Los Angeles, CA—Leaders from West Goshen Elementary School in Goshen, Indiana, were surprised with the TAP School of Promise Award, which comes with a financial prize of $5,000. The award honors a school for demonstrated efforts while in the early stages of implementing TAP: The System for Teacher and Student Advancement. The Award was one of four in the nation presented before more than 1,000 educators and policy leaders attending a Saturday luncheon at the 12th National TAP Conference, Building a System of Teacher Leaders.

TAP: The System for Teacher and Student Advancement is a revolutionary education reform that offers teachers opportunities for career advancement, ongoing job-embedded professional growth, educator evaluation and performance-based compensation. The implementation of TAP's comprehensive elements is proven to strengthen teacher effectiveness and student achievement.

"Under the shared leadership of Principal Alan Metcalfe and master and mentor teachers, Goshen Elementary staff members are off to a good start in their first full year of TAP implementation," said Dr. Gary Stark, president and CEO of the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching (NIET), the non-profit public charity that manages and supports the TAP system and presents the TAP School of Promise Award. "I commend the faculty and students on this award and look forward to following their progress."

West Goshen Elementary School is one of nine TAP schools in the Goshen Community Schools district starting implementation in the 2011-2012 year. The district is part of a consortium implementing TAP through a ederal Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) grant in partnership with the Indiana Department of Education, the Center of Excellence in Leadership of Learning (CELL) housed at the University of Indianapolis, and NIET.

Under Metcalfe's guidance, the school leadership team has quickly learned and carried out their roles and responsibilities. Metcalfe routinely attends cluster meetings and ensures that all aspects of TAP are implemented. Additionally, West Goshen Elementary's master teachers have collaborated with other leadership teams on field-testing and are regarded by Goshen Community Schools Superintendent Dr. Bruce Stahly as highly effective examples.

Other School of Promise Award recipients include Carter Middle School in Strawberry Plains (Knox County Schools), Tennessee; Judkins Middle School in Pismo Beach (Lucia Mar Unified School District), California; and Aikin Elementary School in New Caney (New Caney Independent School District), Texas.

Photos of the TAP School of Promise Awards are available for download on the TAP photos page.

The TAP Recognition Awards are funded by the Lowell Milken Family Foundation.

Introduced in 1999, TAP impacts more than 20,000 teachers and 200,000 students. For more information on TAP or the 12th National TAP Conference at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles, visit www.tapsystem.org. You can also follow the TAP system's live updates on Twitter at www.twitter.com/tapsystem.