History and Purpose of the SHEEO K-16 Professional Development Collaborative
Originally started as the SHEEO/Eisenhower Higher Education Coordinators Network in 1993, this group was established to foster interstate sharing and dissemination of innovative and successful professional development programs as part of the Eisenhower Professional Development Program. With the approval of President Bush's "No Child Left Behind Act" in 2002, the Eisenhower Professional Development Program was discontinued under that name. In turn, the Eisenhower Network changed its name to become the SHEEO K-16 Professional Development Collaborative.
Title II, Part A of the No Child Left Behind Act combines funding from the Eisenhower program with funding from other teacher quality-related programs (e.g. Class-Size Reduction). The focus of the program was expanded to include professional development for paraprofessionals and principals as well as teachers and to support programs outside of math and science. Currently, two and a half percent of the funds appropriated for this purpose support grant programs administered by state higher education agencies. State higher education agencies use these federal dollars to provide grants on a competitive basis to partnerships consisting of, at minimum, a higher education institution and the division of the institution that prepares teachers and principals, a school of arts and sciences and a high-need local educational agency for sustained and intensive high-quality professional development programs. Across the country, programs are being developed to improve teaching and learning in the classrooms, promote systemic reform in K-12 and postsecondary education, support innovation and change in teacher education programs, and provide opportunities for school-college collaboration.
