Sneak Preview: ED Proposal Seeks Greater Tribal Educator Retention
(The following was excerpted from a recent Thompson Grants Compliance Expert article.) The Department of Education (ED) recently proposed to revise the regulations for the Professional Development program (Assistance Listing No. 84.299B), which would include a priority for teacher retention projects that address the shortage of Indian tribal educators.
In a proposed rule published in the July 29 Federal Register, ED notes that “low wages in the education profession, the cost of high-quality educator preparation, inequitable funding practices, poor working conditions and other factors” have contributed to a high rate of educator attrition and a lower number of new educators coming into the field. This shortfall was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic in many communities, particularly those that serve a high portion of Indian tribal students.
ED “is working with state educational agencies (SEAs), tribal education agencies, local education agencies (LEAs) and others to help them recruit and retain highly qualified and diverse educators by expanding access to high-quality and affordable educator preparation, improving compensation and working conditions, providing high-quality new teacher induction, offering ongoing professional learning, providing opportunities for teacher leadership and career advancement, and increasing educator diversity,” the agency explains in the proposed rule.
ED proposes to revise the regulations at 34 C.F.R. Part 263 that govern the Professional Development program to better enable the agency and grant recipients to meet program objectives, including educator retention efforts. ED proposes two new program priorities and accompanying requirements for applicants proposing to retain highly effective Indian educators.
One priority would encourage projects to focus on the retention of Indian educators. This priority would include a new definition of “educator” that encompasses teachers, principals, administrators and other school leaders, as well as specialized instructional support personnel (e.g., school psychologists, school counselors, school social workers, librarians, early intervention service personnel), paraprofessionals and other faculty.
ED notes that this proposed definition would grant it more flexibility to choose from among education professionals in a given competition, thereby allowing it, where appropriate, to target specific kinds of educators in response to local needs or changing priorities. “A broad definition creates the opportunity for [ED] to support communities in addressing a variety of needs facing their schools and classrooms, such as utilizing early intervention service personnel to provide targeted instruction to students and additional support to teachers,” according to the agency. “At the same time, the definition is structured to allow [ED] to focus on particular groups of educators, such as teachers, in a given grant competition.”
(The full version of this story has now been made available to all for a limited time here.)
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