Higher Education Amendments of 2007

of the interest rates of the educational loan being offered;

showing sample educational loan costs, disaggregated by type;

that describes, with respect to each type of educational loan being offered—

of such other information as the Secretary may require in regulations.

the amount of each specific instance in which the lender provided such reimbursement;

the name of the financial aid official or other employee to whom the reimbursement was made;

the dates of the activity for which the reimbursement was made; and

a brief description of the activity for which the reimbursement was made.

prepare a report on the adequacy of the information provided to students and the parents of such students about educational loans, after consulting with students, representatives of covered institutions (including financial aid administrators, registrars, and business officers), lenders, loan servicers, and guaranty agencies;

include in the report a model format, based on the report's findings, to be used by lenders and covered institutions in carrying out subsections (b) and (c)—

lenders subject to subsection (b) to use the model format in providing the information required under subsection (b); and

covered institutions to use such format in preparing the information report under subsection (c).

the information included on the model format for each type of educational loan provided by the lender to students attending the covered institution, or the parents of such students; and

a detailed explanation of why the covered institution believes the terms and conditions of each type of educational loan provided pursuant to the agreement are beneficial for students attending the covered institution, or the parents of such students; and

when referring to an organizational unit of an institution of higher education, any academic unit that offers 1 or more academic majors in disciplines or content areas corresponding to the academic subject matter areas in which teachers provide instruction; and

when referring to a specific academic subject area, the disciplines or content areas in which academic majors are offered by the arts and sciences organizational unit.

a Head Start program or an Early Head Start program carried out under the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9831 et seq.);

a State licensed or regulated child care program or school; or

a State prekindergarten program that serves children from birth through kindergarten and that addresses the children’s cognitive (including language, early literacy, and pre-numeracy), social, emotional, and physical development.

shall include—

may include any of the following:

is among the highest 25 percent of schools served by the local educational agency that serves the school, in terms of the percentage of students from families with incomes below the poverty line; or

is designated with a school locale code of 6, 7, or 8, as determined by the Secretary.

with specialized education and training in development and education of young children from birth until entry into kindergarten;

with—

who has demonstrated a high level of knowledge and use of content and pedagogy in the relevant areas associated with quality early childhood education.

High-quality teacher mentoring.

Periodic, structured time for collaboration with teachers in the same department or field, as well as time for information-sharing among teachers, principals, administrators, and participating faculty in the partner institution.

The application of empirically based practice and scientifically valid research on instructional practices.

Opportunities for new teachers to draw directly upon the expertise of teacher mentors, faculty, and researchers to support the integration of empirically based practice and scientifically valid research with practice.

The development of skills in instructional and behavioral interventions derived from empirically based practice and, where applicable, scientifically valid research.

Faculty who—

Interdisciplinary collaboration among exemplary teachers, faculty, researchers, and other staff who prepare new teachers on the learning process and the assessment of learning.

Assistance with the understanding of data, particularly student achievement data, and the data's applicability in classroom instruction.

Regular evaluation of the new teacher.

whose graduates exhibit strong performance on State-determined qualifying assessments for new teachers through—

that requires—

applies rigorous, systematic, and objective methodology to obtain reliable and valid knowledge relevant to education activities and programs;

presents findings and makes claims that are appropriate to and supported by the methods that have been employed; and

includes, appropriate to the research being conducted—

includes clear criteria for the selection of teacher mentors who will provide role model relationships for mentees, which criteria shall be developed by the eligible partnership and based on measures of teacher effectiveness;

provides high-quality training for such mentors, including instructional strategies for literacy instruction;

provides regular and ongoing opportunities for mentors and mentees to observe each other’s teaching methods in classroom settings during the day in a high-need school in the high-need local educational agency in the eligible partnership;

provides mentoring to each mentee by a colleague who teaches in the same field, grade, or subject as the mentee;

promotes empirically based practice of, and scientifically valid research on, where applicable—

includes—

increase student learning, achievement, and the ability to apply knowledge;

effectively convey and explain academic subject matter;

employ strategies grounded in the disciplines of teaching and learning that—

conduct an ongoing assessment of student learning, which may include the use of formative assessments, performance-based assessments, project-based assessments, or portfolio assessments, that measure higher-order thinking skills, including application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation;

effectively manage a classroom;

communicate and work with parents and guardians, and involve parents and guardians in their children's education; and

use, in the case of an early childhood educator, age- and developmentally-appropriate strategies and practices for children in early education programs.

