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| Orleans Parish Public Schools At the end of 2002, the Orleans Parish Public School district in New Orleans, LA, was a system fraught with challenges; teacher vacancies sometimes climbed as high as 700 per year, and 100 of its 119 schools ranked below the state average in standardized tests, attendance, and dropout rates. Recognizing the need for new strategies that could be implemented rapidly, the school system’s interim superintendent turned to The New Teacher Project for help attracting certified teachers to the district’s high-need classrooms. In partnership with the Orleans Parish Public Schools, The New Teacher Project (TNTP) created the Orleans Parish Teaching Fellows program (OPTF). Designed to bring a cadre of talented, high-achieving certified teachers into the city’s public schools, the program set an aggressive goal of hiring 125 candidates by the beginning of the 2003 school year, focusing on individuals certified in high-need subject areas such as math, science, and special education. TNTP formulated a comprehensive recruitment strategy and created a website that allowed interested candidates to learn about the program easily and submit applications online. First Lady Laura Bush contributed to the recruitment effort by appearing at the University of New Orleans in February 2003 to urge students of its education school to apply to the program. “Orleans Parish Teaching Fellows wants you to become the teachers of tomorrow,” she said. “Through this program you will be placed in a school where your training and talent are truly needed.” The program’s first year was a success. Over the spring and summer of 2003, over 500 candidates applied for the program and, after a rigorous screening and interview process, 139 were eventually accepted. This group of high-quality teachers is notable for many reasons:
These outstanding individuals are currently teaching in challenged schools throughout New Orleans, including district learning academies, corrective action schools, and schools that historically have failed to make adequate yearly progress. The effectiveness of the program has drawn the attention of the greater New Orleans community, including the editors of the Times Picayune, who declared in November 2003, “The Fellows program, begun last year by the New York-based New Teacher Project, proved its worth in its first recruiting drive.” Now in the second year of its partnership with the Orleans Parish Public School system, The New Teacher Project’s work with the OPTF program continues to create high expectations and garner acclaim. As Superintendent Anthony Amato stated, “The New Teacher Project understands the unique challenges confronting urban school districts today; these challenges encompass specialized teacher recruitment, hiring process reform, and many others. Their work has become a vital part of our efforts to ensure that an excellent teacher stands at the front of every classroom in the New Orleans Public School system.” | |||||||
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