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Testimony: 

Before the Subcommittee on Higher Education, Lifelong Learning, and 
Competitiveness, Committee on Education and Labor, House of 
Representatives: 

United States Government Accountability Office: 

GAO: 

For Release on Delivery Expected at 10:00 a.m. EDT: 

Thursday, May 17, 2007: 

Teacher Quality: 

Approaches, Implementation, and Evaluation of Key Federal Efforts: 

Statement of George A. Scott, Director Education, Workforce, and Income 
Security Issues: 

GAO-07-861T: 

GAO Highlights: 

Highlights of GAO-07-861T, a testimony before the Subcommittee on 
Higher Education, Lifelong Learning, and Competitiveness, Committee on 
Education and Labor, House of Representatives 

Why GAO Did This Study: 

Teachers are the single largest resource in our nation’s elementary and 
secondary education system. However, according to recent research, many 
teachers lack competency in the subjects they teach. In addition, 
research shows that most teacher training programs leave new teachers 
feeling unprepared for the classroom. 

While the hiring and training of teachers is primarily the 
responsibility of state and local governments and institutions of 
higher education, the federal investment in enhancing teacher quality 
is substantial and growing. In 1998, the Congress amended the Higher 
Education Act (HEA) to enhance the quality of teaching in the classroom 
and in 2001 the Congress passed the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA), 
which established federal requirements that all teachers of core 
academic subjects be highly qualified. 

This testimony focuses on
(1) approaches used in teacher quality programs under HEA and NCLBA, 
(2) the allowable activities under these acts and how recipients are 
using the funds, and (3) how Education supports and evaluates these 
activities. 

This testimony is based on prior GAO reports. We updated information 
where appropriate. 

What GAO Found: 

While the overall goal of Title II in both HEA and NCLBA is to improve 
teacher quality, some of their specific approaches differ. For example, 
a major focus of HEA provisions is on the training of prospective 
teachers while NCLBA provisions focus more on improving teacher quality 
in the classroom and hiring highly qualified teachers. Both laws use 
reporting mechanisms to increase accountability; however, HEA focuses 
more on institutions of higher education while NCLBA focuses on schools 
and districts. In addition, HEA and NCLBA grants are funded 
differently, with HEA funds distributed through one-time competitive 
grants, while Title II under NCLBA provides funds annually to all 
states through a formula. 

Both acts provide states, districts, or grantees with the flexibility 
to use funds for a broad range of activities to improve teacher 
quality, including many activities that are similar, such as 
professional development and recruitment. A difference is that NCLBA’s 
Title II specifies that teachers can be hired to reduce class-size 
while HEA does not specifically mention class-size reduction. Districts 
chose to spend about one-half of their NCLBA Title II funds on class-
size reduction in 2004-2005. On the other hand, professional 
development and recruitment efforts were the two broad areas where 
recipients used funds for similar activities, although the specific 
activities varied somewhat. Many HEA grantees we visited used their 
funds to fill teacher shortages in urban schools or recruit teachers 
from nontraditional sources, such as mid-career professionals. 
Districts we visited used NCLBA funds to provide bonuses, advertise 
open teaching positions, and attend recruitment events, among other 
activities. 

Under both HEA and NCLBA, Education has provided assistance and 
guidance to recipients of these funds and is responsible for holding 
recipients accountable for the quality of their activities. GAO’s 
previous work identified areas where Education could improve its 
assistance on teacher quality efforts and more effectively measure the 
results of these activities. Education has made progress in addressing 
GAO’s concerns by disseminating more information to recipients, 
particularly on teacher quality requirements, and improving how the 
department measures the results of teacher quality activities by 
establishing definitions and performance targets under HEA. 

While HEA and NCLBA share the goal of improving teacher quality, it is 
not clear the extent to which they complement each other. States, 
districts, schools, and grantees under both laws engage in similar 
activities. However, not much is known about how well, if at all, these 
two laws are aligned. Thus, there may be opportunities to better 
understand how the two laws are working together at the federal, state, 
and local level. 

[Hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-861T]. 

To view the full product, including the scope and methodology, click on 
the link above. For more information, contact George Scott, (202) 512-
5932, scottg@gao.gov. 

