AGENCY: U.S. Department of Education (DOEd)/Office of Innovation and Improvement

PROGRAM: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) - Teacher Quality Partnership (TQP) Program

OBJECTIVES: This program provides funding to prepare teachers to teach in high-need schools and support them in their first critical years. Proposals must include comprehensive plans of pre-baccalaureate and/or teaching residency programs, and if applicable, to develop programs to support effective school leaders. The program seeks to do this by having the institutions and organizations that prepare teachers to intentionally focus their teacher preparation program design on the needs of the high-need local educational agencies (LEAs) and schools to be served.

The Department is interested in the following absolute priorities:

Partnership Grants for Pre-Baccalaureate Preparation of Teachers - Under this priority, an eligible partnership must carry out an effective pre-baccalaureate teacher preparation program or a fifth year initial licensing program.

Partnership Grants for the Establishment of Effective Teaching Residency Programs – Under this priority, an eligible partnership must carry out a teaching residency program for high-need subjects and areas, as determined by the needs of the high-need LEA in the partnership. The program must ensure that teaching residents who participate in the teaching residency program receive the preparation and support outlined in the full program guidelines.

ELIGIBILITY RESTRICTIONS: Eligible Partnerships must include a: High-need LEA or consortium of high-need LEAs; High-need school, or a consortium of high-need schools served by the high-need LEA, or, as applicable a high-need early childhood education program; Partner Institution; College/School/Department of Education within the partner institution; and College/School/Department of Arts and Sciences within the partner institution.

DEADLINES:
B.U. Internal Deadline: September 9, 2009
Application Deadline: October 6, 2009

FUNDING INFORMATION: The DoEd anticipates funding 25-35 awards with an average award size of $1.5 million per year for up to 5 years. Each grant recipient must provide, from non-Federal sources, an amount equal to 100 percent of the amount of the grant, which may be provided in cash or in-kind, to carry out the activities supported by the grant. Grantees must budget their matching contributions on an annual basis relative to each annual award of Teacher Quality Partnership Program funds.

REMARKS: An internal deadline has been established to coordinate institutional cost-sharing commitments for this program. Principal Investigators (PIs) interested in submitting a proposal should forward a memorandum to their Associate Dean by Wednesday, September 9, 2009. In the memorandum, (1) briefly describe the proposed project, (2) list key participating faculty, (3) itemize all cost-sharing commitments being requested from the University, within the context of a fully developed project budget, and (4) cite any program features which should make it particularly competitive for Department of Education funding. The memorandum should be countersigned by the relevant department chair/center director to indicate endorsement of the project. After the Dean's assessment, if a commitment of Provost funds is required, the memorandum should be forwarded to Associate Provost Joan Kirkendall for review and then to the Provost’s Office for authorization. PIs will then be advised of authorized institutional cost-sharing commitments in time to complete the project budget and process their proposal for final review. PIs are encouraged to consult with the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) for assistance with the preparation of the project budget.

Applicants must submit proposals using e-Application available through the Department of Education e-grants system. The e-grants system may be accessed through the following web site: http://e-grants.ed.gov. Please contact the OSP Assistant Director assigned to your school or department as soon as possible to coordinate submission though the e-grants system.

Grantees must comply with the requirements set forth in the Recovery Act, including, but not limited to, the quarterly reporting requirements of Section 1512 of the Recovery Act.

Complete program guidelines and application material may be obtained from the web site listed above or from the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP). Please distribute this notice to any faculty or staff members who might be interested in the information. For more information, please contact the OSP at X3-4365 or ospinfo@bu.edu , or visit the OSP web site at http://www.bu.edu/osp.