Gates Foundation offers Memphis City Schools chance at millions to help teachers

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on Tuesday offered Memphis City Schools a chance at its $500 million effort to improve U.S. teacher quality.

Under a memorandum of understanding the district and foundation plan to sign, the school system -- if selected in the fall -- could receive nearly $100 million over seven years.

It would use the money to enhance teacher recruitment, professional development and school leadership.

"This is extraordinarily good news for Memphis City Schools and the city of Memphis," MCS Supt. Kriner Cash said from his home late Tuesday. "I am very pleased to announce that the Gates Foundation top brass called us (Tuesday) and invited us to be in the next stage for consideration."

Eight other districts are in the running, but it is unknown how many of the coveted sponsorships will be awarded. The Tulsa, Okla., district reported late Tuesday that its proposal had been turned down.

"They only let us know that we are moving forward and were careful not to give us details about anyone else," said board member Tomeka Hart.

Hart was a member of the team that presented the Memphis proposal in Seattle early this month.

Late last year, Bill Gates said he was making teacher effectiveness the foundation's No. 1 goal in the United States, hoping to improve the quality of instruction so more students, particularly minorities, would do well enough in high school to excel in college.

The foundation is selecting cities around the nation to delve into issues that affect teacher quality.

In Memphis, for instance, nearly 70 percent of prospective job candidates who withdrew their applications in the 2005-06 hiring season would have accepted an offer from the district if it had come earlier, according to research included in the district's proposal.

"If you wait until late in the season to make your hires, your strongest candidates have gotten offers from other places," said Victoria Van Cleef of The New Teacher Project here.

Internal data shared with community leaders shows that of the 644 new teachers in the district in 2004, only 378 remained on staff three years later.

One of the key factors in their choice to leave was the quality of their school principal.

"We lost a lot of good teachers because we don't provide conditions for them to stay in the first three years," Cash said. "We're losing good talent early on in the career. ... We need to improve that."

But the district also needs to "make smarter decisions about who we keep and who we exit," he said.

The proposal includes strategies to support teachers, including more effective evaluations and encouragement to move into the highest echelons of the profession, where Cash says annual pay will range from $75,000 to $100,000.

Tennessee is the only state that tracks teacher effectiveness in key test score subjects, which provides years of data about who is already effective.

The invitation to complete the memorandum of understanding, Cash said, is "a clear, clear signal."

"Bill and Melinda Gates will make the ultimate selection" late this fall, Cash said.

"At this point, it is ours to lose, and we are not going to do that."

Competing school districts still in the running

Atlanta

Hillsborough, Fla.

Prince George's County, Md.

West Palm Beach, Fla.

Omaha, Neb.

Denver

Los Angeles Charter School Management Corp.

Pittsburgh