[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 84 (Friday, April 30, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24002-24008]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-9852]



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Part III





Department of Education





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Transition to Teaching Grant Program; Notice of Final Priorities and 
Requirements and Notice Inviting Applications for New Awards for Fiscal 
Year (FY) 2004; Notices

  Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 84 / Friday, April 30, 2004 / 
Notices  

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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

RIN 1855-ZA06


Transition to Teaching

AGENCY: Office of Innovation and Improvement, Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice of final priorities and requirements.

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SUMMARY: The Deputy Under Secretary for Innovation and Improvement 
announces two priorities under the Transition to Teaching program. The 
Deputy Under Secretary may use one or more of these priorities for 
competitions in fiscal year (FY) 2004 and later years. We take this 
action to focus Federal financial assistance on State efforts to create 
or expand alternative routes to teacher certification and district 
efforts to streamline teacher hiring systems and processes. We intend 
for the priorities to help States and districts under this program to 
lower barriers to certification and hiring and increase the number of 
highly qualified teachers who are recruited into teaching from 
nontraditional sources. The Deputy Under Secretary also announces 
minimum requirements that are needed for efficient grant competitions 
for FY 2004 and future years, and to ensure that grantees focus their 
program funds on direct costs of their projects.

Effective Date: These priorities and requirements are effective June 1, 
2004.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thelma Leenhouts, U.S. Department of 
Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., room 3C102, Washington, DC 20202-
5942. Telephone: (202) 260-0223 or via Internet: 
[email protected].
    If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), you may 
call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339.
    Individuals with disabilities may obtain this document in an 
alternative format (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, or computer 
diskette) on request to the contact person listed under FOR FURTHER 
INFORMATION CONTACT.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

General

    With the beginning of the 2002-2003 school year, Title I of the 
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), as reauthorized 
by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Public Law 107-110 (NCLB), 
required that all newly hired teachers of core academic subjects who 
teach in Title I programs be highly qualified, and, by the end of the 
2005-2006 school year, Title I requires that all school district 
teachers of core academic subjects be highly qualified. Both States and 
local districts face challenges in meeting these requirements.
    The Transition to Teaching program is designed to address these 
challenges by helping high-need schools operated by high-need local 
educational agencies (LEAs) secure and retain the highly qualified 
teachers that students in those schools need to help them achieve to 
challenging academic standards. It does so by encouraging the 
development and expansion of alternative pathways to teacher 
certification, and by supporting local programs that make use of these 
alternative pathways to recruit, hire, and retain highly qualified 
teachers.
    Transition to Teaching projects: (1) Recruit as teachers talented 
mid-career professionals, recent college graduates who have not 
completed a teacher preparation program, and qualified school 
paraprofessionals; and (2) help these individuals to become 
successfully certified and licensed classroom teachers in high-need 
schools of high-need LEAs.
    Through this notice, we establish two funding priorities for this 
program. The Department may decide to use these priorities in the FY 
2004 competition and in future competitions as well. One priority 
focuses on State projects to create or expand, and then implement, 
alternative pathways to teacher certification. The other priority 
focuses on school district projects to streamline teacher hiring 
systems, timelines, and processes.
    Establishing these priorities makes it possible to focus program 
funds at both the State level, where decisions on teacher certification 
requirements are made, and at the district level, where responsibility 
for hiring resides. These priorities are designed to open up 
certification through alternative pathways and to streamline district 
hiring practices, both of which are necessary to help States and LEAs 
improve their recruitment practices and, by doing so, address the NCLB 
highly qualified teacher requirement and increase the overall quality 
of their teaching force.
    We published a notice of proposed priorities and requirements for 
this program in the Federal Register on February 20, 2004 (69 FR 7914-
7919).

Analysis of Comments and Changes

    In response to our invitation in the notice of proposed priorities 
and requirements, 13 parties submitted comments on the proposed 
priorities and requirements. An analysis of the comments and of any 
changes in the priorities and requirements since publication of the 
notice of proposed priorities and requirements follows.
    We group our discussion of the issues raised by the commenters into 
two groups--proposed priorities and proposed requirements. Generally, 
we do not address technical and other minor changes--and suggested 
changes the law does not authorize us to make under the applicable 
statutory authority. However, in this notice, we have included a 
discussion of comments that were related to statutory issues so that we 
can provide needed clarification on these issues.

