Title II, Part A: Supporting Effective Instruction

Activities supported with Title II, Part A funds must be planned through consultation with teachers, school leaders, paraprofessionals, special service providers, parents, and community partners.  The district must also engage in continued consultation with these stakeholders to improve supported activities. 

Descriptions of funded activities are outlined within the Consolidated Application for Federal Title Funds and must align to the goals of the Title II program, including:

• Increase student achievement consistent with state standards,
• Improve the quality and effectiveness of teachers, principals, and other school leaders,
• Increase the number of teachers, principals, and other school leaders who are effective in improving student academic achievement in schools, and
• Provide low-income and minority students greater access to effective teachers, principals, and other school leaders.

Funds made available under this title shall be used to supplement, and not supplant, non-Federal funds that would otherwise be used for activities authorized under this title.
 
Each district accepting Title II, Part A funds must also:

• Implement a system of professional growth and improvement for educators, including opportunities to develop meaningful teacher leadership;
• Prioritize Title II, Part A funds to schools that have been identified for comprehensive and targeted support and improvement;
• Provide equitable services to eligible non-public school teachers;
• Coordinate Title II, Part A funded professional development activities with professional development activities provided through other Federal, State and local programs; and
• Ensure Title II, Part A funded activities address the learning needs of all students, including children with disabilities, English learners, and gifted and talented students.
• Use evidence-based strategies, practices or activities that have been evaluated and proven to improve student outcomes.  

Eligibility

Title II, Part A is a U.S. Department of Education (USDE) grant program that provides supplemental funding to help support effective instruction. The USDE awards Title II, Part A funds to state educational agencies which then sub-grant funds to local school districts through a formula allocation.

Allocations

Title II, Part A is a formula allocation. The amount of Title II, Part A funds allocated to districts is calculated using the same US census data that is used to calculate Title I, Part A.  Eighty percent of the district's Title II, Part A allocation is based on poverty and the remaining twenty percent is based on total population.  

There is a provision of equitable services to non-public schools also defined in federal law and non-regulatory guidance.  

USDE Resources

• Survey Reports - (March 3, 2021)
• ESSA Title II, Part A Guidance – Supporting Educators (September 27, 2016)
  • Non-Regulatory Guidance: Title II, Part A Slide Deck (October 13, 2016)
• ESSA Using Evidence to Strengthen Education Investments Guidance (September 16, 2016)
• ESSA Fiscal Changes & Equitable Services Guidance (November 21, 2016) 
• U.S. Department of Education Teacher Quality

OPI Resources

• SAMPLE Needs Assessment NEW (November 03, 2022)

Professional Development Definition

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) §8101(42) defines the term professional development as activities that:

1. are an integral part of school and local educational agency strategies for providing educators (including teachers, principals, other school leaders, specialized instructional support personnel, paraprofessionals, and, as applicable, early childhood educators) with the knowledge and skills necessary to enable students to succeed in a well-rounded education and to meet the challenging State academic standards; and
2. are sustained (not stand-alone, 1-day, or short-term workshops), intensive, collaborative, job-embedded, data-driven, and classroom-focused that may be included and may include activities that—

• improve and increase teachers’

• knowledge of the academic subjects the teachers teach;
• understanding of how students learn; and
• ability to analyze student work and achievement from multiple sources, including how to adjust instructional strategies, assessments, and materials based on such analysis;
  • • are an integral part of broad schoolwide and districtwide educational improvement plans;
    • allow personalized plans for each educator to address the educator’s specific needs identified in observation or other feedback;
    • improve classroom management skills;
    • support the recruitment, hiring, and training of effective teachers, including teachers who became certified through State and local alternative routes to certification;
    • advance teacher understanding of—

• effective instructional strategies that are evidence-based; and
• strategies for improving student academic achievement or substantially increasing the knowledge and teaching skills of teachers;
  • • are aligned with, and directly related to, academic goals of the school or local educational agency;
    • are developed with extensive participation of teachers, principals, other school leaders, parents, representatives of Indian tribes (as applicable), and administrators of schools;
    • are designed to give teachers of English learners, and other teachers and instructional staff, the knowledge and skills to provide instruction and appropriate language and academic support services to those children, including the appropriate use of curricula and assessments;
    • to the extent appropriate, provide training for teachers, principals, and other school leaders in the use of technology (including education about the harms of copyright piracy), so that technology and technology applications are effectively used in the classroom to improve teaching and learning in the curricula and academic subjects in which the teachers teach;
    • as a whole, are regularly evaluated for their impact on increased teacher effectiveness and improved student academic achievement, with the findings of the evaluations used to improve the quality of professional development;
    • are designed to give teachers of children with disabilities or children with developmental delays, and other teachers and instructional staff, the knowledge and skills to provide instruction and academic support services, to those children, including positive behavioral interventions and supports, multi-tier system of supports, and use of accommodations;
    • include instruction in the use of data and assessments to inform and instruct classroom practice;
    • include instruction in ways that teachers, principals, other school leaders, specialized instructional support personnel, and school administrators may work more effectively with parents and families;
    • involve the forming of partnerships with institutions of higher education, including, as applicable, Tribal Colleges and Universities to establish school-based teacher, principal, and other school leader training programs that provide prospective teachers, novice teachers, principals, and other school leaders with an opportunity to work under the guidance of experienced teachers, principals, other school leaders, and faculty of such institutions;
    • create programs to enable paraprofessionals (assisting teachers employed by a local educational agency receiving assistance under Title I Part A) to obtain the education necessary for those paraprofessionals to become certified and licensed teachers;
    • provide follow-up training to teachers who have participated in activities described in this paragraph that are designed to ensure that the knowledge and skills learned by the teachers are implemented in the classroom; and
    • where practicable, provide jointly for school staff and other early childhood education program providers, to address the transition to elementary school, including issues related to school readiness.

• Academic Intervention Tools Chart by the National Center on Intensive Intervention at American Institutes for Research
• ArtsEdSearch by the Arts Education Partnership
• Evidence for ESSA by the Center for Research and Reform in Education
• National Institute of Justice Crime Solutions
• Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) by the Office of Justice Programs
• Social Programs That Work by Arnold Ventures' Evidence-Based Policy team
• What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) by The Institute of Education Sciences
• EdReports a nonprofit curriculum and instructional material review for ELA, Math and Science 
• Results First Clearinghouse Database Data Visualization by PEW Charitable Trusts
• Evidence-Based Benefit-Cost Results by Washington State Institute for Public Policy

Need Guidance for Instructional Materials Selection? 

Take a look at our Guide for Selecting Materials Aligned to Montana's Content Standards (word version) and the Criteria for Selecting Materials (word version) guides.