[End of section] 

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee: 

I am pleased to be here this morning to discuss the federal 
government's efforts to improve teacher quality. Teachers are the 
single largest resource in our nation's elementary and secondary 
education system. Approximately 3 million teachers are responsible for 
educating over 48 million students and they account for over one half 
of public school expenditures ($215 billion) each year. Research has 
shown that teachers play a significant role in improving student 
performance. However, research has also shown that many teachers-- 
especially those in high-poverty districts--lack competency in the 
subjects they teach and that most teacher training programs leave new 
teachers feeling unprepared for the classroom. 

While the hiring and training of teachers is primarily the 
responsibility of state and local governments and institutions of 
higher education, the federal investment in enhancing teacher quality 
is substantial and growing. In 1998, the Congress amended the Higher 
Education Act (HEA) to enhance the quality of teaching in the classroom 
by improving training programs for prospective teachers and the 
qualifications of current teachers. In 2001, the Congress passed the No 
Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA)--the most recent reauthorization of the 
Elementary and Secondary Education Act--which established federal 
requirements that all teachers of core academic subjects be highly 
qualified. In 2006, about $3 billion of federal funds were appropriated 
for NCLBA Title II and HEA Title II to address teacher quality. Given 
that NCLBA and HEA are both slated for reauthorization in 2007, this 
hearing presents a timely opportunity to explore teacher quality 
provisions covered under those laws. 

This statement focuses on the approaches, implementation, and 
evaluation of teacher quality programs under HEA and NCLBA. I will 
first provide information on the goals, approaches, and funding of 
these programs. Then I will discuss the allowable activities and how 
recipients are using the funds. Finally, I will summarize our findings 
related to Education's support and evaluation of these activities. 

My remarks today are drawn from previous GAO reports covering HEA 
teacher quality programs and Title II under NCLBA,[Footnote 1] 
supplemented with updated information. We updated information by 
interviewing state officials, officials from institutions of higher 
education, and Education officials. We also reviewed recent studies and 
Education documents. We conducted our work in accordance with generally 
accepted government auditing standards. 

In summary: 

* While the overall goal of Title II in both HEA and NCLBA is to 
improve teacher quality, some of the specific approaches differ. For 
example, HEA focuses more on training prospective teachers than NCLBA. 
In addition, HEA and NCLBA are funded differently, with HEA funds 
distributed through competitive grants, while Title II under NCLBA 
provides funds annually to all states through a formula. 

* Both acts provide states, districts, and grantees with the 
flexibility to use funds for a broad range of activities to improve 
teacher quality, including many activities that are similar, such as 
professional development and recruitment. A difference is that NCLBA's 
Title II specifies that teachers can be hired to reduce class size, 
while HEA does not specifically mention class-size reduction. With the 
broad range of activities allowed, we found both similarities and 
differences in the activities undertaken. 

* Under both HEA and NCLBA, Education has provided assistance and 
guidance to recipients of these funds and is responsible for holding 
recipients accountable for the quality of their activities. Our 
previous work identified areas in which Education could improve its 
assistance to states on their teacher quality efforts and more 
effectively measure the results of these activities. Education has made 
progress in addressing our concerns by disseminating more information 
to recipients particularly on teacher quality requirements and 
activities and improving how the department measures the results of 
teacher quality activities by, for example, establishing performance 
targets. 

Teacher Quality Provisions under HEA and NCLBA Have Somewhat Different 
Approaches and Are Funded Differently: 

While the overall goal of Title II under both HEA and NCLBA is to 
improve student achievement by improving the teacher workforce, some of 
the specific approaches differ. For example, a major focus of HEA 
provisions is on the training of prospective teachers (preservice 
training) while NCLBA provisions focus more on improving teacher 
quality in the classroom (in service training) and hiring highly 
qualified teachers. Also, both laws use reporting mechanisms to 
increase accountability. However, HEA focuses more on institutions of 
higher education while NCLBA focuses on schools and school districts. 
Additionally, HEA focuses on expanding the teacher workforce by 
supporting recruitment from other professions. 

In addition, HEA and NCLBA Title II funds are distributed differently. 
HEA teacher quality funds are disbursed through three distinct types of 
grants: state, partnership, and recruitment grants. State grants are 
available for states to implement activities to improve teacher quality 
in their states by enhancing teacher training efforts, while 
partnership grants support the collaborative efforts of teacher 
training programs and other eligible partners.[Footnote 2] Recruitment 
grants are available to states or partnerships for teacher recruitment 
activities. 