Proposed Priorities

    Comment: While generally pleased with Priority 1, which focuses on 
creation or expansion of alternative routes to certification as the 
vehicle for recruiting and hiring teachers in high-need schools 
operated by high-need LEAs, one commenter recommended that we permit 
independent State teacher certification agencies to apply for a grant 
on their own behalf rather than jointly with the State educational 
agencies (SEAs).
    Discussion: The ESEA does not permit an independent State teacher 
certification agency to apply on its own behalf for a grant under this 
program. Section 2313(b) of the ESEA provides that the following 
entities are eligible to receive a Transition to Teaching grant: An 
SEA, a high-need LEA, a for-profit or not-for-profit organization that 
has a proven record of effectively recruiting and retaining highly 
qualified teachers in a partnership with a high-need LEA or SEA, or an 
institution of higher education in partnership with a high-need LEA or 
with an SEA, or consortia of SEAs or high-need LEAs.
    Section 9101(41) of the ESEA defines an SEA as ``the agency 
primarily responsible for the State supervision of public elementary 
schools and secondary schools.'' An independent State teacher 
certification agency would not meet this definition. Thus, absent a 
change in the statute, to be eligible for a grant under this program, 
an independent State teacher certification agency may only apply in 
partnership with a high-need LEA or SEA.
    Change: None.
    Comments: One commenter recommended the elimination of Priority 2, 
which focuses on streamlining district hiring systems and policies. The 
commenter stated that the proposed priority does not address the major 
obstacles to teacher recruitment and placement, which the commenter 
characterized as State fiscal issues and legislative unresponsiveness. 
Two other commenters expressed support for this

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priority, indicating that it addresses a critical need.
    Discussion: While State budget constraints and legislative inaction 
may indeed impede district efforts to hire highly qualified and 
effective teachers, they are beyond the capacity of this program to 
address. On the other hand, the priority addresses a barrier that is a 
significant one for large numbers of school districts throughout the 
country, especially urban ones. In this regard, research conducted by 
The New Teacher Project and described in its 2003 publication, ``Missed 
Opportunities: How We Keep High-Quality Teachers Out of Urban 
Classrooms,'' confirms that untimely and inefficient district hiring 
policies and practices result in the inability to hire large numbers of 
qualified individuals already recruited to teach in urban school 
districts. Through this priority, the Transition to Teaching program 
can support local efforts to address this problem.
    Change: None.
    Comments: Four commenters recommended the addition of a third 
priority focusing on the preparation of teachers of English as a Second 
Language (ESL) and bilingual teachers who could address the critical 
needs of English language learners in their States. One commenter 
recommended a priority for bilingual teachers with expertise in 
mathematics, science, English, and social studies.
    Discussion: We have acknowledged the need for teachers of English 
language learners by including ESL in the definition of ``high-need 
subjects'' in which a recruited individual may teach. However, we do 
not believe that the competition should favor recruitment of teachers 
of particular subgroups of students or in particular subject areas. 
Rather, we believe that applicants should be free to tailor their 
program applications to address the teacher-shortage needs of the high-
need LEAs that would participate in the project, including the need for 
ESL and bilingual teachers.
    Change: None.

