Making the Most of ESSA Title II-A Funds

How schools can use Vosaic to maximize student benefit by using grant funds efficiently.

Administrators and teachers are constantly faced with different ways to improve their schools and deliver a better experience for their students. Resources for developing improvement programs, though, are often limited.

Through the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), signed by President Obama in 2015, the Department of Education provides states, school districts, and administrators with support to improve their schools. Under Title II, Section A of the law, state educational agencies are directed to pass federal funding along to schools and school districts for programs that are effective in improving their quality of education.

This funding, if used efficiently and effectively, can have a real impact on a school’s instructional quality. But deciding how to use funds in a manner that’s both effective and appropriate can be difficult, especially when funding is relatively limited.

Professional development (PD) of school faculty is proven to impact student outcomes in a variety of subjects (Suk Yoon, Duncan, et al., 2007). But traditional PD events, such as sending faculty to conferences and bringing in outside professional coaches, can quickly consume a school’s resources.

Vosaic, however, offers administrators and teachers a powerful, accessible tool to build a school’s human capital. Vosaic’s video feedback suite gives faculty a platform for collaborative professional development and evaluation. Its power comes from its flexibility. Whether you're a Marzano school, using Danielson's, CLASS, or any other observation and/or coaching framework, you can easily configure Vosaic to fit your school's specific needs. With Vosaic, schools can realize significant instructional improvement and professional growth, utilizing their ESSA Title II-A funding to do so.

The Law specifically states that Title II-A funds can be used for, “carrying out programs and activities that are designed to improve the quality of the teacher force,” such as, “innovative professional development programs” (Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015).

The Law also requires that programs put in place using Title II-A funding be effective and “evidence-based,” meaning that at least one experimental, quasi-experimental or correlational study exists that, “shows a statistically significant and positive effect of the intervention on a student outcome or other relevant outcome” (Department of Education, 2016).

There are a number of studies reflecting such results on the impact of using video for professional development. The Department of Education has published 9 evidence-based studies demonstrating the positive effects on student outcomes that ongoing teacher development programs can have (Suk Yoon, Duncan, et al., 2007). Additionally, one Harvard University study found that using video for PD fostered collaboration with colleagues and promoted open communication about performance between teachers and their administrators (Kane, Gehlbach, et al., 2013).

With Vosaic, schools large and small can use Title II-A funds to invest in their teachers. By tapping into even a small Title II-A allocation, institutions can realize improvements to student engagement, faculty development and organizational culture.

You can start using Vosaic’s collaborative Performance Discovery platform for free by signing up for a free 14-day trial, or by downloading a Getting Started With Video Guide.