A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

The Eisenhower Program

The Eisenhower program was established in 1984, and reauthorized as Title II of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as amended by the Improving America?s Schools Act (IASA) of 1994. The program allocates funds through states to school districts and to institutions of higher education or nonprofit organizations. In fiscal year 1999, $335 million was appropriated for Part B of the program, State and Local Activities. Eisenhower funds are distributed to states according to a formula that weights equally the number of children in the state between the ages of 5 and 17 and the state's allocation under Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.^[9][10] Eighty-four percent of allocated Title II, Part B funds are distributed to SEAs, with the remaining 16 percent allocated to SAHEs. At least 90 percent of SEA allocations then flow through to local education agencies (LEAs), based on the same formula (equal weights to the school-aged population and the LEA's Title I, Part A allocation).^[11] LEAs that receive Eisenhower grants under $10,000 are required to form consortia with other such LEAs, unless the SEA waives the requirement (Section 2204(b)). SAHEs distribute at least 95 percent of their Eisenhower allocations by competitive grants or contracts to institutions of higher education (IHEs) or nonprofit organizations (NPOs) that provide professional development to teachers or prospective teachers. Each SAHE develops priorities and guidelines for the awards based on the state plan for improvement in teaching and learning, which it develops collaboratively with the SEA (Section 2205(a)(2)(A)).

Like its predecessor, the Eisenhower Mathematics and Science Education Program, the reauthorized Eisenhower program focuses on the professional development of mathematics and science teachers. The reauthorized legislation, however, allows states and districts to use funds in excess of $250 million to provide professional development to teachers in other core academic subject areas (Section 2206).^[12] In its 1994 reauthorization of the program, Congress made it explicit that Eisenhower-assisted activities should be designed to improve teacher practice, especially for students who are most at risk of school failure.^[13]

• The Eisenhower program is designed to support high-quality professional development activities. Both the Eisenhower legislation and the program guidance published by the Department of Education (ED) emphasize that the Eisenhower program should support high-quality professional development activities—professional development that is sustained, intensive, and ongoing. According to the law, such professional development should reflect recent research on teaching and learning and should provide teachers and other school staff with the knowledge and skills necessary to provide all students with the opportunity to meet challenging standards.
• The Eisenhower legislation encourages the use of funds to target teachers of at-risk students. The 1994 legislation requires that state applications and local plans take into account the educational needs of students from historically underrepresented populations. The Eisenhower legislation places special emphasis on addressing the needs of teachers in schools receiving Title I, Part A funds; generally these are schools that have higher rates of poverty than other schools in their districts.

The reauthorized program includes a number of procedures designed to ensure the provision of high-quality professional development, including alignment with district and state standards and assessments, coordination (co-funding and working with schools and professional development providers), continuous improvement (use of indicators and needs assessments), and teacher participation in planning.

• Districts and SAHE grantees are required to align their Eisenhower-assisted activities with state and local standards and reforms. Recent efforts to improve education have focused on ensuring that all aspects of the education system—including curricula, assessments, teacher education—be consistent with one another and be geared toward the same goals. Reflecting this focus, the law requires the alignment of Eisenhower-assisted professional development activities with challenging state and local curriculum standards and student assessments.
• The Eisenhower legislation requires the coordination of supported activities with education reform and professional development efforts funded by federal, state, and local governments and other public, private, and nonprofit organizations and associations. Such integration of Eisenhower-assisted activities with other reform efforts would presumably strengthen the quality of those activities by gearing them to challenging standards and by allowing several funding sources to be combined to design higher quality activities. The law's requirements for district planning of professional development activities, for co-funding those activities with funds from other programs, and for IHE/NPOs working with schools, school districts, or consortia of districts, all promote linkages between Eisenhower-assisted activities and those funded from other sources.
• The law encourages the use of continuous improvement strategies to plan and improve Eisenhower-assisted professional development activities, through careful goal-setting and monitoring. The provisions are intended to foster purposeful planning and ongoing tracking of progress by states and localities, supported by state and district performance indicators, needs assessment, and evaluation.
• The law also encourages teacher participation in decisionmaking about how to use funds from the Eisenhower program. The law encourages districts to include teachers in developing both the state and local plans for professional development, which are required by the law, and the legislation also requires teachers? participation in district needs assessment.

Some of the key goals of the Eisenhower program are summarized in a set of performance indicators prepared by ED, as required by the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA). This evaluation addresses four of ED?s performance indicators for the Eisenhower program, which concern teachers' skills and classroom instruction, sustained professional development, high-quality professional development, and participation of teachers from high poverty schools.^[14] In reporting the results of the evaluation, we use our data to describe how well the program is performing on each of the indicators.

[The Policy Context]

[The National Evaluation of the Eisenhower Program]