Proposed Requirements

    Comments: A few commenters recommended revisions in proposed 
requirements that would require statutory changes. For example, 
commenters recommended revising the proposed requirement that 
participants who want to teach in secondary schools must have completed 
an academic major or the equivalent in the core academic subject the 
participants would teach. One commenter suggested, in the alternative, 
that individuals who would teach in secondary schools be eligible to 
participate if they have passed the State standardized subject matter 
competency examination in the core academic subject they will teach. 
Commenters further recommended that we: (1) Eliminate the requirement 
that participants, other than qualified mid-career changers (including 
qualified paraprofessionals), have graduated from institutions of 
higher education not less than three years before seeking a teaching 
position through this program; (2) eliminate the requirement that 
prospective teachers be placed only in high-need schools operated by 
high-need LEAs; and (3) expand program eligibility to include 
organizations that train older workers as teachers' aides, thereby 
allowing these agencies to partner with school districts in order to 
increase the number of teachers' aides.
    Finally, one commenter expressed concern about the definition of 
high-need LEA, particularly paragraphs (b)(1) and (2) of section 
2102(3) of the ESEA. This provision, applicable to the Transition to 
Teaching program by virtue of section 2102(3), requires that in 
addition to having high poverty a high-need LEA have ``(1) a high 
percentage of teachers not teaching in the academic subjects or grade 
levels the teachers were trained to teach, or (2) a high percentage of 
teachers with emergency, provisional, or temporary certification or 
licensing.'' Given State policy changes in response to the highly 
qualified teacher requirements of NCLB, the commenter stressed that 
districts will experience increasing difficulty in being able to meet 
either element of this criterion.
    Discussion: These commenters all seek changes to statutory 
provisions governing a participant's eligibility and service 
obligation, contained in sections 2312(1) and (2) and 2313(i) of the 
ESEA. We have no authority to make the changes the commenters seek.
    With regard to the definition of ``high-need LEA'' in sections 
2102(3) and 2312(2) of the ESEA, we are aware that, as they implement 
the highly qualified teacher requirements in sections 1119 and 9101(23) 
of the ESEA, fewer and fewer LEAs will have high percentages of 
uncertified teachers or teachers teaching out of field. The law sets as 
a goal that, by the end of the 2005-2006 school year, LEAs will have 
only certified teachers with demonstrated content knowledge teaching in 
core academic subjects, and hence LEAs would have no teachers teaching 
these subjects out-of-field.
    As we discuss under the Definitions heading in the ``Requirements 
for the FY 2004 and Future Year Grant Competitions and Award of Funds'' 
section of this notice, the Department is continuing to determine the 
``high percentage'' of uncertified teachers that would enable an LEA--
with the requisite level of poverty--to meet the definition of a 
``high-need LEA'' on the basis of national data that States report 
under section 207 of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended 
(HEA). In their HEA reports, States annually provide the Department, 
among other things, with the percentages of teachers for LEAs as a 
whole and for high-poverty LEAs who are teaching with some kind of 
waiver of State certification requirements, i.e., the percentage of 
teachers who LEAs report to their States are uncertified. For the FY 
2002 Transition to Teaching program competition, the Department 
determined that the average percentage of teachers on waivers in high-
poverty LEAs, as reflected in the October 2001 HEA State reports, was 
the best proxy for a high percentage of teachers with emergency, 
provisional, or temporary certification or licensing that would permit 
an LEA to qualify as ``high-need.''
    The most recent HEA reports submitted in October 2003 indicate that 
the national average of uncertified teachers in high-poverty LEAs last 
year was eight (8) percent, down from eleven (11) percent in the 2001-
02 school year. However, in reconsidering this matter we believe that 
it is reasonable to consider a ``high percentage'' of teachers with 
emergency, provisional, or temporary certification or licensing to be 
equal to or greater than the national average percentage of teachers on 
waivers in all LEAs as reported in the most current HEA reports--rather 
than the average percentage only in high-poverty LEAs. All high-need 
LEAs must meet the statutory criterion of high poverty. But we see no 
reason to further restrict the number of LEAs that can benefit from 
this program by also requiring that they have at least the national 
percentage of teachers on waivers in high-poverty LEAs.
    Change: For purposes of the FY 2004 and future year competitions, 
an LEA that meets the poverty threshold of the definition of ``high-
need LEA'' will be considered a high-need LEA if it has at least the 
percentage of teachers on waivers of State certification as the 
national average of all LEAs. To demonstrate that it meets this 
requirement, the LEA will use the data it provided to the State on the 
percentage of its teachers on waivers of State certification, and which 
the State then used in completing its most recent HEA report to the 
Secretary.

