 |
 |
 |
Hillsborough County Public Schools Awarded Historic Teaching Grant
Hillsborough County Public Schools in Tampa, Fla., is launching a groundbreaking initiative to support effective teaching and raise student achievement, thanks to a seven-year, $100-million Intensive Partnership grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Gates Foundation awarded a total of $335 million to four recipients for the initiative, with the largest grant going to Hillsborough.
“This is a tremendous opportunity for our school district and our community,’’ said Hillsborough Schools Superintendent MaryEllen Elia. “We believe that supporting teachers is the best way to increase student achievement, and now we are in a position to create a model for the nation.”
“The Intensive Partnerships to Empower Effective Teaching program has the potential to dramatically alter the landscape of teacher quality in Hillsborough County and in districts across the nation,” said former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who chairs the Foundation for Excellence in Education. “Under the dynamic leadership of Superintendent Elia, Hillsborough County has been an innovator in addressing teacher quality issues, taking bold steps to attract and retain excellent teachers for the district’s students and classrooms. This investment will exponentially expand these efforts.”
The Hillsborough school district worked closely with the Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association (CTA) to develop its grant proposal, conducting a series of surveys and focus groups with teachers, principals, parents and community members. Gates Foundation officials noted the district’s commitment to significant reform and the collaborative working relationship between the school district and the CTA in their presentation. The district will hold a series of meetings in December and January with teachers throughout the county to discuss the initiative and answer questions.
“This gives us a unique opportunity to implement changes that we couldn’t afford to do otherwise,’’ said CTA President Jean Clements. “The success of this plan begins and ends with meaningful input from teachers.’’
The school district also is participating in a two-year national study dedicated to defining and measuring great teaching to promote excellence in education and improve student outcomes. Titled Measures of Effective Teaching (MET), this project is also funded by the Gates Foundation through a $2.3 million grant and will involve up to 1,000 teachers in approximately 100 schools. The MET project is expected to provide valuable data that will help develop reliable measures of effective teaching, and provide tools to go beyond the exclusive use of student assessments in measuring a teacher’s impact.
In 2007, the Hillsborough district — which is composed of 45 middle schools and 25 high schools — became the first district to pilot the College Board EXCELerator™ Schools program in all of its secondary schools. The objective is to raise academic expectations for minority and low-income students and increase the number of students who become college ready.
More information regarding the Intensive Partnership grant can be found at the school district’s website at www.sdhc.k12.fl.us.
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
