Special to the Tri-State Defender

The Memphis City Schools Board of Commissioners on Wednesday unanimously 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.

Before any of the $90 million could start flowing from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Memphis City Schools officials had to sign off. School Board Commissioner Tomeka Hart affixes her signature, much to the delight of Supt. Kriner Cash. (Photos by Warren Roseborough)

Colleen Oliver of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation addresses the crowd that showed up at the Board of Education auditorium Wednesday to hear that Memphis City Schools had been selected to received a $90 million grant.

The Board also 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 Dr. 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.”

Memphis City Schools – through TEI – will be able to build upon the knowledge and dedication teachers and “transform the educational landscape of not just our city, but of the entire teaching profession,” said Cash.

Three school systems and one coalition of charter schools were 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 new Memphis City School Foundation will manage the funds, which will be funneled into Memphis twice each year for seven years. The district must contribute $36 million. Area philanthropists are looked to for about $3 million a year over the course of the grant.

MCS has already underway what Cash and the district’s leaders call an “aggressive reform agenda.” They see the TEI as the foundation for the agenda’s success.

There are four essential components to the TEI:

Measuring and defining effective teaching;

Improving the ways that we recruit, hire, and retain teachers;

Better supporting, utilizing, and compensating existing teachers;

Improving the surrounding context for teachers.

If all works as planned, TEI would improve student achievement, change how Memphians think about Memphis City Schools and position 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.”

MCS and the Memphis Education Association have collaborated on the development of TEI.

“The Memphis Education Association is committed to supporting the Memphis City Schools’ plan to improve teacher effectiveness throughout our district,” said Stephanie Fitzgerald, MEA president.

“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.”

The announcement of the Gates Foundation grant drew praise from Mayor A C Wharton Jr. who attended the special City Schools Board meeting. Wharton said a city is judged by its dedication to its future. And while the grant is to the City Schools, he said it reflects a commitment to the city’s future.

Newly appointed County Mayor Joe Ford, who also attended, pledged to do anything possible to support the initiative.

Deputy Supt. Irving Hamer said 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,” he said.