Washington Fellows become full-time employees of the Department of Education in Washington, DC for the Fellowship year. Classroom Fellows remain in their schools under their regular teaching contracts, and are paid an hourly rate to perform Fellowship duties for the Department of Education for the Fellowship year. Be sure to read the Program Overview for more information about the program.

Pending funding of the program, Washington and Classroom Fellows will receive compensation for Fellowship work at the GS-12 level. Washington Fellows will work a 40-hour weekly schedule as full-time employees, and Classroom Fellows will work an estimated 10 hours per month on Fellowship activities outside of their regular teaching contracts. Further information about the federal payment scale is available on the U.S. Office of Personnel Management website at: http://www.opm.gov/oca/08tables/indexGS.asp. Employment agreements will be made through the Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA). As a condition of its employee's participation in the program, the school must guarantee the teacher a position of like seniority, pay, etc. on the termination of this assignment, and must agree that the teacher may retain benefits with the school during the period of employment with the U.S. Department of Education. The IPA mobility program provides for the temporary assignment of skilled personnel to or from state and local governments and certain other organizations to facilitate cooperation between the Federal government and the non-Federal entity and provide mutual benefits, for limited periods without loss of employee rights and benefits. Further information about the IPA program is available on the U.S. Office of Personnel Management website at: http://www.opm.gov/programs/ipa/assignF.asp and http://www.opm.gov/programs/ipa/Mobility.asp. Please note: The 2009-2010 Teaching Ambassador Fellowship Program is subject to funds availability and may be cancelled at any time.

Both the Washington Fellows and the Classroom Fellows will be subject to a background investigation once they have received federal appointments. The investigation will require the Fellows to complete a security form, and be fingerprinted. Background investigations verifies past employment, education and identity. A credit check will identify any outstanding federal debts.

Washington Fellows will be responsible for securing living arrangements in Washington, DC for their Fellowship year. Department of Education employees will provide general guidance and assistance for this process, but will not be able to secure housing for the Washington Fellows.

The program is tentatively designed to run from July 2009 – August 2010 and is scheduled to begin with an orientation in Washington, DC.

You must be a US citizen by the application receipt deadline of 12:00 p.m. Eastern time on March 16, 2009, to be eligible for the program.

Yes. Applicants from last year (including those selected as finalists) may apply again for the 2009-2010 positions.

Yes; if you will have completed three years of teaching by the summer of 2009, you are eligible to apply.

As long as you have taught for at least three years, you are eligible. Your experience need not be three years in the same school, and it need not be three consecutive years. If you have taught in private schools for some period of time you are eligible to apply as long as you currently teach in a public school.

The program is open to Pre-K-12 public school teachers or instructional coaches because it is designed for currently practicing classroom teachers in public schools. Your previous teaching experience may be in public and private schools of all grades as long as you are currently serving as a Pre-K-12 public school teacher (including public charter school teachers). If you do not meet the criteria for these positions and are interested in other employment opportunities with the US Department of Education, you may visit http://www.ed.gov/about/jobs/open/edhires/ to learn more about Ed Hires and search current job openings.

The support of administrators is important to ensure open communication between participating teachers and their school leadership and to foster collaboration at the school level. For Classroom Fellows, the goal of administrator support is to ensure that selected Fellows have the ability to share U.S. Department of Education public information and resources with and gain input from colleagues and school and district leadership. For Washington Fellows the goal is similarly to be able to provide information and resources primarily following the year of service. This support will be verified by telephone for candidates selected as finalists for the positions. Applicants should share this information with their administrators before completing the application process and explain that a telephone reference will be necessary for all finalists.

Support from administrators is also important to facilitating negotiation with the district to will enter into an Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) agreement between your district and the Department of Education. All fellows will work under an IPA agreement. As a condition of participating in the Fellowship program, the district must guarantee a selected Washington Fellow a position of like seniority, pay, etc. on the termination of this assignment, and work to retain benefits with the school during the period of employment with the U.S. Department of Education. The IPA for Classroom Fellows ensures that the district and Department are in agreement about the part-time federal employment of the selected Fellow. In addition, we hope that administrators will engage with Classroom Fellows throughout the year. You should share this information with your administrator and ask for guidance as to whom to contact at the district level. You should ensure that your administrator and your district are willing to support this agreement before you submit your application. If you are selected as a finalist and we are unable to verify the support of your administrator and the willingness of your district to sign the IPA agreement, you will be withdrawn from consideration.

If you feel that you can meet the intent of the Fellowship program and can adequately address the narrative questions - including demonstrating support from the administrator in the school in which you work (see Question 12) - you are eligible to apply. It is possible to negotiate an Intergovernmental Personnel Agreement with a non-profit organization; however whether to do so will be determined on a case by case basis.

Both the Classroom Fellowship and the Washington Fellowship vacancy postings include two components-a resume and narrative responses. Applicants should complete all components through USA Jobs. If applying for both positions, candidates should complete both vacancy postings (your responses to Questions 1-3 may be the same on both). The deadline is 12:00 midnight Eastern Time on March 16, 2009. Please see the Applicant Info section of the program web site for more details about the application process. Federal agencies must provide reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities where appropriate. Applicants requiring reasonable accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process should contact 202-401-1259. Determinations on requests for reasonable accommodation will be made on a case-by-case basis.

You are asked to keep responses to 500 words per answer; USAJobs will allow no more than 6000 characters per question.

These additional documents are not required for responding to the announcement or registering to apply. Anybody who registers with USAJobs/EdHIRES is prompted to supply this documentation upon registration, however it will not be used in the selection of Teaching Ambassador Fellows and we request that you do not fax them.

For the pilot year (2008-2009), over 1,100 teachers submitted applications for the Fellowship – approximately 250 for Washington Fellowships and 850 for Classroom Fellowships.

Applications are currently being reviewed. It is our intent to notify all applicants of the outcome by early May.

You will receive an automated response upon submission of your email application indicating receipt. Due to the anticipated volume of applications, program staff will not be able to respond to individual inquiries about application status. Finalists selected to interview for the positions will be notified via telephone or email in April or May 2009. Updates about the selection process will be posted on the main part of this web site at http://www.ed.gov/programs/teacherfellowship.

Due to the unique nature of this application process, all applications were referred to the Teaching Ambassador Fellowship team for review. As a result, every applicant got this standard response, however it is not accurate in this case. The Fellowship Team is currently reviewing all applications and will contact all applicants in early May and intends to schedule interviews with finalists at that time.

Washington Fellows will be assigned to appropriate positions within the Department depending on their background and interests. They may work in more than one program office, contributing expertise and assisting on specific projects or policy matters. Washington Fellows will also work closely with Classroom Fellows. Throughout the year, all Fellows will participate in activities designed to increase their knowledge and understanding of Federal education policy and program management. Fellows will meet for discussions and sessions to explore and share strategies around needs and best practices in public education. They may also work on collaborative or individual projects to strengthen the Department's teacher outreach.

Through the employment agreement for the Fellowship, Washington Fellows will be able to return to their school districts and continue teaching. We hope all Fellows will continue their outstanding classroom teaching practices, and will engage with the Department and others as active leaders in their communities.

For questions about the program and application process, please call 1-800-USALEARN.

Due to the anticipated volume of applications, program staff will not be able to respond to individual inquiries about application status. Please check the main web site for updates about the selection process at http://www.ed.gov/programs/teacherfellowship.

Teaching Ambassador Fellowship
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20202-8173
TeacherFellowship@ed.gov