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    Comment: One commenter requested that we define the term ``highly-
qualified paraprofessional'' so that applicants would know which 
paraprofessionals may be recruited into teaching positions.
    Discussion: Section 2312(1) of the ESEA provides that individuals 
eligible to participate in Transition to Teaching programs include ``an 
individual with substantial demonstrable career experience, including a 
highly-qualified paraprofessional.'' While the section of the statute 
authorizing the Transition to Teaching program does not define this 
term, it is defined in section 2102(4) of the ESEA (for the Title II, 
part A program) as ``a paraprofessional who has not less than 2 years 
of--
    (A) Experience in the classroom; and
    (B) Postsecondary education or demonstrated competence in a field 
or academic subject for which there is a significant shortage of 
qualified teachers.''
    Section 2123(a)(2)(C)(ii) of the ESEA uses this term to identify 
paraprofessionals whom LEAs may recruit to become teachers, through 
alternative routes to teacher certification, with the use of Title II, 
part A funds. Given the comparability of that provision with the thrust 
of the Transition to Teaching program, we believe it is reasonable to 
adopt this same definition of highly qualified paraprofessional for 
this program.
    Change: The final requirements for this competition include the 
definition of ``highly qualified paraprofessional'' contained in 
section 2102(4) of the ESEA.
    Comments: Two commenters recommended that teachers who already have 
certification or licensure in one subject area be eligible to 
participate in Transition to Teaching projects in order to retrain and 
become recertified in high-need subject areas. One commenter supported 
the proposed requirement that these teachers not be eligible.
    Discussion: The Transition to Teaching program statute provides 
that projects are to increase the number of teachers in high-need 
schools operated by high-need LEAs. The program is designed and 
intended to bring into teaching individuals from non-teaching careers, 
not to provide financial support to existing teachers who want to 
change their current areas of certification. Other ESEA program funds, 
such as those available under Title II, part A, are available if a 
district chooses to use funds for this purpose.
    Change: None.
    Comments: Three commenters recommended that individuals who are 
already teaching on a provisional, temporary, or emergency license be 
eligible to participate in the Transition to Teaching program. The 
commenters believe that our proposal to prohibit individuals who are 
teaching on a provisional, temporary, or emergency license prior to 
recruitment into the Transition to Teaching program from participating 
in Transition to Teaching projects would unfairly exclude a desirable 
group from participating in the program.
    Discussion: We do not dispute that many individuals now teaching on 
a provisional, temporary, or emergency teaching license are dedicated 
and have demonstrated an interest in teaching. The Department proposed 
this requirement so that, consistent with the Transition to Teaching 
program's purpose, projects would focus their recruitment efforts on 
bringing new individuals into teaching through alternative routes. 
However, we do not wish to preclude individuals now teaching on a 
provisional, temporary, or emergency license from participating in the 
program if they are otherwise eligible under the definition of eligible 
participant in section 2312(1).
    Change: The program requirements have been revised so that 
individuals who are now teaching but have not yet acquired full State 
certification may participate in the Transition to Teaching program 
provided they meet the eligibility requirements in section 2312(1), 
i.e., they either have substantial, demonstrable career experience, or 
are recent college graduates (within three years of graduation).
    Comment: One commenter recommended that the definition of a ``high-
need subject'' not be limited to the proposed core academic subjects 
and special education and ESL, but rather include any subjects that a 
participating LEA determines to be high-need.
    Discussion: We do not minimize the need for high-need schools in 
high-need LEAs to have teachers of other subjects. However, the 
Transition to Teaching program is intended to support the overall 
purpose and goal of NCLB: helping all students to achieve to high State 
academic standards so that no child is left behind. This program does 
so by providing financial support to help recruit, place, and train 
individuals from other career experiences to become highly qualified 
and effective teachers in high-need schools operated by high-need LEAs 
through alternative route programs.
    Consistent with the purpose of NCLB as a whole, we continue to 
believe it is important that those who will operate Transition to 
Teaching projects use program funds to recruit teachers who can help 
students to achieve in the core academic subjects that are of highest 
priority in NCLB. The ESEA defines these subjects in section 9101(11). 
We have expanded the permissible subject areas in which participants of 
this program may teach to include special education and English as a 
Second Language (ESL) because of the substantial need that many high-
need LEAs have for teachers in these areas who can help students with 
disabilities and English language learners become proficient in the 
ESEA core academic subjects.
    Change: None.
    Comment: One commenter recommended that we clarify the repayment 
requirement in the Transition to Teaching statute because of recent 
confusion regarding its implementation.
    Discussion: As section 2313(j) of the ESEA requires, we are in the 
process of drafting proposed requirements to govern the repayment of 
scholarships and other financial incentives by eligible participants 
who do not meet their three-year service obligation. These proposals 
will be published in the Federal Register for public review and comment 
before they are issued as final.
    Change: None.

    Note: This notice does not solicit applications. In any year in 
which we choose to use these priorities and requirements, we invite 
applications through a notice in the Federal Register. When inviting 
applications we designate each priority as absolute, competitive 
preference, or invitational. The effect of each type of priority 
follows:

    Absolute priority: Under an absolute priority we consider only 
applications that meet the priority (34 CFR 75.105(c)(3)).
    Competitive preference priority: Under a competitive preference 
priority we give competitive preference to an application by either (1) 
Awarding additional points, depending on how well or the extent to 
which the application meets the competitive priority (34 CFR 
75.105(c)(2)(i); or (2) selecting an application that meets the 
competitive priority over an application of comparable merit that does 
not meet the priority (34 CFR 75.105(c)(2)(ii)).
    Invitational priority: Under an invitational priority we are 
particularly interested in applications that meet the invitational 
priority. However, we do not give an application that meets the 
invitational priority a competitive or absolute preference over other 
applications (34 CFR 75.105(c)(1)).

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Priorities

Priority 1--State Projects to Create or Expand, and Then Implement, 
Alternative Pathways to Teacher Certification

    This priority supports projects designed and implemented by an SEA 
or a consortium of SEAs and the respective teacher certification agency 
of each State (if different from the SEA) to create or expand, and then 
implement, alternative pathways to certification. The project period is 
up to five years. Grantees will need to conduct both of the following 
activities:
    (a) Create alternatives to the State's traditional certification 
requirements. In conducting this activity, States are encouraged to 
develop a variety of alternative pathways to certification as important 
options in their menu of State-approved procedures for teacher 
certification and licensure. For example, competency-based alternative 
routes would permit talented individuals interested in teaching to 
become fully certified through rigorous assessments of their content 
and professional teaching competence, thereby enabling LEAs to recruit 
from a larger and more talented pool of prospective teachers.
    (b) Use the alternative routes to recruit individuals from groups 
eligible to participate in the Transition to Teaching program. Funded 
projects also would, among other things, need to work with 
participating high-need LEAs to--
    (1) Increase the number and quality of mid-career changers, recent 
college graduates who have not majored in education, and qualified 
paraprofessionals recruited to teach high-need subjects (such as 
mathematics, science, and special education) in identified high-need 
LEAs (which may include LEAs that are charter schools), particularly 
those in urban and rural areas; and
    (2) Provide these newly hired teachers with the support they need 
to become certified and effective teachers who will choose to make 
teaching their new long-term profession.
    In particular, SEAs receiving project funds must--
    (i) Target recruitment efforts on, and rigorously screen, 
candidates in areas where participating high-need LEAs have documented 
teacher shortages (e.g., mathematics, science, and special education);
    (ii) Place prospective teachers only in high-need schools operated 
by high-need LEAs;
    (iii) Prepare individuals for specific positions in specific LEAs 
and place them in these positions early in the training process;
    (iv) Ensure that recruited teachers receive the specific training 
they need to become fully certified or licensed teachers; and
    (v) Have recruited teachers participate in a well-supervised 
induction period that may include the support of experienced, trained 
mentors.