All three types of grants require a match from non-federal sources. For 
example, states receiving state grants must provide a matching amount 
in cash or in-kind support from non-federal sources equal to 50 percent 
of the amount of the federal grant.[Footnote 3] All three grants are 
one-time competitive grants; however, state and recruitment grants are 
for 3 years while partnership grants are for 5 years.[Footnote 4] HEA 
amendments in 1998 required that 45 percent of funds be distributed to 
state grants, 45 percent to partnership grants, and 10 percent to 
recruitment grants. As of April 2007, 52 of the 59 eligible entities 
(states, the District of Columbia, and 8 territories) had received 
state grants.[Footnote 5] Because the authorizing legislation 
specifically required that entities could only receive a state grant 
once, only seven would be eligible to receive future state grants. In 
our 2002 report, we suggested that if Congress decides to continue 
funding teacher quality grants in the upcoming reauthorization of HEA, 
it might want to clarify whether all 59 entities would be eligible for 
state grant funding under the reauthorization, or whether eligibility 
would be limited to only those states that have not previously received 
a state grant. We also suggested that if Congress decides to limit 
eligibility to entities that have not previously received a state 
grant, it may want to consider changing the 45 percent funding 
allocation for state grants. In a 2005 appropriation act, Congress 
waived the allocation requirement. In 2006, about 9 percent of funds 
were awarded for state grants, 59 percent for partnership grants, and 
33 percent for recruitment. When Congress reauthorizes HEA, it may want 
to further clarify eligibility and allocation requirements for this 
program. 

NCLBA, funded at a much higher level than HEA, provides funds to states 
through annual formula grants. In 2006, Congress appropriated $2.89 
billion through NCLBA and $59.9 million for HEA for teacher quality 
efforts.[Footnote 6] While federal funding for teacher initiatives was 
provided through two other programs prior to NCLBA, the act increased 
the level of funding to help states and districts implement the teacher 
qualification requirements. States and districts generally receive 
NCLBA Title II funds based on the amount they received in 2001, the 
percentage of children residing in the state or district, and the 
number of those children in low-income families. After reserving up to 
1 percent of the funds for administrative purposes, states pass 95 
percent of the remaining funds to the districts and retain the rest to 
support state-level teacher initiatives and to support NCLBA 
partnerships between higher education institutions and high-need 
districts that work to provide professional development to teachers. 

While there is no formula in NCLBA for how districts are to allocate 
funds to specific schools, the act requires states to ensure that 
districts target funds to those schools with the highest number of 
teachers who are not highly qualified, schools with the largest class 
sizes, or schools that have not met academic performance requirements 
for 2 or more consecutive years. In addition, districts applying for 
Title II funds from their states are required to conduct a districtwide 
needs assessment to identify their teacher quality needs. NCLBA also 
allows districts to transfer these funds to most other major NCLBA 
programs, such as those under Title I, to meet their educational 
priorities. [Footnote 7] 

Some HEA and NCLBA Funds Were Used for Similar Activities As Allowed 
under Both Acts: 

HEA provides grantees and NCLBA provides states and districts with the 
flexibility to use funds for a broad range of activities to improve 
teacher quality, including many activities that are similar under both 
acts. HEA funds can be used, among other activities, to reform teacher 
certification requirements, professional development activities, and 
recruitment efforts. In addition, HEA partnership grantees must use 
their funds to implement reforms to hold teacher preparation programs 
accountable for the quality of teachers leaving the program. Similarly, 
acceptable uses of NCLBA funds include teacher certification 
activities, professional development in a variety of core academic 
subjects, recruitment, and retention initiatives. In addition, 
activities carried out under NCLBA partnership grants are required to 
coordinate with any activities funded by HEA. Table 1 compares 
activities under HEA and NCLBA. 

Table 1: Examples of Activities under HEA Title II and NCLBA Title II: 

HEA: Reforming teacher certification or licensure requirements; 
NCLBA: Reforming teacher and principal certification or licensing 
requirements. 

