One of the most important aspects of students' learning experiences is the quality of their teachers. In light of this idea and the growing dropout rate in the nation, the Carnegie Corporation is working to raise the bar for early educators.

The corporation recently announced it will award grants totaling $6.35 million to programs that develop and retain effective teachers and principals. The grants will be given to nonprofits initiating programs to cultivate K-12 teachers' skills.

The largest grant was given to the New Teacher Project. This initiative works with state governments and local school districts to improve teacher evaluations. It aims to develop a method for discerning which teachers are most effective and should advance within a school system.

Vartan Gregorian, New York president of the Carnegie Corporation, says that without savvy, strategic management to bring in quality teachers, schools will not be able to improve dropout rates. "Education relies on the talent, skill, and commitment of teachers and school system leaders," he said.

Organizations looking to help improve education systems might consider allocating some of their nonprofit fundraising efforts toward initiatives to improve the quality of educators. It seems major foundations may be interested in developing partnerships with nonprofits to this end.