Priority 2--District Projects to Streamline Teacher Hiring Systems, 
Timelines, and Processes

    This priority supports projects by one or more high-need LEAs to 
streamline their hiring systems, timelines, and processes. The project 
period is up to five years. A participating high-need LEA will need to 
conduct both of the following activities:
    (a) Examine its current hiring system, processes, and policies to 
identify the critical barriers to hiring highly qualified teachers. The 
lack of highly qualified teachers in most urban and rural LEAs has 
often been attributed to their difficulty in recruiting interested and 
qualified individuals. However, recent research indicates that the 
problem may not be one of recruitment but may stem from inefficient and 
untimely LEA hiring systems and processes. This is especially true in 
high-poverty LEAs and schools--the very LEAs and schools the Transition 
to Teaching program is targeted to serve. Accordingly, each 
participating LEA will need to examine its current hiring processes and 
policies and, based upon that examination, identify the critical 
barriers to hiring highly qualified teachers.
    (b) Design and implement efforts to remove the identified barriers 
and put in place systems that streamline and revamp the hiring process. 
In conducting this activity, LEAs are encouraged to create an efficient 
and timely applicant hiring process with a strong data tracking system 
and clear hiring goals. These efforts also should involve negotiating 
policy reforms that remove critical barriers, such as delayed 
notification of vacancies and seniority and retirement rules.
    Participating LEAs also will carry out the requirements of the 
Transition to Teaching program by recruiting nontraditional candidates, 
using the streamlined hiring system to hire these individuals for 
teaching in high-need schools, working with them to achieve full State 
certification, and retaining them for at least three years.

Requirements for the FY 2004 and Future Year Grant Competitions and 
Award of Funds

    In order to promote both a fair and efficient program competition 
and appropriate uses of Transition to Teaching program funds, the 
Deputy Under Secretary announces the following requirements to govern 
grant competitions and awards in FY 2004 and later years. For the most 
part, these requirements are the same as those that the Department 
announced in the Federal Register on June 17, 2002 (67 FR 41221-41224) 
and successfully used for the FY 2002 Transition to Teaching program 
competition and grants awarded under it. The Notice Inviting 
Applications for New Awards for Fiscal Year 2002 is available on the 
Internet at the following site: www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index.html. The 
only exceptions concern:
     A requirement, discussed in the section 
``Application Content'', under which each applicant will need to 
include in its application a statement that each participating LEA 
will, rather than intends to, hire project participants, assuming that 
it has positions to fill and is satisfied that the participants are 
qualified to teach these subjects;
     A requirement discussed in the section 
``Participant Eligibility'', that closes a loophole that has permitted 
some grantees to recruit existing teachers into their projects; and
     Use of the average percentage of teachers with 
waivers of State certification requirements in all LEAs, rather than 
the average percentage in only high-poverty LEAs--as reflected in State 
reports submitted to the Department under section 207 of the HEA--as 
the measure of when an LEA with the required degree of poverty has a 
``high percentage'' of teachers with emergency, provisional, or 
temporary certification or licensing, and so is a high-need LEA under 
this program.
    1. Application content. Section 2313(d)(2)(C) of the ESEA requires 
applicants to describe in their applications how they will use the 
funds received to recruit and retain individuals to teach in high-need 
schools operated by high-need LEAs. In addition, section 2313(i) of the 
ESEA requires that individuals who participate in training provided 
under this program serve in a high-need school operated by a high-need 
LEA for at least three years. In this regard, an implicit purpose of 
this program and the ESEA as a whole is to help ensure that all 
students are able to achieve to high standards, principally in the core

