Milken Family Foundation
Encyclopedia
The Milken Family Foundation is a private foundation established by Lowell Milken
and Michael Milken
in 1982. Lowell Milken serves as chairman and co-founder of the foundation.
Among the foundation's initiatives are:
The Milken Educator Awards has created a network of more than 2,400 teachers who have served as resources to policymakers, researchers, the media and general public on their subject areas.
The TAP system was profiled in Education Week for its comprehensive approach to school reform. The Center for American Progress
released "Aligned by Design," a report by education researcher Craig Jerald that elaborated on this concept to specifically show how TAP's elements work together. South Carolina TAP was featured in TIME Magazine's February 2008 cover storyj. In 2006, BusinessWeek ranked TAP on its Top 10 List of Best Practices.
TAP's operating organization, the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching collaborates with other national education groups on teacher effectiveness issues. More than ten organizations co-wrote Creating a Successful Performance Compensation System for Educators, which lays out the essentials for an effective, comprehensive reform system.
Lowell Milken
Lowell Milken is co-founder of Knowledge Universe, the largest early childhood education provider in the world, founder of the TAP System for Teacher and Student Advancement, co-founder and chairman of the Milken Family Foundation, and a former senior vice president in the junk bond trading...
and Michael Milken
Michael Milken
Michael Robert Milken is an American business magnate, financier, and philanthropist noted for his role in the development of the market for high-yield bonds during the 1970s and 1980s, for his 1990 guilty plea to felony charges for violating US securities laws, and for his funding of medical...
in 1982. Lowell Milken serves as chairman and co-founder of the foundation.
Goals
The foundation is focused primarily on supporting education and medical research.Among the foundation's initiatives are:
- The Milken Educator Awards, a teacher recognition program awarding $25,000 to individual educators for teaching excellence;
- TAP: The System for Teacher and Student Advancement, a comprehensive school reform incorporating career advancement, collaborative professional development, teacher accountability and performance-based compensation;
- Milken Archive of Jewish MusicMilken Archive of Jewish MusicThe Milken Archive of Jewish Music is a collection of material about the history of Jewish Music in the United States. It contains roughly 700 recorded musical works, 800 hours of oral histories, 50,000 photographs and historical documents, an extensive collection of program notes and essays, and...
, a cultural and historic project dedicated to preserving the diverse body of sacred and secular music inspired by 350 years of Jewish life in America; - The Lowell Milken Center, an institution dedicated to the development of educational projects that feature unsung heroes as role models to 'repair the world.' Howard Cohen, Chancellor of Purdue University/Calumet, said about the LM Center: “History is not history until it is written or told. This is what you are doing so well with your unsung hero projects.”
The Milken Educator Awards has created a network of more than 2,400 teachers who have served as resources to policymakers, researchers, the media and general public on their subject areas.
The TAP system was profiled in Education Week for its comprehensive approach to school reform. The Center for American Progress
Center for American Progress
The Center for American Progress is a progressive public policy research and advocacy organization. Its website states that the organization is "dedicated to improving the lives of Americans through progressive ideas and action." It has its headquarters in Washington D.C.Its President and Chief...
released "Aligned by Design," a report by education researcher Craig Jerald that elaborated on this concept to specifically show how TAP's elements work together. South Carolina TAP was featured in TIME Magazine's February 2008 cover storyj. In 2006, BusinessWeek ranked TAP on its Top 10 List of Best Practices.
TAP's operating organization, the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching collaborates with other national education groups on teacher effectiveness issues. More than ten organizations co-wrote Creating a Successful Performance Compensation System for Educators, which lays out the essentials for an effective, comprehensive reform system.