Districts and states planning to apply for Teacher Incentive Fund Round 4 (TIF4) funding need to take steps to engage teachers and administrators, their Boards of Education, and the public in planning for applications.
The TIF 4 draft regulations place emphasis on the core elements of both performance- based compensation and human capital management systems. Additionally, The US Department of Education (US ED) looks for grant proposals that demonstrate an applicant has already engaged stakeholders on these core elements. The RFP for this round will be released on May 17, with proposals due July 2. Winning grants are expected to be announced in late August. This timeline means it is not too early to get started!
The proposed regulations, which are subject to comment and change, place greater emphasis on several areas for TIF 4. Applicants will need to make a direct connection between their state and district teacher and principal evaluation systems and the TIF grant. Therefore, TIF initiatives should work seamlessly with the new teacher and principal evaluation systems being implemented through Race to the Top, as well as those being implemented under new state legislation or through the US ED waivers granted to states through the ESEA Flexibility process. Performance-based compensation will need to be awarded based on teacher evaluation and can also be based on teachers accepting additional professional responsibilities and career ladder positions.
In addition, measures of student and teacher success under both TIF and new teacher and principal evaluation systems need to include measures of student academic growth. Many states are implementing value-added measures of student growth in tested subjects which should be incorporated into the TIF grant. Others are using student growth percentiles.
However, some states and districts are seeking an alternative route: to measure student growth and improve instruction by using Student Learning Objectives (SLOs). The Community Training and Assistance Center (CTAC) has been developing, implementing, and evaluating SLOs as a measure of student growth for more than a decade and currently supports SLO projects in Charlotte-Mecklenburg (NC), Volusia County (FL), and throughout New York State.
For more information on the proposed rule for TIF4, please visit https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2012/02/29 (look under “Education Department” heading)
For more information on CTAC and SLOs, please visit www.ctacusa.com/slos.html.
Core Education is pleased to have assisted The College-Ready Promise in securing TIF funding in a previous round. For information about our project management and grant writing services, see www.CoreEducationLLC.com/services.php