for 1 academic year, teaches alongside a mentor teacher, who is the teacher of record;

receives concurrent instruction during the year described in subparagraph (A) from the partner institution, which courses may be taught by local educational agency personnel or residency program faculty, in the teaching of the content area in which the teacher will become certified or licensed;

acquires effective teaching skills; and

prior to completion of the program, earns a master's degree, attains full State teacher certification or licensure, and becomes highly qualified.

the integration of funds from other related sources;

the intended use of the grant funds;

the commitment of the resources of the partnership to the activities assisted under this section, including financial support, faculty participation, and time commitments, and to the continuation of the activities when the grant ends;

how the partnership will meet the purposes of this part;

how the partnership will carry out the activities required under subsection (d) or (e) based on the needs identified in paragraph (1), with the goal of improving student achievement;

the partnership's evaluation plan under section 204(a);

how the partnership will align the teacher preparation program with the—

how faculty at the partner institution will work with, during the term of the grant, highly qualified teachers in the classrooms of schools served by the high-need local educational agency in the partnership to provide high-quality professional development activities;

how the partnership will design, implement, or enhance a year-long, rigorous, and enriching teaching preservice clinical program component;

the in-service professional development strategies and activities to be supported; and

how the partnership will collect, analyze, and use data on the retention of all teachers and early childhood educators in schools and early childhood programs located in the geographic area served by the partnership to evaluate the effectiveness of the partnership's teacher and educator support system; and

a demonstration that the schools and departments within the institution of higher education that are part of the induction program have relevant and essential roles in the effective preparation of teachers, including content expertise and expertise in teaching;

a demonstration of the partnership's capability and commitment to the use of empirically based practice and scientifically valid research on teaching and learning, and the accessibility to and involvement of faculty;

a description of how the teacher preparation program will design and implement an induction program to support all new teachers through not less than the first 2 years of teaching in the further development of the new teachers' teaching skills, including the use of mentors who are trained and compensated by such program for the mentors' work with new teachers; and

a description of how faculty involved in the induction program will be able to substantially participate in an early childhood education program or an elementary or secondary school classroom setting, as applicable, including release time and receiving workload credit for such participation.

In general

Implementing reforms, described in subparagraph (B), within each teacher preparation program and, as applicable, each preparation program for early childhood education programs, of the eligible partnership that is assisted under this section, to hold each program accountable for—

Required reforms

The reforms described in subparagraph (A) shall include—

Incorporate year-long opportunities for enrichment activity or a combination of activities, including—

Integrate pedagogy and classroom practice and promote effective teaching skills in academic content areas.

Provide high-quality teacher mentoring.

Provide support and training for those individuals participating in an activity for prospective teachers described in this paragraph or paragraph (1) or (2), and for those who serve as mentors for such teachers, based on each individual’s experience. Such support may include—

Supporting a teaching residency program described in paragraph (2) for high-need subjects and areas, as determined by the needs of the high-need local educational agency in the partnership.

Modifying staffing procedures to provide greater flexibility for local educational agency and school leaders to establish effective school-level staffing in order to facilitate placement of graduates of the teaching residency program in cohorts that facilitate professional collaboration, both among graduates of the teaching residency program and between such graduates and mentor teachers in the receiving school.

Ensuring that teaching residents that participated in the teaching residency program receive—

Establishment and design

A teaching residency program under this paragraph shall be a program based upon models of successful teaching residencies that serves as a mechanism to prepare teachers for success in the high-need schools in the eligible partnership, and shall be designed to include the following characteristics of successful programs:

Selection of individuals as teacher residents

Stipend and service requirement

to applications from broad-based eligible partnerships that involve businesses and community organizations; and

to eligible partnerships so that the awards promote an equitable geographic distribution of grants among rural and urban areas.

the percentage of highly qualified teachers hired by the high-need local educational agency participating in the eligible partnership;

the percentage of such teachers who are members of under represented groups;

the percentage of such teachers who teach high-need academic subject areas (such as reading, mathematics, science, and foreign language, including less commonly taught languages and critical foreign languages);

the percentage of such teachers who teach in high-need areas (including special education, language instruction educational programs for limited English proficient students, and early childhood education);

the percentage of such teachers in high-need schools, disaggregated by the elementary, middle, and high school levels; and

as applicable, the percentage of early childhood education program classes in the geographic area served by the eligible partnership taught by early childhood educators who are highly competent.

