Quality Teacher Recruitment Grant Program

The Quality Teacher Recruitment Grant Program is administered by the Colorado Department of Education under Section 22-94-101, C.R.S., established through Senate Bill 13-260. The program authorizes the Colorado Department of Education to award grants to organizations, including educator preparation programs, that collaborate with school districts or boards of cooperative educational services to recruit, select, train, and retain highly qualified teachers in areas that have historically experienced difficulty attracting and retaining quality teachers. The program also provides for the Colorado Department of Education to contract with a third-party evaluator to track and review program outcomes. The 2024-2025 evaluation identifies Omni Institute as the evaluation contractor and describes the program's objective as supporting recruitment, preparation, placement, and retention of licensed teachers in Colorado school districts that have difficulty attracting and retaining high-quality teachers. The program supports approaches intended to strengthen teacher pipelines in high-needs Colorado communities. The evaluation report describes three funded program models: the Public Education & Business Coalition Teacher Residency, Teach for America Colorado, and Fort Lewis College. These programs use different recruitment, preparation, placement, mentoring, and professional-development approaches. PEBCTR operates statewide and primarily partners with rural and small rural districts while also serving urban districts with specific needs. TFA-Colorado operates in Colorado and focuses on high-needs communities and partner districts. Fort Lewis College uses a targeted, relationships-based, homegrown recruitment strategy designed to increase the number of licensed teachers in high-needs districts in Southwestern Colorado. In fiscal year 2024-25, the evaluation report lists program funding of $1,917,500 for PEBCTR, $958,750 for TFA-Colorado, and $80,000 for Fort Lewis College, totaling $2,956,250. Applicants are required to have a documented history of recruiting, training, and retaining highly qualified teachers in areas of Colorado and other states that have historically experienced difficulty attracting teachers. They must also demonstrate that teachers they have placed achieved high academic growth among their students. Participating organizations work in collaboration with school districts or boards of cooperative educational services. The program requires applicants to obtain 100 percent matching funds from private or corporate donors and/or one or more school districts or local governments. The supplied sources do not provide an individual award minimum or maximum for the current application year, so no award floor or ceiling can be established from the available material. Access to the current application is restricted. For the 2026-27 application year, the Colorado Department of Education states that the Request for Applications is open only to current recipients of the Quality Teacher Recruitment Program and organizations that applied during the 2025-26 cycle but were not awarded. The application is closed to the public. The supplied program page does not state a current application opening date, final application deadline, pre-application deadline, submission portal, required application forms, application questions, or award-notification date. Consequently, those mechanics and dates cannot be established from the supplied sources. The page also states that the Request for Application for the 2025-27 grant cycle is closed. Program outcomes are formally evaluated. The evaluation examines teacher recruitment, placement, retention, licensure, endorsements, subjects and grade levels taught, students served, and educator effectiveness. The July 2025 Omni Institute report states that 513 individuals from the three evaluated programs served throughout the entire 2024-25 school year, including 257 from PEBCTR, 235 from TFA-Colorado, and 21 from Fort Lewis College. The report estimates that QTR Grant Program teachers served 42,172 students during 2024-25. Retention for evaluation purposes is measured based on teachers continuing to teach in QTR grant-partner districts, reflecting the program's emphasis on historically hard-to-serve Colorado districts. The Colorado Department of Education program page identifies Canon City Schools, Fort Lewis College, Morgan County School District, Public Education & Business Coalition, St. Vrain Valley School District, and Teach for America as awardees for the closed 2025-27 grant cycle. The page does not name an individual program contact or provide a dedicated QTR email or telephone number; it directs users to Educator Talent for further information. The supplied page provides the Colorado Department of Education's general telephone number, 720-739-3238, at 201 East Colfax Avenue, Denver, Colorado 80203. The available sources establish multiple historical funding cycles, but they do not provide an explicit annual, biennial, or other recurrence statement sufficient to calculate a future application deadline.

Demonstrate a documented history of recruiting, training, and retaining highly qualified teachers in historically hard-to-staff areas; substantiate high academic growth among students taught by placed teachers; clearly establish collaboration with school districts or BOCES; secure and document the required 100% matching funds.