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April 17, 2009
HAZEL PARK/HILDA KNOFF ELEMENTARY IN NEW ORLEANS AREA RECEIVES $50,000 TAP FOUNDER’S AWARD
Prestigious honor created by education reform pioneer Lowell Milken recognizes schools for exceptional implementation of Teacher Advancement Program
Los Angeles, CA—Teacher Advancement Program (TAP)™ Founder Lowell Milken tonight surprised Hazel Park/Hilda Knoff Elementary School, located in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, with the prestigious TAP Founder's Award for its exceptional implementation of the comprehensive school reform. Funded by the Lowell Milken Family Foundation, the national award comes with a $50,000 cash prize to help achieve TAP goals in subsequent school years.
Lowell presented the Award at the 9th Annual National Teacher Advancement Program Conference, held at the Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles, California. Hundreds of TAP participants from across the country were in the audience, as well as other influential educators and leaders who are helping to shape the future of education.
“I am pleased to present Hazel Park/Hilda Knoff with the TAP Founder's Award for establishing 'teacher excellence, student achievement, and opportunities for all'," said TAP Founder Lowell Milken. "Hazel Park/Hilda Knoff has fully implemented the TAP elements with distinction and achieved notable value-added student achievement growth. The school also serves as an important resource of best practice and leadership to the region, state and nation."
Since adopting TAP in the 2003-04 school year, Hazel Park/Hilda Knoff—where roughly 75 percent of the diverse student body is eligible for free or reduced-price lunch—has strengthened the effectiveness of its faculty and demonstrated steady increases in student achievement. Teachers are well-prepared and supported to achieve their goals, thanks to the implementation of TAP's multiple career paths providing opportunities for more responsibilities and commensurate pay as "master" and "mentor" teachers; ongoing applied professional growth in the format of "cluster group" meetings for teachers to collaborate on effective instructional strategies tailored to specific student needs; instructionally focused accountability through classroom evaluations built on clearly defined, research-based rubrics; and performance-based compensation based on teachers' roles and responsibilities, their performance in the classroom, and the learning growth of their students.
Hazel Park/Hilda Knoff teachers find the professional growth so helpful that, according to Principal Karen Bucher, they request the classroom observations and feedback from mentor and master teachers. The continuous support has also helped the school attract and retain educators, even after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina made this more difficult than ever before.
"When teachers are supported, they will be successful. Through the collaboration done in TAP, we have grown as a faculty and built relationships that strengthen our school as a whole," said Bucher. "Our faculty is now a learning community where everyone is a stakeholder in student achievement, tracking and monitoring student needs on an ongoing basis. We are a cohesive unit in presenting a high-quality education for our students."
Hazel Park/Hilda Knoff's unified efforts toward improving teacher excellence and targeting areas of student need have reaped significant learning gains. The school increased its state school performance score (SPS) from 87.6 in the 2002-03 year before TAP to 107.7 by 2007-08, earning the ranking of top non-magnet elementary school in Jefferson Parish. In addition, Hazel Park/Hilda Knoff received the highest value-added score of "5"—measuring how much students learn from year to year. This means that the school showed "far above average" achievement gains compared to similar schools throughout the state.
The TAP Founder's Award, started in 2008, recognizes one outstanding TAP school every year. TAP Founder's Award recipients are selected without their knowledge by the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching, based on extraordinary distinction in the following areas: full and proficient implementation of TAP's four elements, achievement according to state or federal measures, and notable recognition as a center and resource of best practices. The award considers schools participating in TAP for at least three years.
The TAP Founder's Award yields lasting benefits that will strengthen the individual school and support its teachers by means of prominent public recognition; opportunities to substantively interact on issues of teacher quality and student learning with leaders from government, business and academia; and stipends for attendance at conferences. Forest Hill Elementary School in Rapides Parish, Louisiana, received the TAP Founder’s Award last year.
Initially launched by the Milken Family Foundation in 1999, TAP is now operated by the National Institute of Excellence in Teaching (NIET), a nonprofit public charity established in 2005 to run and expand TAP. TAP is currently impacting some 6,200 teachers and 72,000 students across America. For more information, visit www.talentedteachers.org. To download media photos from the event, click here.
Sarah Acorn, Middle School Humanities Teacher, Discovery Canyon Campus, Colorado Springs, Colorado
"Having mentor and master teachers is the most beneficial element of TAP. One huge bonus I've seen as a teacher is automatically having someone I know I can go to when I struggle with getting kids to learn a concept or behavior in the classroom . . ."