Washington, D.C.—The National Institute for Excellence in Teaching  (NIET) surprised two districts and six schools with recognition  awards for their commitment to TAP: The System for Teacher and Student  Advancement.  The TAP Award of Distinction honors organizations and  comes with a financial prize of $10,000.  The TAP Ambassador Award,  which comes with a financial prize of $5,000, honors a TAP school that  has gone beyond its campus to represent the principles of the TAP system  and assist others in the state and region.  The awards were presented  before over 1,200 educators and policy leaders during a special Saturday  luncheon at the 13th National TAP Conference in Washington, D.C.

TAP: The System for Teacher and Student Advancement is America's leading  comprehensive education reform offering teachers career advancement,  professional development, educator evaluation and performance-based  compensation.  For more than ten years, TAP has worked to improve  teacher effectiveness and student achievement in high-need urban, rural  and suburban schools and districts across the country.  It is managed  and supported by NIET.

"I applaud the TAP Recognition Award recipients for their efforts to  utilize the TAP system as their core strategy for improving teacher  effectiveness," said Dr. Gary Stark, president and chief executive  officer of NIET.

The TAP Award of Distinction was presented to Ascension Parish Schools in Louisiana and Knox County Schools in Tennessee.

Recipients of the TAP Ambassador Award are Battery Creek High School in Beaufort County School District, South Carolina; Constitution Elementary School in Deer Valley School District, Arizona; Donaldsonville High School in Ascension Parish Schools, Louisiana; Lincoln High School in the Lincoln Consolidated School District, Arkansas; Queen Palmer Elementary School in Colorado Springs School District 11, Colorado; and Southport Elementary School in the Metropolitan School District of Perry Township, Indiana.

For photos, videos and individual press releases on the honorees, visit the TAP newsroom at http://www.tapsystem.org/newsroom/newsroom.taf.

Initiatives of the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching are  improving the educational experience for more than 50,000 teachers and  one million students.  For more information on TAP or the 13th National  TAP Conference in Washington, D.C., visit http://www.tapsystem.org.