[[Page 24006]]

academic subjects defined in section 9101(11) of the ESEA. To ensure 
that all grantees properly implement their projects, each applicant 
will need to include information in its application, as the Secretary 
may require, that confirms that it (if it is an LEA) or each LEA with 
which it will work--
    (a) Is a high-need LEA;
    (b) Has identified for the grantee the high-need subjects for which 
teachers are needed; and
    (c) Will hire individuals recruited through the project to meet the 
LEA's teaching needs, assuming that the LEA still has positions to fill 
and is satisfied that the individuals are qualified to teach those 
subjects.
    2. Definitions. High-need LEA. Section 2102(3) of the ESEA defines 
``high-need LEA'' to mean an LEA that--
    (a)(1) Serves not fewer than 10,000 children from families with 
incomes below the poverty line, or (2) for which not less than 20 
percent of the children served by the LEA are from families with 
incomes below the poverty line; and
    (b) For which there is (1) A high percentage of teachers not 
teaching in the academic subjects or grade levels the teachers were 
trained to teach, or (2) a high percentage of teachers with emergency, 
provisional, or temporary certification or licensing.
    An applicant (or a grantee, should the grantee wish to add an LEA 
to a Transition to Teaching project after receiving a grant award) will 
need to demonstrate to the Department that each LEA that will 
participate in the project satisfies the definition of high-need LEA. 
The applicant (or grantee) will need to do so on the basis of the most 
recent data available in the year in which the Department approves the 
LEA's participation in the project. In this regard, we announce the 
following for each of these two components of the definition--
     For component (a) of ``high-need LEA,'' the only 
consistent available data for all LEAs that reflect the statutory 
requirement for use of the total number or percentage of individuals 
age 5-17 from families below the poverty line (as the term is defined 
in section 9101(33) of the ESEA) are data from the U.S. Census Bureau. 
Therefore, absent a showing of alternative LEA data that meets this 
statutory definition, the eligibility of an LEA as a ``high-need LEA'' 
under component (a) must be determined on the basis of the most recent 
satisfactory Census Bureau data; we will identify the year of these 
data to be used in any announcement of a program competition for awards 
in FY 2004 and future years. (We will provide further information on 
this subject in the application package for this program that will be 
available for each competition. This information will include the 
Internet web site where one may obtain the LEA poverty data that the 
Census Bureau reports, and the kinds of poverty data the Department 
will accept for any LEA that is not included on this Internet web 
site.)
     For component (b)(1) of the definition of 
``high-need LEA,'' we interpret this phrase ``not teaching in the 
academic subjects or grade levels that the teachers were trained to 
teach'' as equivalent to ``a high percentage of teachers teaching out 
of field.'' The Department does not have available to it suitable data 
with which to define what a high percentage is. Therefore, LEAs that 
rely on component (b)(1) will need to demonstrate to the Department's 
satisfaction that they have a high percentage of teachers teaching out 
of field. The Department will review this aspect of an LEA's proposed 
eligibility on a case-by-case basis. To avoid uncertainty, an LEA might 
choose instead to try to meet this eligibility test under component 
(b)(2).
     For component (b)(2) of ``high-need LEA,'' the 
best data available to the Department on the percentage of teachers 
with emergency, provisional, or temporary certification or licensing 
come from the reports on the quality of teacher preparation that States 
annually provide to the Department in October of each year under 
section 207 of the HEA. In these reports, States provide the percentage 
of teachers in their LEAs teaching on waivers of State certification, 
both on a statewide basis and in high-poverty LEAs. For purposes of the 
program's FY 2002 competition, an LEA had a ``high percentage'' of 
teachers with emergency, provisional, or temporary certification or 
licensing if the percentage of teachers on waivers, as the LEA reported 
to the State for purposes of the State's October 2001 report to the 
Secretary, was at least the national average percentage of teachers on 
waivers in high-poverty LEAs--11 percent.
    For reasons expressed in the ``Analysis of Comments and Changes'' 
section, for purposes of the FY 2004 and subsequent program 
competitions, an LEA has a ``high percentage'' of teachers with 
emergency, provisional, or temporary certification or licensing if the 
percentage of teachers on waivers, as the LEA reported to the State for 
purposes of the State's latest HEA report to the Secretary, was at 
least the national average percentage of teachers on waivers of State 
certification, for all LEAs--rather than just for high-poverty LEAs. 
Therefore, for the FY 2004 competition, an LEA will be considered to 
have a high percentage of teachers with emergency, provisional, or 
temporary certification or licensing if the percentage of teachers on 
waivers that it reported to the State for purposes of the State's 
October 2003 HEA report was at least six percent.

    Note: For that October 2003 report, teachers on a waiver of 
State certification requirements included uncertified teachers who 
were participating in State-approved alternative route programs.


