Los Angeles, CA—Lowell Milken, founder of TAP: The System for Teacher and Student Advancement, today surprised faculty of Pecan Grove Primary School in Ascension Parish, Louisiana, with the prestigious TAP Founder’s Award. The award, which includes a $50,000 prize, was presented at the 15th National TAP Conference in Los Angeles, California, before more than 1,200 educators, policymakers, researchers and influential leaders in education and business.

Funded by the Lowell Milken Family Foundation, the TAP Founder's Award is given annually to one school for exceptional efforts to implement and represent the principles of TAP: The System for Teacher and Student Advancement.

The TAP System is America's leading comprehensive educator effectiveness model that aligns teacher leadership, daily job-embedded professional development, meaningful evaluation and support, and opportunities for competitive, performance-based compensation. TAP has been on the ground for more than a decade supporting schools, districts and the states in their missions to strengthen instruction and student achievement.

Principal Marjorie Meyers, who has served as Pecan Grove's principal since its opening in 2008, accepted the award on the school's behalf.

"The faculty of Pecan Grove Primary are relentless in their pursuit of providing each student with the high-quality education necessary to succeed in an ever-changing world," said Lowell Milken. "I commend Principal Meyers and her team for making educator effectiveness the centerpiece of achieving extraordinary growth at Pecan Grove, setting high expectations, and building strong leadership capacity so that this growth can continue."

Since implementing the TAP System in the 2011-12 school year, Pecan Grove Primary has focused on advancing educator effectiveness by working as a team to deliver top-notch instruction in every classroom. Teacher leaders guide weekly professional development and provide individual coaching in classrooms. This ongoing support is based on student data and delivers strategies proven effective with students. Evaluations of teacher practice are followed by feedback and support for improvement; and a performance-based compensation system rewards educators for increased skills and student learning growth as well as taking on leadership roles.

Read the full press release at NIET.org