Optimal Solutions Group

Title II, Part A, the Improving Teacher State Formula Grants program, is the primary federal funding under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to support a high-quality teacher in every classroom. The program, funded at $2.5 billion in Fiscal Year 2012, targets high-poverty districts and funds a broad array of allowable activities such as support for certification including alternative certification, teacher mentoring and induction, intensive professional development, recruitment, reten

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 created the Reading First program to help ensure that all students can read at or above grade level by the end of third grade. The program targeted low-income, low-performing schools and was funded at $393 million in Fiscal Year 2008. The Reading First legislation required "a measurement of how well students preparing to enter the teaching profession are prepared to teach the essential components of reading instruction." This study addressed that req