The U.S. Department of Education has awarded 31 grants totaling $11.8 million under the Transition to Teaching program to help high-need school districts recruit and retain highly qualified mid-career professionals, including qualified paraprofessionals, and recent college graduates who have not majored in education to teach in high-need schools, said U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings today.

"Teachers are widely recognized as the single most influential factor in students' academic success. Yet, urban, rural, disadvantaged and other high-need schools face challenges in recruiting highly qualified teachers, particularly in math and science," said Spellings. "These grants enable high-need districts to tap the pool of talented professionals from noneducation backgrounds to help meet their teaching needs as well as the needs of their students."

The program provides five-year grants to state and local education agencies, for-profit and nonprofit organizations, and institutions of higher education collaborating with states or high need school districts. Grantees develop and implement comprehensive approaches to train, place and support teacher candidates whom they have recruited into their programs. These programs must meet state certification or licensing requirements, and grantees must ensure that new teachers are placed in high-need schools and districts and supported for at least three years.

Several of this year's projects will focus on recruiting and training math and science teachers to teach in high-need high schools with teacher shortages in those fields. Many projects are also advancing and implementing alternative routes to teacher certification and streamlining hiring systems for teachers entering education through these alternative routes.

More information on the Transition to Teaching program is available at: http://www.ed.gov/programs/transitionteach/index.html.

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