Coonley is one of the newest TAP schools.

What Is the Teacher Advancement Program (TAP)™?
We all want the best possible education for our children, and research has shown that the single most important school-related factor for student success is having a talented teacher in the classroom. But unless we act now, we will come far short of having the talented teachers required to ensure that all children receive the high quality education they need and deserve.

More Teachers, Better Teachers

To address this problem, the Miliken Family Foundation created the Teacher Advancement Program (TAP)™, a bold new strategy to attract, retain, develop and motivate talented people to the teaching profession. Because of its broad-based support, results, and high demand, TAP is now operated by the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching (NIET), a public charity.

TAP's goal is to draw more talented people to the teaching profession—and keep them there—by making it more attractive and rewarding to be a teacher. TAP provides the opportunity for good teachers to earn higher salaries and advance professionally, just as in other careers, without leaving the classroom.

At the same time, TAP helps teachers become the best they can be, by giving them opportunities to learn better teaching strategies and holding them accountable for their performance.

TAP™ is based on four elements:

Under the current system, the most common way for good teachers to increase their salaries is to become administrators. Unfortunately, this takes them out of the classroom, where they often are needed most.

TAP allows teachers to pursue a variety of positions throughout their careers—career, mentor and master teacher—depending upon their interests, abilities and accomplishments. As they move up the ranks, their qualifications, roles and responsibilities increase and thus, so does their compensation. This allows good teachers to advance without having to leave the classroom. al Growth

Teachers seldom have time to learn new techniques and strategies that would help them become better teachers. Also, few teachers get the chance to collaborate with each other or to learn from those with more experience.

TAP restructures the school schedule to provide time during the regular school day for teachers to meet, learn, plan, mentor and share with other teachers, so they can constantly improve the quality of their instruction and hence, increase their students' academic achievement. This collaborative time allows teachers to learn new instructional strategies and have greater opportunity to become more effective teachers.

Ongoing Applied Professional Growth in TAP schools focuses on identified needs based on instructional issues that specific teachers face with specific students. Teachers use data to target these areas of need, instead of trying to implement the latest fad in professional development.

Most people agree that the best teachers should be paid more than ineffective teachers. But what makes an effective teacher?

TAP has developed a comprehensive system for evaluating teachers and rewards them for how well they teach their students. Teachers are held accountable for meeting the TAP Teaching Skills, Knowledge and Responsibility Standards, as well as for the academic growth of their students. on

In most professions, people are rewarded and promoted for how well they perform their jobs. Unfortunately, teaching has too often been the exception to this rule.

TAP changes the current system by compensating teachers according to their roles and responsibilities, their performance in the classroom, and the performance of their students. The new system also encourages districts to offer competitive salaries to those who teach in "hard-to-staff" subjects and schools.

By combining these elements in an effective strategy for reform, TAP is working to turn teaching from a revolving-door profession into a highly rewarding career choice. The real reward will be the outstanding education available to each and every student in the country.