HEA: Recruitment and retention; 
NCLBA: Recruitment and retention. 

HEA: Professional development; 
NCLBA: Professional development. 

HEA: Implement reforms within teacher preparation programs to hold the 
programs accountable for preparing highly competent teachers; 
NCLBA: Reforming tenure systems, implementing teacher testing for 
subject matter knowledge, and implementing teacher testing for State 
certification or licensing, consistent with Title II of HEA. 

HEA: Providing preservice clinical experience and mentoring; 
NCLBA: Hiring teachers to reduce class size. 

HEA: Disseminating information on effective practices; 
NCLBA: Developing systems to measure the effectiveness of specific 
professional development programs. 

HEA: Teacher education scholarships; 
NCLBA: Funding projects to promote reciprocity of teacher and principal 
certification or licensing between or among States. 

HEA: Follow-up services for new teachers; 
NCLBA: Support to teachers or principals. 

Source: GAO summary of HEA Title II and NCLBA Title II. 

[End of table] 

With the broad range of activities allowed under HEA and NCLBA, we 
found both similarities and differences in the activities undertaken. 
For example, districts chose to spend about one-half of their NCLBA 
Title II funds ($1.2 billion) in 2004-2005 on class-size reduction 
efforts, which is not an activity specified by HEA.[Footnote 8] We 
found that some districts focused their class-size reduction efforts on 
specific grades, depending on their needs. One district we visited 
focused its NCLBA-funded class-size reduction efforts on the eighth 
grade because the state already provided funding for reducing class 
size in other grades. However, while class-size reduction may 
contribute to teacher retention, it also increases the number of 
classrooms that need to be staffed and we found that some districts had 
shifted funds away from class-size reduction to initiatives to improve 
teachers' subject matter knowledge and instructional skills. Similarly, 
Education's data showed that the percent of NCLBA district funds spent 
on class-size reduction had decreased since 2002-2003, when 57 percent 
of funds were used for this purpose. 

HEA and NCLBA both funded professional development and recruitment 
efforts, although the specific activities varied somewhat. For example, 
mentoring was the most common professional development activity among 
the HEA grantees we visited. Of the 33 HEA grant sites we visited, 23 
were providing mentoring activities for teachers. In addition, some 
grantees used their funds to establish a mentor training program to 
ensure that mentors had consistent guidance. One state used the grant 
to develop mentoring standards and to build the capacity of trainers to 
train teacher mentors within each district. Some districts used NCLBA 
Title II funds for mentoring activities as well. We also found that 
states and districts used NCLBA Title II funds to support other types 
of professional development activities. For example, two districts we 
visited spent their funds on math coaches who perform tasks such as 
working with teachers to develop lessons that reflected state academic 
standards and assisting them in using students' test data to identify 
and address students' academic needs. Additionally, states used a 
portion of NCLBA Title II funds they retained to support professional 
development for teachers in core academic subjects. In two states that 
we visited, officials reported that state initiatives specifically 
targeted teachers who had not met the subject matter competency 
requirements of NCLBA. These initiatives either offered teachers 
professional development in core academic subjects or reimbursed them 
for taking college courses in the subjects taught. 

Both HEA and NCLBA funds supported efforts to recruit teachers. Many 
HEA grantees we interviewed used their funds to fill teacher shortages 
in urban schools or to recruit new teachers from nontraditional 
sources--mid-career professionals, community college students, and 
middle-and high-school students. For example, one university recruited 
teacher candidates with undergraduate degrees to teach in a local 
school district with a critical need for teachers while they earn their 
masters in education. The program offered tuition assistance, and in 
some cases, the district paid a full teacher salary, with the 
stipulation that teachers continue teaching in the local school 
district for 3 years after completing the program. HEA initiatives also 
included efforts to recruit mid-career professionals by offering an 
accelerated teacher training program for prospective teachers already 
in the workforce. Some grantees also used their funds to recruit 
teacher candidates at community colleges. For example, one of the 
largest teacher training institutions in one state has partnered with 
six community colleges around the state to offer training that was not 
previously available. Finally, other grantees targeted middle and high 
school students. For example, one district used its grant to recruit 
interns from 14 high-school career academies that focused on training 
their students for careers as teachers. Districts we visited used NCLBA 
Title II funds to provide bonuses to attract successful administrators, 
advertise open teaching positions, and attend recruitment events to 
identify qualified candidates. In addition, one district also used 
funds to expand alternative certification programs, which allowed 
qualified candidates to teach while they worked to meet requirements 
for certification. 