Pass rates and scaled scores

For the most recent year for which the information is available for those students who took the assessments and are enrolled in the traditional teacher preparation program or alternative routes to State certification or licensure program, and for those who have taken the assessments and have completed the traditional teacher preparation program or alternative routes to State certification or licensure program during the 2-year period preceding such year, for each of the assessments used for teacher certification or licensure by the State in which the program is located—

Program information

The criteria for admission into the program, the number of students in the program (disaggregated by race and gender), the average number of hours of supervised clinical experience required for those in the program, the number of full-time equivalent faculty and students in the supervised clinical experience, and the total number of students who have been certified or licensed as teachers, disaggregated by subject and area of certification or licensure.

Statement

In States that require approval or accreditation of teacher preparation programs, a statement of whether the institution’s program is so approved or accredited, and by whom.

Designation as low-performing

Whether the program has been designated as low-performing by the State under section 207(a).

Use of technology

A description of the activities that prepare teachers to effectively integrate technology into curricula and instruction and effectively use technology to collect, manage, and analyze data in order to improve teaching, learning, and decisionmaking for the purpose of increasing student academic achievement.

A description of reliability and validity of the teacher certification and licensure assessments, and any other certification and licensure requirements, used by the State.

The standards and criteria that prospective teachers must meet in order to attain initial teacher certification or licensure and to be certified or licensed to teach particular academic subject areas or in particular grades within the State.

A description of how the assessments and requirements described in subparagraph (A) are aligned with the State’s challenging academic content standards required under section 1111(b)(1) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 and State early learning standards for early childhood education programs.

For each of the assessments used by the State for teacher certification or licensure—

A description of alternative routes to State certification or licensure in the State (including any such routes operated by entities that are not institutions of higher education), if any, including, for each of the assessments used by the State for teacher certification or licensure—

A description of the State’s criteria for assessing the performance of teacher preparation programs within institutions of higher education in the State. Such criteria shall include indicators of the academic content knowledge and teaching skills of students enrolled in such programs.

For each teacher preparation program in the State, the criteria for admission into the program, the number of students in the program, disaggregated by race and gender (except that such disaggregation shall not be required in a case in which the number of students in a category is insufficient to yield statistically reliable information or the results would reveal personally identifiable information about an individual student), the average number of hours of supervised clinical experience required for those in the program, and the number of full-time equivalent faculty, adjunct faculty, and students in supervised clinical experience.

For the State as a whole, and for each teacher preparation program in the State, the number of teachers prepared, in the aggregate and reported separately by—

Using the data generated under subparagraphs (G) and (H), a description of the extent to which teacher preparation programs are helping to address shortages of highly qualified teachers, by area of certification or licensure, subject, and specialty, in the State’s public schools.

A description of the activities that prepare teachers to effectively integrate technology into curricula and instruction and effectively use technology to collect, manage, and analyze data in order to improve teaching, learning, and decisionmaking for the purpose of increasing student academic achievement.

A comparison of States’ efforts to improve the quality of the current and future teaching force.

A comparison of eligible partnerships’ efforts to improve the quality of the current and future teaching force.

The national mean and median scaled scores and pass rate on any standardized test that is used in more than 1 State for teacher certification or licensure.

may enable the teacher preparation program to evaluate the effectiveness of the program’s graduates or the program itself; and

is possessed, controlled, or accessible by the State educational agency.

shall include an identification of specific individuals who graduated from the teacher preparation program to enable the teacher preparation program to evaluate the information provided to the program from the State educational agency with the program’s own data about the specific courses taken by, and field experiences of, the individual graduates; and

may include—