The Colorado Legacy Foundation announced Monday it will distribute $9.7 million to four Colorado school districts for work on implementing evaluation systems and new state academic standards.

Most of the money is from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Other donations came from JPMorgan Chase and local contributors.

"We know there are pockets of excellence throughout Colorado, and that some of this great work in educator effectiveness is already being done," said Colorado Legacy Foundation president and chief executive Helayne Jones.

The point is to highlight those pockets, she said, targeting supports for teachers, in order to learn from them and create models of effective teaching.

Because Denver Public Schools has already been working with money from the Gates Foundation, they have been selected as one of the districts to receive money to continue that work.