Finally, some states used HEA funds to reform certification 
requirements for teachers. Reforming certification or licensing 
requirements was included as an allowable activity under both HEA and 
NCLBA to ensure that teachers have the necessary teaching skills and 
academic content knowledge in the subject areas. HEA grantees also 
reported using their funds to allow teacher training programs and 
colleges to collaborate with local school districts to reform the 
requirements for teacher candidates. For example, one grantee partnered 
with institutions of higher education and a partner school district to 
expose teacher candidates to urban schools by providing teacher 
preparation courses in public schools. 

Education Is Working to Provide Better Assistance and Improve Its 
Evaluation and Oversight Efforts: 

Under both HEA and NCLBA, Education has provided assistance and 
guidance to recipients of these funds and is responsible for holding 
recipients accountable for the quality of their activities. In 1998, 
Education created a new office to administer HEA grants and provide 
assistance to grantees. While grantees told us that the technical 
assistance the office provided on application procedures was helpful, 
our previous work noted several areas in which Education could improve 
its assistance to HEA grantees, in part through better guidance. For 
example, we recommended that in order to effectively manage the grant 
program, Education further develop and maintain its system for 
regularly communicating program information, such as information on 
successful and unsuccessful practices. We noted that without knowledge 
of successful ways of enhancing the quality of teaching in the 
classroom, grantees might be wasting valuable resources by duplicating 
unsuccessful efforts. Since 2002, Education has made changes to improve 
communication with grantees and potential applicants. For example, the 
department presented workshops to potential applicants and updated and 
expanded its program Web site with information about program 
activities, grant abstracts, and other teacher quality resources. In 
addition, Education provided examples of projects undertaken to improve 
teacher quality and how some of these efforts indicate improved teacher 
quality in its 2005 annual report on teacher quality.[Footnote 9] 

Education also has provided assistance to states, districts and schools 
using NCLBA Title II funds. The department offers professional 
development workshops and related materials that teachers can access 
online through Education's website. In addition, Education assisted 
states and districts by providing updated guidance. In our 2005 report, 
officials from most states and districts we visited who use Education's 
Web site to access information on teacher programs or requirements told 
us that they were unaware of some of Education's teacher resources or 
had difficulty accessing those resources. We recommended that Education 
explore ways to make the Web-based information on teacher qualification 
requirements more accessible to users of its Web site. Education 
immediately took steps in response to the recommendation and 
reorganized information on its website related to the teacher 
qualification requirements. 

In addition to providing assistance and guidance, Education is 
responsible for evaluating the efforts of HEA and NCLBA recipients and 
for overseeing program implementation. Under HEA, Education is required 
to annually report on the quality of teacher training programs and the 
qualifications of current teachers. In 2002, we found that the 
information collected for this requirement did not allow Education to 
accurately report on the quality of HEA's teacher training programs and 
the qualifications of current teachers in each state. In order to 
improve the data that states are collecting from institutions that 
receive HEA teacher quality grants, and all those that enroll students 
who receive federal student financial assistance and train teachers, we 
recommended that Education should more clearly define key data terms so 
that states provide uniform information. Further, in 2004, the Office 
of Management and Budget (OMB) completed a Program Assessment Rating 
Tool (PART) assessment[Footnote 10] of this program and gave it a 
rating of "results not demonstrated," due to a lack of performance 
information and program management deficiencies. Education officials 
told us that they had aligned HEA's data collection system with NCLBA 
definitions of terms such as "highly qualified teacher." However, based 
on the PART assessment, the Administration proposed eliminating funding 
for HEA teacher quality grants in its proposed budgets for fiscal years 
2006-2008, and redirecting the funds to other programs. Congress has 
continued to fund this program in fiscal years 2006 and 2007. 

