The University of Indianapolis has been selected to manage a $32.7 million effort to improve schools through teacher-improvement programs and performance-based bonuses.
 
UIndy’s Center of Excellence in Leadership of Learning will conduct meetings Wednesday and Thursday for representatives of the 44 participating schools, which are in Indianapolis, Hammond, Goshen, Marion and other communities around the state.

More than half the students at the schools qualify for free or reduced-price lunches—a measure of poverty in the education world.

The schools will implement a program called TAP: The System for Teacher and Student Advancement, which was developed by the California-based National Institute for Excellence in Teaching.

TAP includes elements that traditionally have raised concerns from teacher unions, including an evaluation process partly based on students’ standardized tests and teacher bonuses up to $5,000 a year based on their students’ scores. However, teachers unions have generally been supportive of the TAP program because of its strong professional-development components.

The program is funded by a federal grant from a  program called the Teacher Incentive Fund to the Indiana Department of Education, which was announced Sept. 23.