    Based on information in future HEA State reports, we will publish 
the most current national percentage of uncertified teachers in all 
LEAs in any announcement of a program competition for awards in future 
years. To satisfy component (b)(2) of the definition of a high-need 
LEA, an LEA will need to be able to confirm that, at the time it would 
participate in a Transition to Teaching project, it has at least the 
percentage of uncertified teachers as the Department announces is a 
``high percentage'' based on the most currently available HEA section 
207 State reports.
    High-need subject. For purposes of the Transition to Teaching 
program, a high-need subject means English, reading or language arts, 
mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics and government, 
economics, arts, history, geography, special education, and English as 
a second language (ESL). These subjects include the ``core academic 
subjects'' specified in section 9101(11) of the ESEA and the subjects 
of special education and ESL.
    High-need SEA. Section 2313(c) of the ESEA requires the Department 
to give priority in awarding grants under the program to applications 
from ``a partnership or consortium that includes a high-need State 
educational agency or local educational agency.'' However, the ESEA 
does not define the term high-need SEA. As was the case for the FY 2002 
competition, for purposes of this priority we define a high-need SEA as 
an SEA of a State that includes at least one high-need LEA.
    Highly qualified paraprofessional. For purposes of the Transition 
to Teaching program, a highly qualified paraprofessional means a 
paraprofessional who has not less than two years of--
    (A) Experience in a classroom, and
    (B) Postsecondary education or demonstrated competence in a field 
or academic subject for which there is a significant shortage of 
qualified teachers.

[[Page 24007]]

    3. Application review process. Section 2313(b) of the ESEA provides 
that an eligible applicant for a Transition to Teaching grant must be--
    (a) An SEA;
    (b) A high-need LEA;
    (c) A for-profit or nonprofit organization that has a proven record 
of effectively recruiting and retaining highly qualified teachers, in a 
partnership with a high-need LEA or with an SEA;
    (d) An institution of higher education (IHE), in a partnership with 
a high-need LEA or with an SEA;
    (e) A regional consortium of SEAs; or
    (f) A consortium of high-need LEAs.
    Given the wide variety of entities that may apply for grants under 
this program, the Department expects the scope of proposed recruitment, 
training, and placement efforts to vary widely. For example, a 
nonprofit organization might propose activities in various communities 
throughout the nation, an SEA might propose activities to be conducted 
on a statewide basis, and an LEA might propose activities that will 
focus on its own teaching needs. It is likely that if applications from 
these various entities were reviewed in a single application pool, 
reviewers would have difficulty evaluating the relative merits of the 
projects. In addition, the Department is interested in supporting 
projects of different types that can serve as potential models of 
recruitment, training, and retention through alternative routes to 
teaching. Given these factors, and in order to evaluate fairly the 
relative merits of applications proposing projects of such widely 
varied scope, we will review applications in FY 2004 and later years as 
we did in the FY 2002 program competition--in three different applicant 
pools, depending on whether the LEAs to benefit from the project are 
located--
    (a) In more than one State;
    (b) Statewide or in more than one area of a State; or
    (c) In a single area of a State.
    When the Department announces a competition, it will provide an 
estimate of the number and size of awards to be made from applications 
in each category. However, the Department intends to reserve the right 
to adjust these estimates based on the number of high-quality 
applications in each pool and as a whole, without regard to the 
relative scores of applications in each of the three applicant pools.
    Finally, because of the variety of entities that may apply for 
grants under this program, it is possible that an LEA might be the 
recipient of services under both (1) its own application and (2) the 
application of the SEA of the State in which the LEA is located, an 
educational service agency that is a high-need LEA, or a nonprofit 
organization. In this event, should those applications propose 
duplicative activities the Department will offer the LEA a choice of 
receiving its own grant award or participating in the other entity's 
project. Should the LEA choose to receive its own award, the Department 
will adjust the other entity's grant award accordingly.
    4. Participant eligibility. Section 2312(1) provides that an 
individual is eligible to participate in the Transition to Teaching 
program if the individual (a) has substantial, demonstrable career 
experience, including as a highly qualified paraprofessional, or (b) is 
a graduate of an IHE who--
    (1) Has graduated not more than three years before applying to join 
a Transition to Teaching project in order to become a teacher, and
    (2) 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 that the 
individual will teach.
    The purpose of the Transition to Teaching program is to provide 
financial support to enable grantees to recruit individuals from their 
non-teaching positions and, through alternative routes to State 
certification, help high-need LEAs to hire and retain them as teachers 
of high-need subjects. Indeed, section 2313(d)(2)(E) requires each 
application to describe how the proposed project will increase the 
number of highly qualified teachers teaching high-need academic 
subjects (in high-need schools operated by high-need LEAs). Consistent 
with this provision and the program's overall purpose, individuals who 
already have State teacher certification or licenses are not eligible 
to participate in Transition to Teaching projects. Individuals who are 
teaching on a provisional, temporary, or emergency license prior to 
recruitment into the program, are eligible to participate provided they 
meet the eligibility requirements in section 2312(1) of the ESEA and 
thereby qualify either as a mid-career professional or a recent college 
graduate (within three years of graduation).
    5. Evaluation and accountability. Section 2314 of the ESEA requires 
grantees to submit to the Department and to the Congress interim and 
final reports at the end of the third and fifth years of the grant 
period, respectively. Subparagraph (b) of section 2314 provides that 
these reports must contain the results of the grantee's interim and 
final evaluations, which must describe the extent to which high-need 
LEAs that received funds through the grant have met their goals 
relating to teacher recruitment and retention as described in the 
project application.
    However, while each funded project must promote the recruitment and 
retention of new teachers in specific identified LEAs, eligible grant 
recipients are not limited to LEAs. Therefore, it is possible that one 
or more funded projects will not provide funding to participating LEAs. 
In order that all project evaluations provide relevant information on 
the extent to which the project is meeting these LEA goals, the interim 
and final evaluations will need to describe the extent to which LEAs 
that either receive program funds or otherwise participate in funded 
projects have met their teacher recruitment and retention goals.
    6. Limitation on indirect costs. The success of the Transition to 
Teaching Program depends upon how well grantees and the high-need LEAs 
with which they work recruit, hire, train, and retain highly qualified 
individuals from other professions and backgrounds to become teachers 
in high-need subjects. If the program is to achieve its purpose, we 
need to ensure that all appropriated funds are used as effectively as 
possible. To do so, we believe it is necessary to place a reasonable 
limitation on the amount of program funds that grant recipients may use 
to reimburse themselves for the indirect costs of program activities. 
Therefore, we place a reasonable limit on the indirect cost rate that 
all grantees and other recipients of program funds may use in 
determining the amount of indirect costs they may charge to their 
Transition to Teaching awards. As was the case for grants awarded under 
the FY 2002 competition, this limit is the lesser of eight percent or 
the recipient's negotiated restricted indirect cost rate.
    For reasons we have offered in a limited number of other 
competitive grant programs that focus on improving teacher quality, we 
believe that a similar limitation on a recipient's indirect costs is 
necessary here to ensure that Transition to Teaching program funds are 
used to secure the new teachers that Congress intended. See, e.g., the 
discussion of (1) 34 CFR 611.61, as proposed, that governs the Teacher 
Quality Enhancement Grants program authorized by Title II, part A of 
the HEA (65 FR 6936, 6940 (February 11, 2000)), and (2) requirements 
for the FY 2002 grants competition under the School Leadership program 
authorized by Title II, part A, subpart 5 of the ESEA (67 FR 36159, 
36162 (May 23, 2002)), and

