Dickson County Schools

Title II – Preparing, Training, and Recruiting High-Quality Teachers, Principals, and Other School Leaders

The purpose of Title II is to provide grants to SEAs and subgrants to districts to:

• increase student achievement consistent with the challenging state academic 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.

Title II funds must be used to develop, implement, and evaluate comprehensive programs and activities which shall address the learning needs of all students, including children with disabilities, English learners, and gifted and talented students. ⁱ

Programs and activities may include, among others:

• Rigorous, transparent, and fair evaluation and support system
• Initiatives to assist in recruiting, hiring, and retaining effective teachers to improve within- district equity in the distribution of teachers
• Recruiting qualified individuals from other fields
• Providing high quality teacher induction and mentorship programs
• Reducing class size through the recruiting and hiring of additional effective teachers

• Providing high-quality, personalized professional development to school leaders, teachers, and paraprofessionals that is focused on improving teaching and student learning and achievement

• Increasing the ability of teachers to effectively teach children with disabilities and English learners
• Providing training, technical assistance, and capacity-building for school leaders, teachers, and paraprofessionals in selecting and implementing formative assessments, designing classroom-based assessments, and using data from such assessments to improve instruction and student academic achievement.
• Supporting the instructional services provided by effective school library programs
• Providing training regarding how to prevent and recognize child sexual abuse

Developing and providing professional development and systems of support to promote high- quality instruction and instructional leadership in science, technology, engineering, computer science, and mathematics

• Districts must engage in meaningful consultation with a broad range of stakeholders as required by ESEA sections 2101(d)(3) and 2102(b)(3), and non-public schools as required by ESEA section 8501, and should examine relevant data to understand students’ and educators’ most pressing needs, including the potential root causes of those needs given local context.
• Once needs have been identified, districts, along with stakeholders through consultation, need to determine the approaches most likely to be effective. By using rigorous and relevant evidence to identify appropriate evidence-based strategies and assessing the local context to identify the capacity districts are more likely to implement evidence-based approaches successfully.
• An implementation plan, developed with input from stakeholders, while not required by statute, sets up districts and schools for success.
• An ongoing mechanism outlined during planning to identify and address issues as they arise is essential for success with unexpected hurtles.
• Under ESEA sections 2102(b)(2)(D) and 2102(b)(3), districts are required to use data and ongoing consultation to continually improve their Title II, Part A funded activities.

1 https://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/essa/essatitleiipartaguidance.pdf

i Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) § 2103.