Secretary DeVos Expands Commitment to Elevating the Teaching Profession through New Grant Funding for Performance-Based Compensation, Professional Development
Contact: Press Office, (202) 401-1576, press@ed.gov
WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced today nearly $100 million in grant awards to school districts, institutions of higher education, and nonprofit organizations that build on her commitment to elevating the teaching profession and empowering teachers. The three grant competitions announced earlier this year challenged education leaders to rethink teacher preparation, professional development, and compensation in order to treat teachers as valued professionals.
“Great teachers deserve to be treated as the professionals they are and to be compensated accordingly,” said Secretary DeVos. “All too often, though, they lack access to relevant professional development courses and are compensated on a step-scale ladder that treats them like cogs in a machine instead of as individuals with unique talents and interests. We’ve challenged today’s awardees to rethink all of that, and they have risen to the challenge.”
Today’s grant awards are the latest in a series of actions the Secretary has taken to elevate the teaching profession and empower teachers to chart their own professional paths. Earlier this year, the Secretary announced a new federal funding priority to rethink professional development and empower teachers, through stipends or vouchers, to select and access professional development courses and opportunities that are relevant to their personal needs or career goals. This approach would empower teachers and replace the one-size-fits-all programming dictated to them by the state or local education agency.
Many of the grants announced today will fund projects located in Qualified Opportunity Zones, bolstering workforce development and student achievement in underserved communities.
Additional information on the three grant programs and the awards announced today can be found below:
Teacher and School Leader Incentive (TSL) Program
Under TSL, the Department made 13 awards totaling $63.7 million to support local education agencies in developing, enhancing, improving, and/or implementing human capital management systems (HCMS) that include performance-based teacher and/or principal compensation systems (PBCS). Each project is specifically designed to develop, enhance, improve, and/or implement an HCMS or PBCS, or both, in collaboration with teachers, administrators, other school leaders, and members of the public. Each of the funded projects was also designed to be concentrated in high-need schools and has the goal of increasing overall student achievement and closing the achievement gap between low- and high-performing students. Recipients include 11 public school districts and charter school networks from around the country, and two nonprofit organizations that support schools and districts in urban and rural communities nationwide. All 13 awards overlap with a Qualified Opportunity Zone, and nine are from organizations that have previously received a grant under this program.