Two education organizations will share approximately $5 million in grants for initiatives to increase the number of highly qualified teachers and reduce barriers that prevent some individuals from joining the teaching profession, U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige announced today.

The New Teacher Project and the National Center for Education Information will use the funds to promote teacher recruitment and alternative certification, thereby increasing the number of highly qualified teachers in the classroom.

"Effective teachers are essential to improving student achievement," Paige said. "But too many would-be great teachers are deterred from taking their experience to the classroom. These grants will enhance our current efforts to open classroom doors to talented individuals who have the knowledge and skills to be excellent teachers."

The New Teacher Project will receive $2.5 million over two years to help two high-need urban school systems reform their hiring practices and policies, as well as help one rural state recruit more teachers. The districts and states will be chosen at a later date.

The New Teacher Project grant aims to address the problems identified in its recent report, "Missed Opportunities: How We Keep High Quality Teachers Out of Urban Classrooms." The research found that urban school districts lose many of the best qualified teacher applicants to surrounding districts due to slow hiring practices, delays in state budget timetables, teacher union seniority rules and other barriers that delay hiring in urban districts until late summer, when many of the best applicants have been recruited elsewhere.

A nonprofit organization that began in 1997 as an offshoot of Teach for America, the New Teacher Project partners with school districts and states to recruit, train and support outstanding new teachers. Since its inception, the project has launched 39 programs in 18 states and placed more than 10,000 teachers nationwide.

The National Center for Education Information will receive $2.25 million over three years to create a comprehensive national clearinghouse on alternative routes to teacher certification. The project, entitled the National Center for Alternative Certification, will include a toll-free call center and an interactive Web site linking individuals interested in teaching with programs that can provide a streamlined route into the classroom. The new organization will also provide assistance to alternative certification programs currently operating in 46 states and the District of Columbia.

The new National Center for Alternative Certification will work with the New Teacher Project and other national efforts dedicated to increasing the pool and quality of prospective teachers. Once the center is fully established, its work will expand to include technical assistance and outreach to states, policymakers and others interested in creating high quality alternative certification programs and upgrading existing programs. Teams will be formed throughout the country to help with all aspects of program setup and implementation, including program design, recruitment, placement, mentoring, supervision and teacher evaluation.

Today's grant announcement is the latest in a series of Bush Administration initiatives to bring highly qualified teachers into classrooms. In September, President Bush announced a new, Web-based toolkit to provide even more useful information to parents, educators and communities. The toolkit provides educators with accurate, straightforward information about No Child Left Behind, as well as helpful information about loan forgiveness, tax credits and liability protection for teachers, links to helpful Web site and guidance on understanding the federal, state and local roles in the No Child Left Behind Law. The toolkit was created under a unique public-private partnership that includes the U.S. Department of Education, the Broad Foundation, the National Center for Education Accountability and Standard & Poor's Evaluation Services.

Secretary Paige also recently announced a five-year, $35 million grant to the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence, the first national alternative route to full teacher certification. The American Board will use the grant to dramatically expand the number of academic areas for which it offers certification.

The No Child Left Behind law requires highly qualified teachers to hold at least a bachelor's degree, have full state certification or licensure and have demonstrated competence in their subject areas. However, teachers who are not yet fully certified but participate in an alternative route to certification program that meets specific criteria may be considered to meet the law's certification requirements of the definition. The new clearinghouse will have specific information on all alternative certification programs now under way.

Both grants announced today are from the Fund for the Improvement of Education, which supports nationally significant programs and projects to improve the quality of education, and is housed in the Department's Office of Innovation and Improvement.

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