Program Office: Office of School Support and Technology Programs

CFDA Number: 84.283B
Program Type: Cooperative Agreements

This program supports 21 comprehensive centers to help increase state capacity to assist districts and schools meet their student achievement goals. By statute, the Department is required to establish at least one center in each of the 10 geographic regions served by the Department's regional education laboratories.

Grantees are required to develop five-year plans for carrying out authorized activities that address state and regional needs. The 16 regional centers will provide services primarily to state education agencies (SEAs) to enable them to assist school districts, regional education agencies, and schools, especially low performing schools. At a minimum, each regional center will provide training and technical assistance in: the implementation and administration of programs authorized under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA); the use of scientifically valid teaching methods and assessment tools in mathematics, science, reading and language arts, English language acquisition, and educational technology; and facilitating communication between education experts, school officials, teachers, parents, and librarians. In addition, the centers will disseminate information and reports on improving academic achievement, closing achievement gaps, and sustaining school improvement to schools, teachers, parents, and policymakers. The five content centers will focus on specific areas, with one center in each of five areas: accountability, instruction, teacher quality, innovation and improvement, and high schools. These centers will supply much of the research-based information and products in the specific area that regional centers will use when working with states.

This program awards discretionary grants to establish comprehensive technical assistance centers to help low-performing schools and districts close achievement gaps and meet the goals of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Section 203 of Title II of the Educational Technical Assistance Act of 2002 (TA Act) authorizes the Department to establish not fewer than 20 comprehensive technical assistance centers to provide technical assistance to States to benefit school districts and schools, especially those in need of improvement.

The Secretary has awarded a total of 21 comprehensive centers in two specific categories:

• Fifteen (16) Regional Centers MS Word (22K) to provide technical assistance to States within defined geographic boundaries.
• Five (5) content focused centers to provide expert assistance to benefit States and districts nationwide on key issues related to the goals of NCLB.

The comprehensive centers under this program replace the former Comprehensive Regional Assistance Centers, the Regional Technology in Education Consortia, the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse for Mathematics and Science Education, and the Regional Mathematics and Science Education Consortia.

Regional Centers

Regional Centers must provide frontline assistance to States to help them implement NCLB and other related Federal school improvement programs and help increase State capacity to assist districts and schools meet their student achievement goals. Regional Centers must be embedded in regions and responsible for developing strong relationships and partnerships within their regional community. While Content Centers must focus almost entirely on specific content areas, analyzing research, developing useful products and tools for Regional Centers and other clients, the Regional Centers will be the on ground providers to States.

Content Centers

Together, the five content centers cover a spectrum of school improvement and technical assistance areas. The content centers are responsible for providing, in each of the content areas described, in-depth knowledge, expertise, and analyses to regional centers and the States served by the regional centers. Content centers disseminate knowledge on scientifically based research on effective practice and research-based products in their area of specialty and provide experts that regional centers can use in delivering technical assistance to States.

• Center on Accountability and Assessment
• Center on Teacher Quality
• Center on Instruction
• Center on Innovation and Improvement
• National High School Center

Related Grant Application Links

• Estimated Awards to each Regional Center MS Word (22K)