Summary

This is an E-supplement to GAO-09-593. It presents the results of GAO's Web-based State Surveys on Efforts to Coordinate Teacher Quality Initiatives. We administered two identical Web-based surveys-one that was sent to state education agency (SEA) officials in all 50 states and the District of Columbia; and a second to state agency for higher education (SAHE) officials in 48 states and the District of Columbia. We did not send a SAHE survey to New York or Michigan because (1) in New York the executive official of higher education is also responsible for directing kindergarten through twelfth grade education, and (2) in Michigan there is no state agency or officer with governance authority over higher education. We received 48 completed SEA surveys for a response rate of 94 percent and 47 completed SAHE surveys for a response rate of 96 percent. The surveys were designed to understand the challenges facing state agencies' in their efforts to collaborate within their states on efforts to improve teacher quality. The questions in our surveys were posed to obtain information on: 1) state agency initiatives across a wide range of teacher quality areas; (2) state agencies' collaborative activities within their state; (3) the role of a state coordinating body (where applicable) in teacher quality initiatives; and (4) the usefulness of federal grant funds and technical and other assistance provided by Education. A more detailed discussion of our scope and methodology is contained in our report, Teacher Quality: Sustained Coordination among Key Federal Education Programs Could Enhance State Efforts to Improve Teacher Quality GAO-09-593 (Washington, D.C.: July 6, 2009). We administered these surveys from August 2008 to November 2008, and conducted all work in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards.