New York State’s Teacher/Leader Quality

Partnerships (TLQP) Program

April 26, 2007

TLQP is based on No Child Left Behind, Title II, Part A, Subpart 3

Overall Goal: To improve student achievement in

core academic subjects

Means: By improving the quality

of teachers and administrators

TLQP – Important Concepts

Improved Performance•Participants and Students

Scientifically-based ResearchUniformity and Collaboration

•Partners and ParticipantsIncreased Accountability

•Partners and Participants

This Year, Focus on These:

1. High Quality Professional Development—and Its Results

2. Evaluation of Student Academic Performance

3. Tracking Participants’ Retention in Education

REAPPLICATION PROCESS

Basic requirements and concepts still hold:

• Every project has three required partners;

• The partners work together to design the project and its activities; and

• The teacher education program must not be operating under a corrective action plan during the grant year.

TLQP – Eligible Participants

1. Teachers—inservice and/or preservice

2. Principals and Assistant Principals —inservice and/or preservice

3. Highly Qualified Paraprofessionals who help with instruction

TLQP – Project Activities

Required Focus on a Core Academic Subject—

• English, reading, language arts,• Foreign languages• Arts• Mathematics• Science• Civics and government• History or geography

TLQP – Project Activities (cont.)

Optional additional foci:• Technology• Leadership skills• Pedagogical skills• Pedagogical skills needed for

special groups of students

RE-APPLICATION FORMATBefore the main narrative:

1. Cover Page- Correct Project Number: 2007-08 Year; therefore 0247-08-

00__

2. Project Profile3. Timeline

- Professional Development Activities, not administrative meetings

- Chronological Order: first September, then October, then November, etc.

Main Narrative:

Essentially the same instructions as for last year:

a. Two-page Abstract1. Overview of 2003-08 cycle2. How 2007-08 focus fits in3. If a change, what and why

b. Performance Standards

Performance Standards and Measures

Instructions for this section are the same as in last year’s re-application, but keep these points in mind:* For Standard 1, the 2007-08 grant year activities should include at least 14 contact hours in the school buildings of the participants;* Standard 2 will be met if the list of

partners shows that at least 50 percent meet the high-need criteria;

Performance Standards and Measures (cont.)

* For Standard 6, the 2007-08 grant year activities should include at least 16 contact hours of non-traditional activities.

Main Narrative (cont.): 2. Same as last year’s but with

additional information: a. Evaluation—Add detailed

description of how the project will collect measurable data on and evaluate the academic progress of students taught by participants.

b. Recruiting and Retention—Add description of how the project will track participants.

c. Project Staffing—Add material only if there is/will be a change.

Evaluation of Student Achievement

The formative and summative evaluation to be incorporated in 2007-08 activities must include a description of the kind of measurable data the project will gather on student achievement and how these data will be gathered.* Possible examples: Behavior in class/school, attitude towards subject as shown by homework completion, etc.* Preferred examples: Academic improvement during the grant year(s) as revealed through the students’ later academic choices, improvements in the students’ own test scores or pre- and post-tests; comparison with scores or academic choices of students not taught by TLQP participants; etc.

Recruitment and Retention,Project Staffing

• If Recruitment and Staffing will be the same in 2007-08 as they were in your 2003-08 proposal or in your 2006-07 re-application, just say so.

• If there are/will be any changes, however, please describe each change, explain why it will occur, and include as an attachment the résumés of any new staff members.

• Regardless of changes, include a description of how the project will track retention of participants.

Note: “Retention” here refers to whether TLQP participants remain in education, not just in the TLQP program.

The Slippery Slope of Non-Retention

1. The teacher (principal) continues as teacher (principal) at the same high-need LEA.

2. (For pre-service teachers: the participant teaches at a high-need LEA after graduation.)

3. The teacher leaves that high-need LEA, but teaches at a similarly high-need LEA.

4. The teacher continues to teach, but no longer at a high-need LEA.

The Slippery Slope (cont.)

5. The teacher leaves teaching, but continues to work in a school environment (e.g., librarian, assistant principal, counselor).

6. The teacher is no longer teaching because of layoffs in his or her district, but is actively seeking a teaching position.

7. The teacher voluntarily leaves teaching, but plans to make it a temporary absence (e.g., to raise children).

8. The teacher leaves teaching and doesn’t plan to return.

Remember!

When tracking the retention of TLQP participants and writing down the results, the scales will balance only if you write down the number of participants who are in each of the retention categories.

Re-application Format (cont.)

Material after the main narrative• Four Attachments, put in this order:

1. List of Partners, arranged alphabetically by county and alphabetically within each

county; separate lists for private schools, charter schools, and “Others”; indicate if high-need2. MOAs (photocopies of MOAs for three required partners; new MOAs for new partners or partners with changed agreements)3. Résumés for new staff 4. Budget Trio

Lists of Optional LEA Partners

Alphabetical by County and, within each county, by the

Name of the School or District; also whether each LEA

meets the high-needs criteria. Public, then Private. E.g., Public Schools:

Albany CountyAlbany High School YESHarriet Gibbons High School YES

Rensselaer CountyTroy School District YES

Private Schools: Albany County: Albany Academy for Girls NO

Items after the Narrative (cont.)

Budget Trio1. FS-10, withpartner benefit notations2. Two-page summary proposed budget3. Budget Narrative, covering both grant and matching funds

FS-10 with Partner Benefit Notations

E.g.: Code 40 – Purchased ServicesDescription Provider Calc.of Cost ExpenditurePublicity Various local Varies $1,000

venders

It’s easiest for the reviewer if you name the partner either at the beginning of each line item or at the end:

½ TP Publicity Various local Varies $1,000¼ LEA 1 venders¼ LEA 2

OR

Publicity Various local Varies $1,000 ($500 TP)venders

($250 LEA1) ($250 LEA2)

Budgets: A Miscellany of Points

Math1. Accuracy – Have your multiplication agree with ours; Multiply to 4 decimal spaces and then round up or down2. Clarity – Make your results comprehensible3. 50 Percent Rule

Check for Accurate Calculations

Multiplying• 3,260 x 12

39,012• But one glance tells

me that this has to be wrong, because the answer has to end in zero.

Adding• Code 15 67,000• Code 16 1,243• Code 40 3,501• Code 45 0• Code 46 529• Total 72,274• Quickly add the right-

hand column; note that 3, 1, and 9 do not add up to a number ending in 4.

CLEAR EXPLANANTIONS

Explain each sum—especially in Codes 40, 45,

and 46—so that people outside the project can

understand how it will be spent. Examples:• Lunch for 20—College Caterer—$5 each = $100• Staff to Math Conference—300 miles at $.31 and

2 x [$50 reg + 3 x ($60 hotel + $40 meals)] = $793

Calculating Employee Benefits

• Don’t compute by Social Security, Medicare, etc.

• Instead, give the percentage that your institution allows for benefits (or the percentage of benefits that the grant will pay for)—e.g., 31% of $42,000 in Code 15 and 15% of $8,000 in Code 45.

• Maximum Fringe rate as of today: 45.03%.

The 50 Percent Rule

“No single participant . . . may use more than 50 percent of the funds made available to the partnership.”

Use the partner benefit notations on the FS-10. Their totals should agree with the totals on the first page of the Summary Proposed Budget.

An FS-10 Change from

Last Year:• Used to Be: An item of equipment

that cost $1,000 or more went under Code 20 (Equipment); only items costing less than $1,000 could go under Code 45 (Supplies and Materials).

• Now: An item of equipment goes under Code 20 only if it costs $5,000 or more; items costing $1,000-$4,999 now join their less expensive cousins in Code 45.

Explanations

1. Why Code 20 comes after Code 90 on the FS-10 (Code 90 computes Indirect Costs, and there are no indirect costs on Code 20 items.)

2. Why we ask for CEO signatures in blue ink (Think of the traditional test for an original signature.)

3. What each project number means (Program number, fiscal year, project number)

Preparing to Mail Re-application

* Postmarked by June 30, 2007

* One original and two copies

* Original indicated by having original signatures—in blue ink

- Signatures by CEO or designee

- If designee, include copy of CEO letter designating that

person

And it’s . . .

The End