Education has responded to our recommendations and issues raised in the 
PART assessment related to evaluating grantee activities and providing 
more guidance to grantees on the types of information needed to 
determine effectiveness. When the Congress amended HEA in 1998 to 
provide grants to states and partnerships, it required that Education 
evaluate the activities funded by the grants. In 2005, Education 
established performance measures for two of the teacher quality 
enhancement programs--state grants and partnership grants--and required 
grantees to provide these data in their annual performance plans 
submitted to Education. The performance measure for state grants is the 
percentage of prospective teachers who pass subject matter tests, while 
the measure for partnership grants is the percentage of participants 
who complete the program and meet the definition of being "highly 
qualified." In addition, in 2006, Education included information in 
letters to grantees on the types of information that it requires to 
assess the effectiveness of its teacher quality programs. For example, 
in its letters to state grantees, Education noted that when reporting 
on quantitative performance measures, grantees must show how their 
actual performance compared to the targets (e.g., benchmarks or goals) 
that were established in the approved grant application for each budget 
period. 

In addition, in May 2006, Education issued its final report on HEA's 
partnership grants, focusing on the 25 grantees of the 1999 
cohort.[Footnote 11] The goal of the study was to learn about the 
collaborative activities taking place in partnerships. It was designed 
to examine approaches for preparing new and veteran teachers and to 
assess the sustainability of project activities after the grant ends. 
Among its findings, Education reported that partnerships encouraged and 
supported collaboration between institutions of higher education and 
schools to address teacher preparation needs. 

Under NCLBA, Education holds districts and schools accountable for 
improvements in student academic achievement, and holds states 
accountable for reporting on the qualifications of teachers. NCLBA set 
the end of the 2005-2006 school year as the deadline for teachers of 
core academic subjects, such as math and science, to be highly 
qualified.[Footnote 12] Teachers meeting these requirements must (1) 
have at least a bachelor's degree, (2) be certified to teach by their 
state, and (3) demonstrate subject matter competency in each core 
academic subject they teach.[Footnote 13] Education collects state data 
on the percent of classes taught by highly qualified teachers and 
conducts site visits in part to determine whether states appropriately 
implemented highly qualified teacher provisions.[Footnote 14] 

In state reviews conducted as part of its oversight of NCLBA, Education 
identified several areas of concern related to states' implementation 
of teacher qualification requirements and provided states 
feedback.[Footnote 15] For example, some states did not include the 
percentage of core academic classes taught by teachers who are not 
highly qualified in their annual state report cards,[Footnote 16] as 
required. In addition, because some states inappropriately defined 
teachers as highly qualified, the data that these states reported to 
Education were inaccurate according to a department official. In many 
states, the requirements for teachers were not sufficient to 
demonstrate subject matter competency. Since subject matter competency 
is a key part of the definition of a highly qualified teacher, such 
states' data on the extent to which teachers have met these 
requirements could be misleading. Education also found that a number of 
states were incorrectly defining districts as high-need, in order to 
make more districts eligible for partnerships with higher education 
institutions. According to Education, each of these states corrected 
their data and the department will continue to monitor states to ensure 
they are using the appropriate data. 

In addition to Education's oversight efforts, OMB completed a PART 
assessment of NCLBA Title II in 2005 and rated the program as 
"moderately effective." While OMB noted that the program is well- 
managed, it also noted that the program has not demonstrated cost- 
effectiveness and that an independent evaluation has not been completed 
to assess program effectiveness. In response to OMB's assessment, 
Education took steps to more efficiently monitor states and conducted 
two program studies related to teacher quality. An Education official 
told us that the program studies had been conducted but the department 
has not yet released the findings. 

Concluding Observations: 

In conclusion, the nation's public school teachers play a key role in 
educating 48 million students, the majority of our future workforce. 
Recognizing the importance of teachers in improving student 
performance, the federal government, through HEA and NCLBA, has 
committed significant resources and put in place a series of reforms 
aimed at improving the quality of teachers in the nation's classrooms. 
With both acts up for reauthorization, an opportunity exists for the 
Congress to explore potential interrelationships in the goals and 
initiatives under each act. 

