ED and DOL Announce Additional Actions to Support Pathways Into Education

This week, the Department of Education (ED) and Department of Labor (DOL) announced actions to further expand access to high-quality and affordable pathways into education professions, including residency, grow your own, and Registered Apprenticeship programs. These actions include new funding and technical assistance. 

Funding: Nearly $200 million from DOL to support Registered Apprenticeship, which include  K-12 teachers as a priority occupation. This funding includes:

1) $100 million for a second round of State Apprenticeship Expansion Formula Grants to support the Administration’s goals to modernize and strengthen the National Apprenticeship System, while also providing opportunities for those States that have the capacity and can commit to adopting and expanding new opportunities for innovation, equity, expansion, and modernization in Registered Apprenticeship.

2) $95 million for a second round of Apprenticeship Building America Grants to continue to expand, diversify, and strengthen the Registered Apprenticeship system through support for public and private partnerships designed to serve a range of industries and individuals and promote Registered Apprenticeship Programs as a workforce development solution that translates training into good jobs.   

Additional Funding from the FY24 Appropriations Package:

• $25 million in the Teacher Quality Partnership Grant program, which invests in high-quality, evidence-based educator programs, including teacher residency programs that include a year of on-the-job learning in the classroom. The competition includes priorities for applications that are designed to increase educator diversity and support evidence-based grow-your-own programs, including high school dual enrollment, and Registered Apprenticeship Programs for teachers that are fully aligned with high-quality design principles.

• $15 million for the Augustus F. Hawkins Centers of Excellence program to support high-quality teacher preparation programs and address teacher shortages through investments in Educator Preparation Programs at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities, Minority Serving Institutions, including Hispanic-Serving Institutions, with a State-accredited teacher preparation program. Programs supported by Hawkins include evidence-based, comprehensive pre-service clinical experiences and increase the diversity of the teacher workforce and teacher pipeline programs.

• $8 million in the National Professional Development program, which supports pre-service training programs for teachers, paraprofessionals, administrators, and aspiring educators, including high school students (for example, through dual enrollment and early college programs), who want to become fully certified as bilingual or multilingual educators. 

New technical assistance efforts include:

• The Educator Registered Apprenticeship (ERA) Intermediary for the K-12 education sector, funded by DOL, is providing supports for states, school districts, and others working to establish Registered Apprenticeship Programs (RAPs) for teachers. States, districts, educator preparation programs, workforce boards, and labor unions/teacher associations can receive free, individualized coaching from the ERA Intermediary as they explore, develop, and implement apprenticeship programs. Many States receive support in developing statewide accelerators to help districts in a State develop RAPs in accordance with state models, guidance, or funding requirements. State teams can apply to participate in the State Leadership Academy, a workshop series for states early in their design process or interested in designing or scaling additional apprenticeship programs. Those interested can learn more here.
• ED plans to support the creation of a new technical assistance center focused on the educator workforce through the FY 2024 competition for the Comprehensive Centers program. The new center will provide assistance focused on educator recruitment, preparation, retention, and development, including implementing evidence-based grow-your-own, and residency programs, and designing evidence-based teacher apprenticeship programs fully aligned to high-quality standards.
• Later this month, ED’s Comprehensive Center Network will also release an online learning package focused on Registered Apprenticeship Programs, featuring presentations from federal and state policy and program leaders and related resources to help design and implement high quality programs.