Federal

Ed. Dept. Seeks Bids for New NCLB Help Centers

By Debra Viadero — June 14, 2005 2 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

The Department of Education is seeking proposals for 21 comprehensive centers spread across the country that will provide expertise to states and school districts working to meet the demands of the No Child Left Behind Act.

The new centers, which are financed at $43 million this fiscal year and possibly as much as $60 million in fiscal 2006, will replace a web of comprehensive assistance centers and mathematics-and-science centers that span the country now. Unlike the old centers, though, the new ones will be more tightly focused on schools’ needs under the 3-year-old federal law.

The U.S. Department of Education has posted its formal request for proposals.

“People have been complaining about the lack of funding for technical assistance for NCLB,” said James W. Kohlmoos, the president of the National Education Knowledge Industry Association, a Washington-based trade group for educational research organizations. “Well, now it looks like there will be almost $60 million in technical assistance the department will be able to leverage in implementing the programs of NCLB.”

The centers were created under the Technical Assistance Act of 2002, which calls for at least one such center in each of the 10 geographical regions that the department’s regional education laboratories serve now. The idea was that the two entities would work hand in hand, with the labs specializing in research and development, and the centers offering on-the-ground technical help. But the department’s proposal, published in the June 3 Federal Register, departs from the original law in a couple of ways.

First, it calls for 16 regional centers and five content centers that would focus on areas that are key to the implementation of the federal education law. Those areas are: teacher quality, assessment and accountability, instruction, innovation and improvement, and high schools.

“We’re not expecting every regional center to be a jack-of-all-trades,” said Kathryn M. Doherty, the special assistant to the assistant secretary in the department’s office of elementary and secondary education, which oversees the project. “The content centers can provide targeted information, guidance, and focus.”

Regional Lines

Second, the plan carves the country up into regions different from those in the regional-laboratory system.

That part of the plan concerns Mr. Kohlmoos. “It seems like it’s chopped up in ways that might cause confusion in the future,” he said.

But Ms. Doherty said the lines were drawn that way in order to group states with similar populations, educational needs, and educational governance systems.

Proposed funding for the centers includes $6 million in federal special education aid. The money would be used to integrate technical assistance for special education students into the centers’ work.

Applicants have until June 23 to notify the Education Department that they intend to apply to run a center.

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Assessment Webinar
Reflections on Evidence-Based Grading Practices: What We Learned for Next Year
Get real insights on evidence-based grading from K-12 leaders.
Content provided by Otus
Mathematics Webinar How to Build Students’ Confidence in Math
Learn practical tips to build confident mathematicians in our webinar.
Student Achievement K-12 Essentials Forum How to Build and Scale Effective K-12 State & District Tutoring Programs
Join this free virtual summit to learn from education leaders, policymakers, and industry experts on the topic of high-impact tutoring.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Federal Viral AI Gaffe and Ed. Dept. Cuts: How Educators View Linda McMahon So Far
Here's what educators think about the education secretary's performance so far.
6 min read
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon speaks at the ASU+GSV Summit at the Grand Hyatt in downtown San Diego on April 8, 2025.
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon speaks at the ASU+GSV Summit at the Grand Hyatt in downtown San Diego on April 8, 2025.
Ariana Drehsler for Education Week
Federal Inside Trump's Full-Force Approach to Ban Trans Athletes and DEI in Schools
Trump’s return to the White House has brought a new era of aggressive investigations of entities that flout the president's orders.
8 min read
Education Secretary Linda McMahon accompanied by Attorney General Pam Bondi, right, speaks during a news conference at the Department of Justice headquarters in Washington, Wednesday, April 16, 2025.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon, accompanied by Attorney General Pam Bondi, right, speaks during a news conference at the Department of Justice headquarters in Washington, Wednesday, April 16, 2025. The pair were announcing a lawsuit against the state of Maine over state policies that allow transgender athletes to compete in girls' sports.
Jose Luis Magana/AP
Federal Letter to the Editor Public Education Benefits the American Worker and the American Economy
Our nation’s schools are central to our nation’s health and future, says this letter to the editor.
1 min read
Education Week opinion letters submissions
Gwen Keraval for Education Week
Federal Opinion Federal Education Research Has Been 'Shredded.' What's Driving This?
How to understand why the Trump administration's axe fell so heavily on the Institute of Education Sciences.
8 min read
The United States Capitol building as a bookcase filled with red, white, and blue policy books in a Washington DC landscape.
Luca D'Urbino for Education Week