Title II Part A - Improving Teacher Quality
Title II-A funds are intended to recruit, prepare, induct, continually train, and retain professionally qualified teachers and paraprofessionals in public schools. The major emphasis is to improve instruction to students by providing high-quality instructional staff.
Current legislation focuses on preparing, recruiting, and on-going training of high-quality paraprofessionals, teachers, and principals. Title II-A requires states to develop plans with annual measurable objectives that will ensure all teachers who teach core academic subjects are professionally-qualified. The Title II-A Handbook: A Guide for Advancing Teacher Quality in Georgia Schools is available at the Georgia Professional Standards Commission (PSC) website.
What is the source of the funding?
Federal funds are authorized through Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
Are there special guidelines?
Title II-A funds must be spent for preparation, recruitment, training, and retention of professionally qualified teachers, paraprofessionals, administrators, and principals. Each local educational facility receiving Title II-A funds must have a written plan which is approved by the Georgia Professional Standards Commission and Georgia Department of Education Title II, Part A staff.
How much funding does DCS receive?
The amount of funding available to each school district is dependent upon the size of the system (number of instructional staff which depends on the number of students served). The funding is used to recruit, train, and retain professionally qualified staff to provide high-quality, engaging work for students which will result in profound learning for students in Dade County Schools.
Who benefits from the funding?
All students are impacted by Title II-A funds. These dollars help DCS maintain high-quality staff with ongoing training and to attract new staff members who are professionally qualified and focused on students.
DCS uses funds to support new teachers with high-quality teacher training programs, to pay content-area test fees for educators to upgrade certification meeting our students needs, to provide professional learning in the Georgia Performance Standards, academic content area strategies, differentiation of instruction through working on the work to help teachers provide engaging learning experiences for all students, leadership training for teachers and administrators, and numerous other professional learning opportunities to provide high-quality instruction to students.