What is a TSL Grant?

The Teacher and School Leader (TSL) Incentive Program, formerly known as the Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF), is a three-year education grant program funded by the US Department of Education designed to award teachers, principals and other school leaders serving in high-need schools who raise student academic achievement and seek to close the gap between higher and lower performing students.

Purpose of Program

TSL is a discretionary grant program that exists to assist eligible educators in developing, implementing, improving, or expanding comprehensive Performance-Based Compensation Systems (PBCS) or Human Capital Management Systems (HCMS). TSL aims to drive improvement in a district’s HCMS for increased educator effectiveness and promotes comprehensive evaluation and support systems for all educators within an LEA, especially those employed in high-need schools. Additionally, the program seeks to study the fairness, quality, consistency, and reliability of PBCS or HCMS.

What is a High-Need School?

A high-need school is one with 50% or more of its enrollment from low-income families, based on eligibility for free or reduced-price lunch subsidies under the National School Lunch Act or Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) data.

How is the TSL Program Evaluated?

  • Percentage of teachers and leaders rated effective or higher
  • Percentage of teachers and leaders across the LEA(s) that show student growth improvement in their evaluation
  • Percentage of teachers and leaders within the TSL-schools that show student growth improvement, over the previous year, in their evaluation
  • Percentage of teachers and leaders in TSL-schools for whom evaluations were used for recruitment, hiring, placement, retention, dismissal, professional development, tenure, promotion
  • Percentage of teachers and leaders in the LEA(s) who earned performance-based compensation based on their individual evaluation
  • Percentage of teachers and leaders in TSL-schools who earned performance-based compensation on their individual evaluation ratings
  • Percentage of teachers receiving performance-based compensation
  • Percentage of leaders receiving performance-based compensation
  • Percentage of teachers receiving performance-based compensation for leadership responsibilities

Who is Eligible to Participate in the TSL Grant Program?

Local Education Agencies (LEA), State Education Agencies (SEAs), and non-profits in partnership with SEAs.

Research Associates' Impact:

Research Associates has helped to secure over $86 million in funded education grants for teacher and leader effectiveness initiatives including TSL program. Impacted schools include:

  • 23,210 students in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia
  • 1,799 educators
  • 46 schools across 4 districts

Contact the Grant Experts:

Could your schools qualify for funding? To find out more about program requirements and eligibility, contact our knowledgeable team at Research Associates.

From Our Partners

The team was able to assimilate lots of information that I gave them about our district and our goals with limited knowledge of us ahead of time. Their ability to listen closely to learn about us and to determine how to focus all of this in a grant was outstanding.

Project Director

The RA team shows a sincere interest in the program and builds a relationship with our team. I like the comprehensive approach to the process and that you have expertise in research, writing, project management, and editing.

Project Director, Florida

I appreciated the research that RA did in regard to demographics and programming. In addition, not having to focus on the grammar and document formatting pieces took a load off my plate.

Project Director

Your team is so great to take our notes and ideas and turn them into a comprehensive plan - it's always amazing!

School District Grant Director, Tennessee

Another great experience in the books! Your lines of communication have always been great; we know you are always right there!

Associate Superintendent, Georgia