While HEA and NCLBA share the goal of improving teacher quality, it is 
not clear the extent to which they complement each other. Our separate 
studies of teacher quality programs under each of the laws have found 
common areas for improvement, such as data quality and assistance from 
Education. We have also found that states, districts, schools, and 
grantees under both laws engage in similar activities. However, not 
much is known about how well, if at all, these two laws are aligned. 
Thus, there may be opportunities to better understand how the two laws 
are working together at the federal, state, and local level. For 
example, exploring links between efforts aimed at improving teacher 
preparation at institutions of higher education and efforts to improve 
teacher quality at the school or district level could identify 
approaches to teacher preparation that help schools the most. 

Mr. Chairman, this concludes my prepared statement. I welcome any 
questions you or other Members of this Subcommittee may have at this 
time. 

GAO Contacts and Staff Acknowledgments: 

For further information regarding this testimony, please contact me at 
202-512-7215. Individuals making key contributions to this testimony 
include Harriet Ganson, Bryon Gordon, Elizabeth Morrison, Cara Jackson, 
Rachel Valliere, Christopher Morehouse, and Jessica Botsford. 

FOOTNOTES 

[1] GAO, Higher Education: Activities Underway to Improve Teacher 
Training but Reporting on These Activities Could Be Enhanced, GAO-03-6 
(Washington, D.C.: Dec. 11, 2002) and GAO, No Child Left Behind Act: 
Improved Accessibility to Education's Information Could Help States 
Further Implement Teacher Qualification Requirements, GAO-06-25 
(Washington, D.C.: Nov. 21, 2005). 

[2] Eligible partnerships must include at least three partners, 
consisting of teacher training programs, colleges of Arts and Sciences, 
and eligible local school districts. Partnerships may include other 
groups such as state educational agencies, businesses, and nonprofit 
educational organizations. 

[3] Partnerships must match from non-federal sources 25 percent of the 
partnership grant in the first year, 35 percent in the second, and 50 
percent in each succeeding year. States and partnerships that receive 
recruitment grants have the same matching requirements for these grants 
as they have under their separate grant programs. 

[4] According to Education, an institution of higher education can have 
more than one grant (simultaneously or sequentially) as long as the 
members of the partnership are not identical (i.e. a new partnership is 
formed). 

[5] Since 1999, 63 partnership grants have been made to various 
entities, and 68 recruitment grants were made. 

[6] The funding authorizations for Title II, along with the rest of 
HEA, were extended through June 30, 2007, under the Third Higher 
Education Extension Act of 2006 (Pub. L. No. 109-292). 

[7] Specifically, districts are allowed to transfer up to 50 percent of 
the funds allocated to them under most major NCLBA programs, including 
Title II, into other programs under NCLBA. For example, districts may 
transfer a portion of their Title II funds into Title I for initiatives 
designed to improve student achievement. 

[8] Education surveyed approximately 800 districts and found that they 
spent $1.2 billion, about half of their NCLBA Title II funds in 2004- 
2005, to hire more teachers in order to reduce class size. According to 
an Education official, no comparable HEA expenditure data is available. 

[9] The Secretary's Fourth Annual Report on Teacher Quality, U.S. 
Department of Education (Washington, D.C.) August 2005. 

[10] OMB uses the PART as a diagnostic tool meant to provide a 
consistent approach to evaluating federal programs as part of the 
executive budget formulation process and as a central component of its 
overall governmentwide management efforts. 

[11] Grantees are required to submit data on how well they meet their 
project performance measures that they negotiate with their Education 
grant managers. 

[12] Although 2005-2006 was the original deadline, on October 15, 2005 
Education sent a policy letter to the Chief State School Officers 
saying that states that do not quite reach the 100 percent goal by the 
end of the 2005-2006 school year will not lose federal funds if they 
are implementing the law. 

[13] Veteran teachers may demonstrate subject matter competency through 
a state-developed High Objective Uniform State Standard of Evaluation, 
whereby subject matter competency is established through teaching 
experience, professional development, coursework, and other activities. 

[14] In 2003, Education aligned HEA's definition of highly qualified 
teacher" to that in NCLBA. 

[15] As of April 2006, Education officials had completed reviews of all 
states. 

[16] States must prepare and disseminate an annual report card that 
includes information on student achievement and the professional 
qualifications of teachers in the state, the percentage of teachers 
teaching with emergency or provisional credentials, and the percentage 
of classes in the state not taught by highly qualified teachers. These 
data are presented in the aggregate and are also disaggregated by high- 
poverty compared to low-poverty schools. 

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