District Letter

ED-04-CO-0112 (0012)

Mathematica Policy Research

APPENDIX A
DISTRICT LETTER

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES
National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance

Month XX, 2010
Firstname Lastname
Superintendent [or other title]
District
Street Address
City, ST ZZZIP
Dear Dr./Mr./Ms. Lastname:
Congratulations on being awarded a grant from the Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF)! As you know,
as part of your grant, your district has agreed to participate in an important national evaluation of
performance-based teacher and principal compensation systems. This evaluation will provide important
evidence about changes to traditional compensation systems for teachers and principals and whether they
impact and improve student performance in high-need schools and bring about desirable changes, such as
higher teacher and principal retention rates and the presence of more highly effective teachers.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 includes approximately $100
billion dollars in funding to the U.S. Department of Education to support programs to improve public
education, particularly in high-need schools. TIF is an important component of this effort and will
distribute over $400 million in new federal grants designed to support innovative approaches to reforming
teacher pay. TIF supports performance-based teacher and principal compensation systems to help attract
top education talent in high-need schools. In addition to providing funds for programs, ARRA mandates
that TIF programs be evaluated to determine their effectiveness using the most rigorous methods possible.
We know that teachers and principals are critical inputs into student learning but we know little about
whether educator incentive programs improve student achievement. This evaluation will help inform
educators and policymakers on these issues.
A team of experts, many of whom have worked extensively with previous TIF grantees and with
districts on other teacher compensation reforms, will work with your district to provide technical
assistance to help you develop and implement your TIF program. Also, for participating in this
evaluation, your district has received a grant that includes at least an additional $1 million dollars.
Additional details about the project are provided in the enclosed information sheet.
We have contracted with Mathematica Policy Research, along with their partners Chesapeake
Research Associates and the Peabody School of Education at Vanderbilt University, to conduct the study.
A member of the research team will call you in the next few days to tell you more about the study and
answer your questions. We anticipate this initial call will take less than one hour. During this call, a visit
will be scheduled (approximately 2 hours) to discuss this study in more detail with you and other key
personnel in your district. After the visit, a member of the team will follow-up to discuss any remaining
issues and to discuss the next steps.
In the meantime, if you have any questions about the study, please feel free to contact me
at (202) 208-7169 or at elizabeth.warner@ed.gov.
Sincerely,

Elizabeth Warner, Ph.D.
Federal Project Officer
555 NEW JERSEY AVE., NW, WASHINGTON, D.C. 20208

Notice of Confidentiality
Responses to the data collection activities will be used only for research purposes. The reports
prepared for the study will summarize findings across the sample and will not associate responses with a
specific district, school, or individual. We will not provide information that identifies you or your district
to anyone outside the study team, except as required by law.
The contractor follows the confidentiality and data protection requirements of IES (The
Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002, Title I, Part E, Section 183). The contractor will protect the
confidentiality of all information collected for the study and will use it for research purposes only. No
information that identifies any study participant will be released. Information on respondents will be
linked to their institution but not to any individually identifiable information. No individually identifiable
information will be maintained by the study team. All institution-level identifiable information will be
kept in secured locations and identifiers will be destroyed as soon as they are no longer required.
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a
collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB
control number for this information collection is xxxx-xxxx. The approximate time required to discuss
your participation in the evaluation is estimated to average 1.67 hours per response for
superintendents/grant managers, 2 hours/other district staff, and 1.5 hours per response for principals of
study schools. If you have any comments concerning the accuracy of the time estimates or suggestions for
improving this form, please write to: U.S. Department of Education, Washington, D.C. 20202-4651. If
you have comments or concerns regarding the status of your individual submission of this form, write
directly to: [insert program sponsor/office], U.S. Department of Education, 600 Independence Avenue,
S.W., [insert building/room number], Washington, D.C. 20202-xxxx.

555 NEW JERSEY AVE., NW, WASHINGTON, D.C. 20208