Transition to Teaching Program
Title II, No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001

The Transition to Teaching Program (CFDA Number: 84.350) supports efforts intended to help ease shortages of qualified licensed or certified teachers in the nation's elementary and secondary schools. Among other things, funded initiatives may include encouraging the development and expansion of alternative routes to teacher certification.

Transition to Teaching was established to:

  • Recruit and retain highly qualified mid-career professionals (including highly qualified paraprofessionals), and recent graduates of institutions of higher education (IHEs), as teachers in high-need schools, including recruiting teachers through alternative routes to certification; and
  • Encourage the development and expansion of alternative routes to certification under state-approved programs that enable individuals to be eligible for teacher certification within a reduced period of time, relying on the experience, expertise, and academic qualifications of an individual, or other factors in lieu of traditional coursework in the field of education.

Eligibility of Participants

Transition to Teaching provides discretionary, competitive five-year grants to support efforts to:

  • Recruit, train, and place talented and knowledgeable individuals in teaching positions; and
  • Support those teachers during their first years in the classroom.

In particular, the program focuses on encouraging two groups of non-traditional candidates to become K-12 classroom teachers:

1. Mid-career professionals with substantial career experience, including highly qualified paraprofessionals; and

2. Recent college graduates.

Eligible to participate in Transition to Teaching are individuals:

  • With substantial, demonstrable career experience, including highly qualified paraprofessionals; or
  • Who are graduates of an IHE who —
    • Graduated not more than three years before applying; and
    • In the case of an individual wishing to teach in a secondary school, has completed an academic major (or courses totaling an equivalent number of credit hours) in the academic subject to be taught.

Grants

The Secretary of Education awards competitive grants to eligible entities to develop state and local teacher corps or other programs to establish, expand, or enhance teacher recruitment and retention efforts.
Entities eligible to receive a grant include:

  • A state educational agency (SEA);
  • A high-need local educational agency (LEA, local school district);
  • A for-profit or non-profit organization with a proven record of effectively recruiting and retaining highly qualified teachers, in a partnership with a high-need LEA or SEA;
  • An institution of higher education (IHE), in a partnership with a high-need LEA or an SEA;
  • A regional consortium of SEAs; or
  • A consortium of high-need LEAs.

In awarding grants, the Secretary will give priority to a partnership or consortium that includes a high-need SEA or LEA.
A ‘high-need’ LEA is defined as an LEA:

  • That serves not fewer than 10,000 children from families with incomes below the poverty line; or
  • For which not less than 20 percent of the children served by the agency are from families with incomes below the poverty line; and
  • For which there is a high percentage of teachers not teaching in the academic subjects or grade levels that the teachers were trained to teach; or
  • For which there is a high percentage of teachers with emergency, provisional, or temporary certification or licensing.
    A ‘high-need’ school is defined as a school which is:
  • Located in an area in which the percentage of students from families with incomes below the poverty line is 30 percent or more; or
  • Located in an area with a high percentage of out-of-field teachers;
  • Within the top quartile of elementary schools and secondary schools statewide, as ranked by the number of unfilled, available teacher positions at the schools;
  • Located in an area in which there is a high teacher turnover rate; or
  • Located in an area in which there is a high percentage of teachers who are not certified or licensed.
    Grants are awarded for periods of five years. At the end of the five-year period, grant recipients may apply for additional grants.

Use of Grants

A grant recipient uses the federal funds to develop a teacher corps or other program in order to establish, expand, or enhance a teacher recruitment and retention program for highly qualified mid-career professionals (including highly qualified paraprofessionals), and recent graduates of an IHE, who are eligible participants, including activities that provide alternative routes to teacher certification.

A grant recipient will use the funds to:

  • Provide scholarships, stipends, bonuses, and other financial incentives, that are linked to participation in activities that have proven effective in retaining teachers in high-need schools operated by high-need LEAs, to all eligible participants, in an amount not to exceed $5,000 per participant.
  • Carry out pre- and post-placement induction or support activities that have proven effective in recruiting and retaining teachers, such as —
    • Teacher mentoring;
    • Internships;
    • High-quality, pre-service coursework; and
    • High-quality, sustained, in-service professional development.
  • Carry out placement and ongoing activities to ensure that teachers are placed in fields they are highly qualified to teach, in high-need schools.
  • Pay for costs associated with accepting teachers recruited from among eligible participants or provide financial incentives to prospective teachers who are eligible participants.
  • Collaborate with IHEs in developing and implementing programs to facilitate teacher recruitment (including teacher credentialing) and teacher retention programs.
  • Carry out other programs, projects, and activities that are designed and have proven to be effective in recruiting and retaining teachers, and that the Secretary determines to be appropriate.
  • Develop long-term recruitment and retention strategies including developing —
    • A statewide or regionwide clearinghouse for recruitment and placement of teachers;
    • (Administrative structures to develop and implement programs to provide alternative routes to certification;
    • Reciprocity agreements between or among States for the certification or licensing of teachers; or
    • Other long-term teacher recruitment and retention strategies.

Requirements for Participants

A teacher trained through the Transition to Teaching Program must serve a high-need school operated by a high-need LEA for at least three years.

A participant who fails to complete his or her service obligation must repay all or a portion of the stipend or other incentive.