Hillsborough school district wins $2.2 million Gates grant

Hillsborough Public Schools has won a $2.2 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for research focusing on what makes teachers effective and students more successful.

The district received a contract from the foundation this morning, said David Steele, Hillsborough's director of information and technology. Attorneys for the district are reviewing the document "as we speak," he said.

School board members are poised to approve participation in the program, Measures of Effective Teaching, which over two years evaluates the effectiveness of teachers through student test scores, surveys and video observations in class.

The county will be one of six urban school districts to take part in the project. Teachers can volunteer to participate. In New York, where the education department has agreed to take part in a $2.6 million study, 1,000 teachers from 100 schools each will receive a $1,500 stipend.

The project in Tampa would create two new positions - a project director and supervisor.

Steele said the district has received about 30 applications for the jobs since the Seattle-based foundation sent a spokesman to talk to the school board earlier this month. He didn't know what they pay but said it might be a lateral move for some applicants.

The Hillsborough schools district is also on the short list for a $100 million grant from the Gates Foundation designed to overhaul teacher training and evaluations in an effort to produce more high school graduates who will become successful college students.

That grant would last for about seven years. Foundation officials expect to name a winner or winners of that grant in mid-November.

A Gates spokesman said the two grants are somewhat related, but because Hillsborough won the smaller one does not mean the district is certain to win the larger one.

School board members are expected to vote on the contract during today's regular meeting that begins at 3 p.m.