and program plans for improvement.

Proper Use of Funds: A committee composed of teachers, principals, parents, and other relevant personnel must analyze school data to determine district needs for which these funds will be used. Title II, Part A funds may be used for:

Professional Development may be offered in:

Core academic subject(s) to which the teacher is assigned
Improving teaching practices
Using challenging state standards
Teaching and addressing the needs of students with different learning styles, particularly students with different learning needs (including gifted and talented) and students with limited English proficiency
Improving student behavior in the classroom and identifying early and appropriate interventions to help students with different learning styles
Involving parents in their child's education
Understanding and using data and assessments to improve classroom practice and student learning
Implementing the provision of PI 34

Professional development plan must be:

Based on district needs assessment (long-term Comprehensive Educational Plan)
Used to improve classroom practice
Designed to raise student achievement
Targeted to low-achieving students, teachers, and schools
Classroom-focused to improve classroom instruction and student achievement
High quality
Sustained
Intensive
Job-embedded
Not isolated one-day workshops or conferences

Reduction of Class Size:

Highly qualified teachers may be hired to reduce class size, particularly in the early grades.
This reduction must increase student achievement.

Recruitment of Highly Qualified Teachers:

Bonuses and other financial incentives to recruit highly qualified teachers in:

Core academic subjects and/or schools in which a shortage of highly qualified teachers exist.

Retention of Highly Qualified Teachers:

TEACHERS

The teacher must be highly qualified and have an existing record of helping low-achieving students improve academic achievement.
Salaries may be paid to reduce the class size.

PRINCIPALS

The principal must have an existing record of helping all students achieve, particularly of low-income, minority groups, and those with disabilities.
No salaries may be paid.
No raises may be given to all or selected staff.

Carryover: Although LEAs are allowed to carryover their entire current year's allocation for one additional year, it is recommended that LEAs use the funds to provide high quality professional development in all core academic areas.

Budget Revision: Budget revisions are allowed during the current year to allow LEAs to modify plans and align the budget according to the new changes in the plan. Approved budget items are compared to these reported in any claims before being cleared; therefore, it is essential to revise the budget whenever there are any changes in the plan. To revise the budget, please email Eyvonne Crawford-Gray at eyvonne.crawford-gray@dpi.wi.gov or call her at (608) 267-3155.

Monitoring: DPI has oversight and monitoring responsibilities to review compliance with the provisions of Title II, Part A. The process will include on-site reviews. The monitoring manual can be found at http://dpi.wi.gov/esea/doc/monitoring.doc.

HIGH-QUALITY PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: The term "high quality professional development" means professional development that meets the criteria outlined in the definition of professional development in Title IX, section 9101(34) of ESEA. This definition is provided below:

The term "professional development" includes activities that:

improve and increase teachers' knowledge of the academic subjects the teachers teach, and enable teachers to become highly qualified through the implementation of PI 34;
are an integral part of broad schoolwide and districtwide educational improvement plans;
give teachers, principals, and administrators the knowledge and skills to provide students with the opportunity to meet challenging state academic content standards and student academic achievement standards;
improve classroom management skills;
are high quality, sustained, intensive, and classroom-focused in order to have a positive and lasting impact on classroom instruction and the teacher's performance in the classroom and are not one-day or short-term workshops or conferences;
support the recruiting, hiring, and training of highly qualified teachers, including teachers who become highly qualified through state and local alternative routes to certification;
advance teacher understanding of effective instructional strategies that are;

based on scientifically based research (except that this subclause shall not apply to activities carried out under Title II, Part D);
strategies for improving student academic achievement or substantially increasing the knowledge and teaching skills of teachers; and

are aligned with and directly related to:

