"If we are to achieve the promise of education for all young people, we must focus reform efforts on talented teachers and principals — people who are the heart and soul of education, the inspiration for the young people they teach. Yes, if we are to make education the answer for every young person in our nation, then we need to find ways to elevate the teaching profession by providing powerful opportunities for advancement, professional growth and competitive compensation."
—Lowell Milken
Founder, National Institute for Excellence in Teaching

Established by Lowell Milken in 2005, the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching (NIET) is dedicated to providing classrooms across the country with educators who are high-caliber, highly motivated and of the highest standard in teacher effectiveness.

A key focus of NIET is supporting and managing its signature initiative, TAP™: The System for Teacher and Student Advancement. This comprehensive, multi-tiered system provides teachers and principals with powerful opportunities to excel, and, in turn, improve student achievement. Lowell Milken created TAP in 1999 with four elements that work together to develop the types of skilled educators all of America's students deserve. Through multiple career paths, ongoing applied professional growth, instructionally focused accountability, and performance-based compensation, TAP restructures schools and revitalizes learning environments, allowing talented educators and their students to reach higher levels of excellence.

TAP is yielding impressive student gains among tens of thousands of students around the country, particularly in districts with a history of low achievement rates. In the report, "The Effects of Performance-Based Teacher Pay on Student Achievement," by Sally Hudson and published by the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, Hudson concluded that TAP schools outperformed similar non-TAP schools when evaluating 151 schools in 10 states. In addition, she found that the effects of TAP on student achievement are larger and more cost-effective in comparison to other education reforms.

NIET's role in building partnerships with schools, governments, corporations and foundations is instrumental to TAP's effectiveness and sustainability. NIET is hard at work overseeing the significant expansion of TAP across the country, thanks to 14 new federal Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) grants awarded in September 2010. TAP will serve more than 20,000 teachers and 200,000 students in the 2011-2012 school year, doubling its current impact.