(MEMPHIS, TENN.) - The Memphis City Schools Board of Commissioners approved an Intensive Partnership grant of $90 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to fund the Teacher Effectiveness Initiative (TEI), a focused plan to improve teacher effectiveness in order to empower teachers for student success. Additionally, the Board approved the acceptance of a $1.9 million grant to fund research designed to help determine the most appropriate process by which to measure effective teaching.

"We know that teachers are the foundation for our students' success and, ultimately, our community's success," said Kriner Cash, Superintendent of Memphis City Schools. "The support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation provides a great catalyst for us to move forward with our Teacher Effectiveness Initiative, helping us grow and support effective teachers for every single classroom in our city. Through TEI, we will build upon the knowledge and dedication of one of Memphis' greatest resources, our teachers, and transform the educational landscape of not just our city, but of the entire teaching profession."

Memphis was one of three school systems in the country and one coalition of charter schools under consideration for an Intensive Partnership grant. "The fact that our city was selected is a testament to the quality and vision of our school leaders, the foundation's confidence in our ability to effect real change and the enormous potential that exists within our school district," said Cash.

The TEI will be the foundation for success of the Memphis City School District leadership's aggressive reform agenda that is already underway.

There are four essential components to the TEI:

• (1) measuring and defining effective teaching;
• (2) improving the ways that we recruit, hire, and retain teachers;
• (3) better supporting, utilizing, and compensating existing teachers; and
• (4) improving the surrounding context for teachers.

While the TEI's primary goal is to help develop teachers, students will be the true beneficiaries. High value teachers create high value students, who help develop a high value workforce for the city's future. As a result of its reforms, TEI will improve student achievement, changing how Memphians think about Memphis City Schools and positioning the city for future economic and social progress.

"The Gates Foundation's decision to choose Memphis is a real cause for celebration," said Barbara Hyde, President of the Hyde Family Foundations. "This announcement validates the hard work that has gone before, and offers an infusion of resources, energy, and hope for the work that lies ahead, as we all come together and focus our efforts on making our schools great."

TEI was designed and will be executed with the participation of and in partnership with the Memphis Education Association, the representative labor union for the teachers of Memphis City Schools. MCS and MEA have collaborated extensively in the development of TEI, maintaining a candid, frequent, open dialogue throughout the process with the district's teachers about how this plan will support and benefit them.

"The Memphis Education Association is committed to supporting the Memphis City Schools' plan to improve teacher effectiveness throughout our district," said Stephanie Fitzgerald, President, Memphis Education Association. "We know that ‘buy-in' from our members will be critical to the success of this initiative, and there is every indication that this ‘buy-in' will happen here in Memphis."

While other cities and districts are implementing similar plans, Memphis is at the forefront of this effort. Fueled by a groundswell of local public attention, MCS is moving ahead of many other urban school districts across the country.

"We are committed to doing everything possible to ensure our students benefit from effective teaching," said Deputy Superintendent Irving Hamer. "Effective teachers have always been essential to students' success—and never more so than today, with higher state standards and an increasingly competitive global economy. Many of our students are fortunate to have terrific teachers, and we must strive to ensure that every classroom is led by an effective teacher in order to graduate every student college- and/or career-ready."