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show me the money!
making effective use of the nclb funding available to schools and districts
What information in the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation is important for writing project leadership teams to know as they develop inservice, outreach, and partnership programs? What information should writing project leaders have in hand as they negotiate inservice and partnership contracts with school and district administrators? What follows here, in a question and answer format, is that essential information, accompanied by excerpts from the legislation itself.
A. Are there links between the NCLB legislation and the National Writing Project (NWP)?
What is most important to know first is that NWP is specifically named and authorized in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act—otherwise known as No Child Left Behind— in NCLB, Subpart 2. The appropriation itself, or the funding for NWP, is chaptered in Title II. Also important to note is that the NWP professional development model is named and described on the U.S. Department of Education website.
"AUTHORIZATION- The Secretary is authorized to award a grant to the National Writing Project, a nonprofit educational organization that has as its primary purpose the improvement of the quality of student writing and learning (hereafter in this section referred to as the ‘grantee') to improve the teaching of writing and the use of writing as a part of the learning process in our Nation's classrooms.” (Sec. 2332. National Writing Project.)
For more information about the authorization of NWP, link to http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/pg30.html#sec2332.
For a description of the NWP Core Program—invitational institute, continuity, inservice, and partnerships— link to http://www.ed.gov/programs/writing/core.html.
B. Why is it important that NWP is named as a federally funded program in Title II?
Title II is the section of the NCLB legislation that specifically addresses the requirements for NCLB-funded professional development. Titled Preparing, Training, and Recruiting High Quality Teachers, Administrators and Paraprofessionals, Title II includes requirements for the focus, content, duration, and audience for professional development. Schools and districts write an annual plan for uses of NCLB funding, including for the funding that is available in Title II. As a part of that plan, schools and districts must name the professional development activities they will provide their teachers through contracts with or grants from NLCB Federal programs. Because NWP is named as a Federal program, administrators can contract with writing projects with the confidence that NWP sites are authorized professional development providers. Note the following excerpt from NCLB:
Schools and districts must provide “a description of how the local educational agency will coordinate professional development activities authorized under this subpart with professional development activities provided through other Federal, State, and local programs.” (Sec. 2122. Local Applications and Needs Assessment.)
C. What funds, from programs authorized in No Child Left Behind, can schools and districts use to support inservice and partnership contracts with writing projects?
Key programs authorized in NCLB provide funds that can be used to fund professional development. These include, but are not limited to:
Title I, Part A, requires that “schools and districts use at least five percent (5%) of their Title I funds for professional development activities to ensure that teachers who are not currently highly qualified meet that standard by the end of the 2005-06 school year [Section 1119(1)]. In addition, any school identified as in need of improvement for failing to make adequate yearly progress must spend ten percent (10%) of its Title I, Part A funds on professional development, including teacher mentoring programs” [Section 1116(c)(7)(A)(iii)].
Title II, Part A, helps states and school districts ensure that all students have effective teachers by providing funds for helping teachers meet the NCLB teacher requirements. NCLB law cites that funds may be used for “providing assistance to teachers to enable them to meet certification, licensing, or other requirements needed to become highly qualified…” (Section 2113).
Permissible Title II, Part A, activities include, but are not limited to, “various forms of high quality, scientifically-based, professional development in subject matter knowledge, improving teaching skills, assisting teachers to use state academic content standards and student achievement standards, and state assessments to improve student achievement. Schools have considerable discretion in the use of Title II, Part A, funds.”
Title II, Part B, the Mathematics and Science Partnerships program, provides “funding to the State Education Agency (SEA) to competitively establish Institutions of Higher Education-LEA partnerships to enhance teacher subject-matter knowledge and the quality of teaching in mathematics and science”[Section 2201(a)]. Although this category seems to exclude writing projects, many of these school-university partnerships include a writing to learn component, which can be subcontracted with writing projects.
Title II, Part C, the “innovative” programs section of NCLB includes the Troops-to-Teachers and Transition to Teaching programs and supports “efforts to help school districts hire, train, and retain individuals from other careers and backgrounds as teachers in high-need schools”[Sections 2303 and 2313]. Although this category also seems to exclude writing projects, school districts may contract with writing projects for writing and literacy programs that prepare individuals to transition into teaching.
Again, Title II, Part C also includes the National Writing Project.
Title II, Part D, the Enhancing Education Through Technology program, under which “each local recipient of funds must use at least 25 percent (25%) of those funds for ongoing, sustained, and high-quality professional development on the integration of advanced technologies into curriculum and instruction and on the use of those technologies to create new learning environments” [Section 2415(a)].
Title III, Part A, authorizes schools and districts to use formula grant funds for professional development of teachers providing instruction to “students needing English language acquisition and language enhancement” [Section 3111(a)(2)(A)].
Title V, Part A, authorizes schools and districts to use formula grant funds to provide “professional development activities carried out in accordance with Title II, Part A, as well as to recruit, train, and hire highly qualified teachers to reduce class size” [Section 5131(a)(1)].
Title VII, Part A, authorizes schools and districts to use formula grant funds for professional development focused on improving the instruction of Native American students.
D. What types of professional development activities are authorized under NCLB for improving teacher quality?
Title II, Part A specifically authorizes use of funds for the following activities related to improving teacher quality (note those in bold type because they are programs writing projects can and do provide):
- Signing and retention bonuses and differential pay for NCLB qualified teachers
- Bonuses and reimbursement for coursework for teacher certification in areas of high need, i.e., math, science, special education, English language learners
- Bonuses and reimbursement for coursework for advanced degrees or certification (National Board Certification)
- Merit pay linked to measurable increases in student academic achievement
- Paraprofessional training toward teacher certification
- High quality professional development and training in core content knowledge; effective instructional strategies, methods and skills required to meet the NCLB Teacher Requirements
- High quality professional development in use of challenging State academic content standards and student academic achievement standards in preparing students for the state assessments
- Training in use of technology instruction and analyzing achievement data
- Teacher mentoring, induction and support programs for new teachers
- Implementation of approved alternative teacher credential certification and internship programs
- Teacher salaries for class size reduction
E. How can writing projects distill NCLB funding information and make use of it in project brochures and on project websites?
The California Writing Project includes the following information in its materials and on its website at http://californiawritingproject.org/Administrators/cwp_support.html.
As affiliates of the National Writing Project, the seventeen sites of the California Writing Project are: authorized under NCLB, Title II, Part C as providers of standards-aligned professional development for teachers and administrators; professional development and mentoring programs for Title I schools and teachers.
Title II, Part A – professional development for helping teachers meet NCLB teacher requirements.
Title II, Part A – professional development in subject-matter knowledge, improving teaching skills, assisting teachers to use California’s academic content standards and student achievement standards, and state assessments to improve student achievement.
Title II, Part D – professional development focused on enhancing education through technology
Title III, Part A – professional development focused on improving instruction for English learners
Title VII, Part A – professional development focused on improving the instruction of Native American students.
Download the Western Massachusetts Writing Project’s brochure for administrators, Quality Professional Development for Massachusetts Educators, by linking to http://www.umass.edu/wmwp/administrators.html