During 1994 and 1995, the program also offered financial incentives to military personnel and school districts to participate in the program. Program Placed Military Personnel in Teaching, but Numbers May Be Understated

According to TTT records, 3,821 of the 13,756 people accepted into the program were hired as teachers from fiscal years 1994 through 2000. Of those participants hired as teachers, over 90 percent remained in teaching past the first year. Of these participants, 3,821, or 28 percent, became teachers. More than 85 percent of the TTT teachers were hired in states with TTT offices. When the stipends and incentive grants ended after 1995, it became difficult to track the number of people using the program’s resources because they were less inclined to complete application forms and respond to surveys that tracked program retention. TTT Teachers Taught in Areas Where Teacher Shortages Existed

According to TTT program records and NCEI survey data, a higher percentage of TTT teachers overall taught math, science, special education, and vocational education and taught in inner city schools and high schools than all teachers nationwide. Several Factors Could Have Affected Program Participation

Several factors may have affected—both positively and negatively—the number of military personnel applying to the TTT program and the number hired as teachers. Stipends. Incentive grants. Reduction in supply of applicants. We are sending copies of this report to the Honorable Roderick R. Paige, Secretary of the Department of Education, and other interested parties.
Why GAO Did This Study

In response to a shortage of math and science teachers and reductions in U.S. military personnel, Congress created the Troops to Teachers (TTT) program in 1992. Until 1995, the program, which was run by the Defense Department, offered stipends to program participants and incentive grants to school districts to hire TTT teachers. Congress transferred the program from DOD to the Department of Education in 1999. This report reviews the program from its beginning in January 1994 until its transfer to Education.

What GAO Found

GAO found that 13,756 former military personnel applied to the program and were accepted. Of these, 3,821 were hired as teachers from 1994 through 2000; more than 90 percent of those applicants hired as teachers remained in teaching after the first year. However, these participation figures most likely represent the minimum number of former military personnel who used the program's services and became teachers because the figures include only those persons who formally applied to the TTT program and who completed follow-up surveys. Compared with all teachers nationwide, a higher percentage of TTT teachers overall taught math, science, special education, and vocational education and taught in inner city schools and high schools. Factors such as stipends, incentive grants, economic conditions, and state initiatives may have influenced the number of people who applied to the program and became teachers.