The Department of Education (Department) is issuing a notice inviting applications for 2023 for the Teacher and School Leader Incentive Program (TSL).
Donor Name: Department of Education
State: All States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 06/07/2023
Size of the Grant: $500,000 to $8.5 million
Grant Duration: 36 months
Details:
The purpose of TSL is to assist States, local educational agencies (LEAs), and nonprofit organizations to develop, implement, improve, or expand comprehensive performance-based compensation systems (PBCS) or human capital management systems (HCMS) for teachers, principals, or other school leaders especially for teachers, principals, or other school leaders in high-need schools who raise student growth and academic achievement and close the achievement gap between high- and low-performing students. In addition, a portion of TSL funds may be used to study the effectiveness, fairness, quality, consistency, and reliability of PBCS or HCMS for educators.
The Department is committed to strengthening the education workforce through its Raise the Bar: Lead the World initiative. The Department’s call to action seeks to transform P–12 education by promoting academic excellence, boldly improving learning conditions, and preparing their Nation’s students for global competitiveness. Consistent with that call to action, the priorities used in this competition advance Raise the Bar’s goals to boldly improve learning conditions by eliminating educator shortages, including through effective teacher retention efforts such as career advancement opportunities for teachers.
The FY 2023 TSL competition is designed to support entities in implementing, improving, or expanding their HCMS, which by definition must include a PBCS; or in implementing, improving, or expanding their PBCS. TSL is also intended to primarily serve educators in high-need schools who raise student growth and academic achievement and close the achievement gap between high- and low-performing students, although the program may also fund services for educators serving in high-need subject areas (though not necessarily in high-need schools), as determined by the LEA or by the State.
Priorities
This notice contains two absolute priorities and two competitive preference priorities.
These priorities are:
- Absolute Priority 1—Human Capital Management Systems (HCMS) or Performance Based Compensation Systems (PBCS) and Career Advancement Opportunities: Under this priority, eligible applicants must propose a project to (1) develop, implement, improve, or expand, in collaboration with teachers, principals, other school leaders, and members of the public, a PBCS or HCMS; and (2) institute career advancement opportunities characterized by increased responsibility and pay that reward and recognize effective teachers, principals, or other school leaders in high-need schools and enable them to expand their leadership and results, such as through teacher-led professional development, mentoring, coaching, hybrid roles, administrative duties, and career ladders.
- Absolute Priority 2—High-Need Schools: Under this priority, eligible applicants must concentrate proposed activities on teachers, principals, or other school leaders serving in high-need schools.
- In order to demonstrate that the TSL project is concentrated in high-need schools, the applicant must-
- Provide the requested data in paragraph (c) of this priority to demonstrate that at least the majority of the schools participating in the proposed project are high-need schools and describe how the TSL-assisted grant activities are focused on those schools;
- Include a list of all schools in which the proposed TSL-funded project would be implemented and indicate which schools are high-need schools; and
- Provide the most recently available school-level data supporting each school’s designation as a high-need school.
- In order to demonstrate that the TSL project is concentrated in high-need schools, the applicant must-
- Competitive Preference Priorities: For FY 2023 and any subsequent year in which we make awards from the list of unfunded applications from this competition, these priorities are competitive preference priorities. These priorities are:
- Competitive Preference Priority 1— Promoting Equity in Student Access to Educational Resources and Opportunities: Under this priority, an applicant must demonstrate that the applicant proposes a project designed to promote educational equity and adequacy in resources and opportunity for underserved students—
- In one or more of the following educational settings:
- Elementary school.
- Middle school.
- High school.
- Career and technical education programs.
- That examines the sources of inequity and inadequacy and implement responses, and that may include one or more of the following:
- Increasing the number and proportion of experienced, fully certified, in-field, and effective educators, and educators from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds or the communities they serve, to ensure that underserved students have educators from those backgrounds and communities and are not taught at disproportionately higher rates by uncertified, out-of-field, and novice teachers compared to their peers.
- Improving the retention of fully certified, experienced, and effective educators in high-need schools or shortage areas.
- In one or more of the following educational settings:
- Competitive Preference Priority 2— Supporting a Diverse Educator Workforce and Professional Growth to Strengthen Student Learning: Projects that are designed to increase the proportion of well-prepared, diverse, and effective educators serving students, with a focus on underserved students, through building or expanding high-poverty school districts’ capacity to hire, support, and retain an effective and diverse educator workforce, by developing data systems, timelines, and action plans for promoting inclusive and bias-free human resources practices that promote and support development of educator diversity.
Funding Information
- Estimated Available Funds: $95,452,236
- Estimated Range of Awards: $500,000 to $8.5 million
- Estimated Average Size of Awards: $4,300,000
- Project Period: Up to 36 months
Eligibility Criteria
Eligible Applicants:
- An LEA, including a charter school that is an LEA, or a consortium of LEAs;
- A State educational agency (SEA) or other State agency designated by the Chief Executive of a State to participate;
- The Bureau of Indian Education; or
- At least one nonprofit or for-profit entity
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
