Title II, Part A:
Teacher Quality
The Improving Teacher Quality State Grants program increases Student achievement by elevating teacher and principal quality through recruitment, hiring, and retention strategies.
Title II, Part A, created from the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation of 1992, places major emphasis on teacher quality as a factor in increasing student achievement in academic areas and is based on the principals of increased flexibility, local control, and stronger accountability at all levels. The program uses scientifically based professional development interventions and holds districts and schools accountable for improvements in student academic performance. This program was created because research shows that teacher quality is correlated with student academic achievement (Sanders and Rivers, 1996). Because each community may face a variety of challenges with respect to teacher quality, this program allows funds to be used for a wide array of interventions.
State grants are provided to:
- increase student academic achievement through strategies such as improving teacher and principal quality and increasing the number of highly qualified teachers in the classroom and highly qualified principals and assistant principals in schools;
- hold local educational agencies and schools accountable for improvements in student acdemic achievement.
In exchange for receiving funds, agencies are held accountable to the public for improvements in academic achievement. Title II, Part A provides these agencies the 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.