Meet the Partners Who Make Chicago TAP Possible
Chicago TAP is a program that requires the cooperation of a number of different agencies and organizations. Learn about them below.
Chicago Public Schools (CPS)
CPS serves over 415,000 students at more than 600 schools. It is the third largest public school system in the U.S. The diverse student population represents nearly 19 percent of Illinois public school students.
CPS employs a staff of more than 44,400, including nearly 25,000 teachers and 588 principals. The teacher-student ratio is 21.1 pupils per teacher in elementary schools and 19.6 per teacher in high schools.
CPS is constantly working to bring the absolute best and brightest educators to Chicago’s students, schools and classrooms.
Department of Education
The mission of the Department of Education is to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access. To learn more about, go to The Department of Education's website.
The Chicago Public Education Fund (The Fund)
As a venture philanthropy for public education, The Fund invests in well-managed, high-impact programs that improve school leadership and student achievement system wide.
Guided by an actively engaged group of some of Chicago's most prominent business and civic leaders, The Fund brings private-sector dollars and expertise to effective programs aligned with Chicago Public Schools priorities.
The Fund has a critical role in funding and providing strategic management assistance to Chicago TAP, a comprehensive program with powerful opportunities for career advancement, professional growth, teacher accountability and performance-based compensation.
Chicago Principals & Administrators Association (CPAA)
The CPAA works on behalf of its 2,015 members, which include principals, assistant principals and administrators of CPS as well as retirees. Its goal is to improve educational and administrative leadership in Chicago schools and to elevate the status and morale of its members.
Chicago Teachers Union (CTU)
The Chicago Teachers Union has more than 32,000 teacher, paraprofessional and retiree members. The Union is Local 1 of the American Federation of Teachers, an Illinois Federation of Teachers affiliate and affiliated with the Chicago Federation of Labor and the AFL-CIO. The CTU is the largest local in the state and the Chicago Public School system is the third largest in the country.
Read the MOU between CPS and CTU.
National Institute for Excellence in Teaching (NIET)
NIET, a nonprofit organization based in Santa Monica, Calif., was established in 2005 to operate the Teacher Advancement Program (TAP). TAP was launched in 1999 by Lowell Milken, chairman of the Milken Family Foundation, to restructure and revitalize the teaching profession while producing measurable achievement gains for students.
NIET seeks to ensure that a highly skilled, strongly motivated and competitively compensated teacher serves every classroom in America.
The Broad Foundation
The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation's mission is to dramatically improve K-12 urban public education through better governance, management, labor relations and competition.
The Joyce Foundation
The Joyce Foundation supports efforts to protect the natural environment of the Great Lakes, to reduce poverty and violence in the region, and to ensure that its people have access to good schools, decent jobs, and a diverse and thriving culture. The foundation is especially interested in improving public policies, because public systems such as education and welfare directly affect the lives of so many people, and because public policies help shape private sector decisions about jobs, the environment, and the health of communities. To ensure that public policies truly reflect public rather than private interests, the foundation supports efforts to reform the system of financing election campaigns.
