Farrell Area School District 
Highly Qualified Equitable Teacher Distribution Plan

Section 1112(c) (1)(L) of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act states that each LEA plan must include an assurance that the LEA will “ensure through incentives for voluntary transfers, the provision of professional development, recruitment programs, or other effective strategies that low-income students and minority students are not taught at higher rates that other children by inexperienced, unqualified, or out-of-field teachers.”  

The Board declares it to be the policy to maintain an equitable distribution of teacher quality in the Farrell Area School District.

In order to achieve this goal, the Board directs Lora Adams-King to assume the responsibility of coordinating all implementing activities as Superintendent.

The Superintendent shall publish and disseminate this policy at least annually to students, parents, and employees.  The publication shall include the name, office, address, and telephone number of the Superintendent.

It shall be the duty of the Superintendent to monitor the highly qualified requirements of:

1.	all public school teachers with primary responsibility for direct instruction in one or more of the core academic subjects that include English, reading/language arts, mathematics, science, foreign language, geography, civics and government, economics, history and arts;
2.	all elementary certified teachers who received Instructional certification and who currently teach elementary students; 
3.	all middle and secondary content teachers who currently teach in their core academic subject and instruct students in grades 7-12;
4.	all ESL teachers who hold an Instructional I in the core academic subject they teach and who teach ESL populations;
5.	all alternative education teachers who hold an Instructional I in the core subject they are instructing and who teach alternative education students; and 
6.	all special education certification teachers who are teaching elementary level special education students or students taking an alternative assessment and who took and passed the Praxis: Fundamental Subjects or its predecessor. 

Incentives for Voluntary Transfers - Make every attempt to distribute inexperienced teachers evenly among the grade spans and core content areas.  Distribute novice teachers with less than three years of teaching experience among the buildings.  Meet with representatives from various educational organizations and teacher unions to get support for equitable teacher distribution.  
 
Provision of Professional Development - Encourage teachers to attend free professional development opportunities such as the Governor’s Institutes and to enroll in PRAXIS preparation classes in order to pass PRAXIS tests to augment their versatility, mobility, and value to the educational process.  Use experienced teachers as mentors and classroom coaches for novice teachers.  Encourage new principals to enhance their skills and knowledge through the PA Inspired Leadership GROW component and the Principals Leadership Induction Program.  Build the capacity of school leaders to support teachers in hard-to-staff schools.  Provide high-quality professional development and academic coaches to support existing staff.  Create professional development programs tailored to each district’s unique needs, resulting in increasing achievement for all students.  
  
Recruitment Programs – Advertise federal loan forgiveness for teachers who agree to work in higher poverty, low-achieving, or minority schools.   Use resources wisely to attract and support highly qualified teachers.  Seek support from business and industry to implement teacher scholarships and other incentives.  Streamline district recruitment and hiring practices.  Improve conditions in hard to staff schools.  Collaborate with colleges and universities to develop teacher recruitment strategies to pursue the teaching profession.  Promise to pay for educational pursuits if experienced teachers agree to work in hard to staff schools.  Improve Title I teacher and paraprofessional recruitment efforts by posting vacancies on their websites to make more people aware of job openings.  Explore offering additional incentives for math and science teachers and other hard-to-fill positions.  Attend job fairs of colleges in the service area which include Slippery Rock University, Grove City College, Thiel College, Westminster College, Penn State Shenango Campus, and the Butler County Community College. 
  
Other Effective Strategies - As the district replaces teaching staff through retirement or attrition, human resources staff will determine whether existing experienced teachers need to be reassigned to other schools in the district to maintain equitable teacher distribution.  Compare years of experience, transcripts, teacher evaluations, ongoing professional development histories including Act 48 hours and credits, etc. to make certain that all students receive instruction from highly-qualified staff.  Add equitable teacher distribution language in district strategic plans.  Welcome new teachers into the community by hosting a welcome reception for new staff that includes local officials, the superintendent, school board members, and principals.  Focus on reducing teacher turnover and avoid placing inexperienced instructors in the most challenging environments.