What types of professional development activities are covered by the Early Reading First Grant?
The Early Reading First program is subject to the definition of “professional development” in section 9101(34) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) (available on the Department’s website at http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/index.html). That definition lists fifteen activities that a grantee must include in its professional development, which Early Reading First projects would include in a context relevant to preschool. The activities include, in part, activities that: • improve and increase teachers’ knowledge of the academic subject that teachers teach, and • enable teachers to become highly qualified. • improve classroom management skills. • are high quality, sustained, intensive, and classroom-focused in order to have a positive and lasting impact on classroom instruction and the teacher’s performance in the classroom. • are not 1-day or short-term workshops or conferences. • support the recruiting, hiring, and training of highly qualified teachers, includin