[[Page 24008]]

under this Transition to Teaching program (67 FR 41223-24 (June 17, 
2002)).

Executive Order 12866

    This notice of final priorities and requirements has been reviewed 
in accordance with Executive Order 12866. Under the terms of the order, 
we have assessed the potential costs and benefits of this regulatory 
action.
    The potential costs associated with the notice of final priorities 
and requirements are those resulting from statutory requirements and 
those we have determined as necessary for administering this program 
effectively and efficiently.
    In assessing the potential costs and benefits--both quantitative 
and qualitative--of this notice of final priorities and requirements, 
we have determined that the benefits of the final priorities and 
requirements justify the costs.
    We have also determined that this regulatory action does not unduly 
interfere with State, local, and tribal governments in the exercise of 
their governmental functions.
    Summary of potential costs and benefits: Elsewhere in this notice 
we discuss the potential costs and benefits of these final priorities 
and requirements under the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section.

Intergovernmental Review

    This program is subject to Executive Order 12372 and the 
regulations in 34 CFR part 79. One of the objectives of the Executive 
order is to foster an intergovernmental partnership and a strengthened 
federalism. The Executive order relies on processes developed by State 
and local governments for coordination and review of proposed Federal 
financial assistance.
    This document provides early notification of our specific plans and 
actions for this program.

Electronic Access to This Document

    You may view this document, as well as all other Department of 
Education documents published in the Federal Register, in text or Adobe 
Portable Document Format (PDF) on the Internet at the following site: 
www.ed.gov/news/fedregister.
    To use PDF you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available 
free at this site. If you have questions about using PDF, call the U.S. 
Government Printing Office (GPO), toll free, at 1-888-293-6498; or in 
the Washington, DC, area at (202) 512-1530.

    Note: The official version of this document is the document 
published in the Federal Register. Free Internet access to the 
official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of Federal 
Regulations is available on GPO Access at: www.gpoaccess.gov/nara/index.html.

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number 84.350 Transition to 
Teaching)

    Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 6681 et seq.

    Dated: April 27, 2004.
Nina Shokraii Rees,
Deputy Under Secretary for Innovation and Improvement.
[FR Doc. 04-9852 Filed 4-29-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P