Gates Foundation invests more than $300 million in education reform

Through the grants, which amount to one of the largest privately sponsored school improvement initiatives in recent years, the foundation aims to reshape how policymakers approach teaching. Its goal is to focus on performance rather than qualifications.

The winners, picked from 10 applicants, are: Hillsborough County (Fla.) schools, in the Tampa area, to receive $100 million; Memphis schools, $90 million; Pittsburgh schools, $40 million; and five charter networks in Los Angeles (Alliance College-Ready Public Schools, Aspire Public Schools, Green Dot Public Schools, Inner City Education Foundation and Partnerships to Uplift Communities Schools), $60 million.

For individual school systems and charter networks, the grants represent huge sums. The total expenditure puts the initiative in the same league with some major school reform efforts underway in the Obama administration.

"We are convinced that in order to dramatically improve education in America, we must first ensure that every student has an effective teacher in every subject, every school year," Melinda French Gates, co-chair of the foundation, said in a statement.

"These communities have shown extraordinary commitment to tackling one of the most important educational issues of our time," she said. "We must do everything we can to understand what makes teachers effective and cultivate those qualities across the profession, in every school and classroom, so that all students can benefit."