State academic content standards, student academic achievement standards, and assessments; and
the curricula and programs tied to the standards described in subclause (a) [except that this subclause shall not apply to activities described in clauses (ii) and (iii) of section 2123(3)(B)];

are developed with extensive participation of teachers, principals, parents, and administrators of schools to be served under this act;
are designed to give teachers of limited English proficient children, and other teachers and instructional staff, the knowledge and skills to provide instruction and appropriate language and academic support services to those children, including the appropriate use of curricula and assessments;
provide training, to the extent appropriate, for teachers and principals in the use of technology so that technology and technology applications are effectively used in the classroom to improve teaching and learning in the curricula and core academic subjects in which the teachers teach;
are regularly evaluated, as a whole, for their impact on increased teacher effectiveness and improved student academic achievement, with the findings of the evaluations used to improve the quality of professional development;
provide instruction in methods of teaching children with special needs;
include instruction in the use of data and assessments to inform and instruct classroom practice; and
include instruction in ways that teachers, principals, pupil services personnel, and school administrators may work more effectively with parents.

Professional Development may include activities that:

involve the forming of partnerships with institutions of higher education to establish school-based teacher training programs that provide prospective teachers and beginning teachers with an opportunity to work under the guidance of experienced teachers and college faculty;
create programs to enable paraprofessionals (assisting teachers employed by a local educational agency receiving assistance under Part A of Title I) to obtain the education necessary for those paraprofessionals to become certified and licensed teachers; and
provide follow-up training to teachers who have participated in activities described in subparagraph (A) or another clause of this subparagraph that is designed to ensure that the knowledge and skills learned by the teachers are implemented in the classroom [Title IX, Part A, section 9101(34)].

SCIENTIFICALLY BASED RESEARCH:

The term "scientifically based research":

is research that involves the application of rigorous, systematic, and objective procedures to obtain reliable and valid knowledge relevant to education activities and programs; and
includes research that:

employs systematic, empirical methods that draw on observation or experiment;
involves rigorous data analyses that are adequate to test the stated hypotheses and justify the general conclusions drawn;
relies on measurements or observational methods that provide reliable and valid data across evaluators and observers, across multiple measurements and observations, and across studies by the same or different investigators;
is evaluated using experimental or quasi-experimental designs in which individuals, entities, programs, or activities are assigned to different conditions and with appropriate controls to evaluate the effects of the condition of interest, with a preference for random-assignment experiments, or other designs to the extent that those designs contain within-condition or across-condition controls;
ensures that experimental studies are presented in sufficient detail and clarity to allow for replication or, at a minimum, offer the opportunity to build systematically on their findings; and
has been accepted by a peer-reviewed journal or approved by a panel of independent experts through a comparably rigorous, objective, and scientific review [Title IX, Part A, section 9101(37)].

HIGHLY QUALIFIED TEACHER: A highly qualified teacher is defined in Title IX, Part A, Section 23 as one who holds at least a bachelor's degree, is fully certified, and demonstrates content knowledge in their teaching area.

CORE ACADEMIC SUBJECTS: Core academic subjects are English, reading or language arts, mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, arts, history, and geography [ESEA Title IX, Part A, Section 9101 Definitions, (11)].

STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT: Student achievement refers not only to the average achievement for the school, but to improvement of achievement in each subgroup. The purpose is to close the achievement gap between the lowest performing students and the best students.

SERVING NONPUBLIC SCHOOLS: All districts must invite nonpublic schools within their boundaries to participate in professional development activities. Nonpublic schools cannot participate in any other Title II-A activities.

COORDINATION WITH TITLE II, PART D AND TITLE I, PART A: If the district is eligible for Title II, Part D and/or Title I, Part A: Title II, Part A funds for professional development may be coordinated with Title II, Part D for professional development to integrate technology into instruction. Title II, Part A funds may be used to meet the requirements of Section 1119 of Title I, Part A.

EVALUATION: Any activity funded with ESEA funds must result in a measurable increase in student achievement. Students in all sub-groups must increase their achievement, not just the average for a school, subject, or grade level. Districts must use Title II, Part A funds to raise the achievement of the lowest performing students, teachers, and schools. Therefore, all LEAs are required to develop an evaluation plan which should use any research-based method such as experimental designs or quasi-experimental designs.

SUPPLEMENT, NOT SUPPLANT: Any activity funded with federal funds must supplement, not supplant, district responsibility.

For questions about this information, contact Abdallah A. Bendada (608) 267-9270

Last updated on 2/25/2008 1:42:57 PM

General Information