About Lowell Milken
"The only people who develop human potential and character as a calling are educators. This puts the men and women who choose to be teachers and principals in a position of unique power to help secure our children's future." -NIET Chairman and TAP Founder Lowell Milken
Lowell Milken's lifelong commitment to education reform has produced some of the country's most innovative means to elevate the teaching profession, including TAP™: The System for Teacher and Student Advancement. Founded in 1999, TAP was conceived by Lowell Milken to significantly improve teacher recruitment, retention, practices, motivation and performance. A comprehensive school reform system, TAP provides teachers and administrators with powerful opportunities to pursue multiple career paths, receive ongoing daily-applied professional growth, participate in instructionally focused accountability and earn additional compensation and bonuses based on multiple measures of performance. This multi-tiered formula has resulted in higher levels of achievement among students and schools where TAP is implemented in comparison to their respective non-TAP counterparts.
Based on TAP's rapid growth, strong results and high demand, Lowell created the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching (NIET) in 2005 as an independent public charity to support and manage the TAP system nationally and to foster powerful teacher quality initiatives through the NIET Best Practices Center. NIET forges partnerships with schools, governments, corporations and foundations to ensure TAP's effectiveness and sustainability in a diverse set of urban, rural and suburban schools across America. TAP impacts approximately 20,000 teachers and 200,000 students, and growing exponentially, as it continues to be a proven force in K-12 education reform.
The NIET Best Practices Center provides innovative services, support and solutions to schools, districts and states to improve educator effectiveness. Based on more than ten years of experience in teacher quality initiatives, the Best Practices Center works with states, districts and schools to design powerful systems for teacher evaluation, job-embedded professional development, career advancement opportunities, performance-based compensation, and teacher leadership in schools.
For the past three decades, Lowell Milken has also led the efforts of the Milken Family Foundation, which he co-founded in 1982 and has since served as its chairman. In 1985, Lowell Milken created and developed the Milken Educator Awards in order to attract, develop, motivate and retain the best talent for the American teaching profession. Based on the belief that the most talented educators should be honored and emulated—as are the most talented people in film, sports and many other professions—Lowell Milken has expanded the program from the first presentation of awards to 12 outstanding California educators in 1987 to a national network of more than 2,500 exemplary educators in every setting in the nation. Today, the Milken Educator Awards marks 25 years of excellence as the nation's preeminent teacher-recognition program.
Named the "Oscars of Teaching" by Teacher magazine, the Milken Educator Awards recognizes exceptional teachers with unrestricted $25,000 rewards in surprise ceremonies surrounded by their students and faculty. The Milken Family Foundation has devoted more than $135 million in funding to the Milken Educator Awards since inception, including over $63 million in individual Awards to more than 2,500 recipients plus powerful professional development opportunities such as forums and networking with leading education stakeholders. The Milken Educator Award has become a national symbol of the crucial role that outstanding educators play in strengthening the skills, knowledge and experiences of the next generation of Americans and in encouraging talented young people to consider teaching as a career.
Another organization creating exceptional learning opportunities for educators, students and the community at large is the Lowell Milken Center. Founded in 2007, the Lowell Milken Center facilitates and develops powerful project-based learning experiences through plays, exhibits, essays and websites in which students and teachers uncover the stories of unsung heroes who have made a profound and positive difference in the world. The Lowell Milken Center's inspiring projects have reached more than 200,000 students and over 3,000 schools in all 50 states—and it continues its rapid expansion.
Further education efforts championed by Lowell include High Tech Los Angeles, a public charter school that engages students with a rigorous curriculum rich in technology and complemented by real-world internships. Officially dedicated in 2004, HTLA achieved California Distinguished School status in record time.
With the recent establishment of the Lowell Milken Institute for Business Law and Policy at UCLA School of Law, Lowell's work in education extends greater opportunities to UCLA law students, faculty, young law practitioners and alumni. Building on UCLA School of Law's already outstanding programs, the Lowell Milken Institute at UCLA School of Law provides expanded studies on business law and policy, clinical experience and additional research opportunities for faculty, along with faculty fellowships, student scholarships and awards. The knowledge, skills and experience available through the Lowell Milken Institute will help ensure that UCLA law students are prepared to not only assume leadership roles in the practice of law, but also in the areas of business, government and philanthropy.
Lowell Milken is actively promoting excellence in education as well as creating strong and vibrant communities, in business and philanthropy. Lowell Milken is co-founder of Knowledge Universe Education, the largest early childhood education company in the world and as chairman of London-based Heron International, a worldwide property development leader. Lowell Milken's accomplishments have been acknowledged with honors from the National Association of State Boards of Education, the Horace Mann League, the National Association of Secondary School Principals, Hebrew Union College and UCLA School of Law.
Lowell Milken's education reform efforts draw inspiration from the talented teachers he was privileged to have in the California public school system, which he attended from elementary through college. Lowell Milken studied at UC Berkeley, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude, and received the School of Business Administration's Most Outstanding Student Award. Lowell Milken received his law degree from UCLA, where he was awarded the academic honors of Order of the Coif and served on the UCLA Law Review.
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NIET Chairman and TAP Founder Lowell Milken moderates the panel, "Setting a High Bar: Implementing Effective Education Systems Reform."
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Think About This takes a hard look at some of the most daunting challenges American K-12 education has faced for more than four decades, and encourages participation in helping to improve the system.
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