The U.S. Department of Education Wednesday announced new awards totaling nearly $115 million to support 29 Teacher and School Leader (TSL) Incentive projects, bolstering the Department’s commitment to ensuring a well-prepared, diverse, and sustainable educator workforce.
Region 18 Education Service Center was awarded $3,042,521 and Harmony Public Schools received $4,384,201, a news release said.
Through Raise the Bar: Lead the World, the Department is supporting states and school districts to eliminate educator shortages in our nation’s schools. The TSL grants help districts to address educator shortages by supporting career advancement and teacher leadership opportunities, increasing compensation, and improving educator retention.
The FY 2023 TSL grant competition prioritized activities that advance the Department’s goal of promoting educator diversity and career advancement opportunities for teachers that improve teacher retention. The funding comes at a critical point for school districts as they face significant hurdles in attracting and retaining the qualified educators and other school staff they need to best support students. These staffing challenges disproportionately impact Black and Latino students, students from low-income backgrounds, students with disabilities, and English learners.
The announcement of the awards also comes as the Department hosts the inaugural Conference on Equity in Opportunity and Teach to Lead in Denver, Colorado, where researchers, practitioners, and policy leaders will come together to discuss priorities for a diverse educator workforce, identify hurdles to building a diverse workforce, disseminate and amplify effective practices, and share information about grant funding to increase equity and access to funding opportunities.
