About TIF

The Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) is a federal competitive grant program to ensure that students in high-need schools have better access to effective teachers and principals, especially in hard-to-staff subject areas. The federal TIF grant supports projects designed to reward effective educators and provide leadership opportunities and career pathways to educators.

Since 2006, the U.S. Department of Education has awarded four cohorts of TIF grants to states, school districts, and charter schools. The program has funded 131 projects and served over 2,000 schools in more than 300 urban, suburban, and rural school districts in 36 states and Washington, D.C.

Purpose

The Louisiana Department of Education's grant will build on existing efforts to strengthen the teaching profession and expand access to excellent teachers and leaders in rural schools. The grant will provide funding for:

Educator preparation, as part of the nationally recognized Believe and Prepare program, including grants to teacher preparation providers and school system leaders as they shift to yearlong residency models, and stipends for undergraduate residents and mentor teachers;

Improvements to tools for educator goal-setting, including access to high-quality "check-up" tests that align with state standards and reduce costly and unhelpful tests;

Opportunities and assistance for rural districts to attract and retain effective, in-demand educators through updated approaches to compensation.