Approve Partnership Agreement with St. Petersburg College of Education as Part of the Paraprofessional Transition to Teaching Program, CFDA# 84.350 (Student Services and Federal Programs Division)

The United States Department of Education (USDOE) awarded $393,775 to Hillsborough County Public Schools (HCPS) for this funding year of the continuing Transition to Teaching federally grant-funded project. This continuing project will be implemented between October 1, 2007, and September 30, 2008. St. Petersburg College will provide the baccalaureate-earning teacher-training program to paraprofessionals currently working for Hillsborough County Public Schools (HCPS). Under the partnership agreement, HCPS will provide scholarships for paraprofessional teacher training, training sites, computer lab access, internship placement opportunities for participants, clinical education training for supervising teachers, salary and benefits for the Project Director, course credit reimbursements to participants, and evaluation data as needed. The College of Education, St. Petersburg College, will provide financial aid officers to assist the paraprofessionals in applying for financial aid, coursework and instructors for the B.S. degree program at sites designated by HCPS at a time after normal school work hours for the convenience of the paraprofessionals, and access to the College of Education Student Commons interactive website.

GOAL 5 - The District will eliminate the FCAT achievement gap by a minimum of 10 percentage points as reported by No Child Left Behind.

Funding for the Paraprofessional Transition to Teaching Program is provided from the U.S. Department of Education, Transition to Teaching Program (CFDA# 84.350). HCPS is the fiscal agent for the project and funds reside with the district.

Under the terms of the grant HCPS is responsible for facilitating the project evaluation. HCPS will coordinate the collection of assessment data to the outside evaluator for the grant. The outside evaluator will provide a copy of the annual evaluation report to the district office of Assessment and Accountability. The anticipated date for the final evaluation for the 2007-2008 school year is December 30, 2008.