School systems can make great strides toward improving student achievement by attracting high-quality individuals to teaching. However, these individuals require effective preparation and development in order to optimize their success in the classroom. Because our teachers bring strong content knowledge and professional experiences to the classroom, we believe that they deserve a tailored approach to preparation and certification; one that can maximize their prior knowledge and minimize their time to impact.

To this end, we design and deliver the following:

• Pre-Service Training
• Professional Development
• Independent Certification Programs

Pre-Service Training

The New Teacher Project’s pre-service training institute is a mainstay of its Teaching Fellows alternate route to certification programs. The curriculum for the institute is based on a dynamic framework called Teaching for Student Achievement (TfSA), which grew out of studying the experiences of teachers in high-need schools and the empirical research about effective classroom instruction. The framework is embodied in a suite of materials that includes the Teaching for Student Achievement Guidebook, Fieldbook and Instructor’s Training Curriculum. Teachers who internalize the TfSA Framework report feeling more prepared to begin teaching and are more focused on student achievement as their primary function in the classroom.

We currently help school districts nationwide provide the best possible pre-service training for participants in alternate route to certification programs by:

• Creating and implementing an intensive summer training institute for new teachers, structured around our Teaching for Student Achievement Framework
• Providing a research-based curriculum and professional-quality texts for participants and instructors
• Recruiting, selecting, and training institute faculty
• Coordinating with schools to determine appropriate summer placements for participants
• Managing institute operations, communications, scheduling and logistics using TeacherTrack, TNTP's proprietary web-based applicant-tracking system
• Conducting post-institute evaluations

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Professional Development

With financial support from Washington Mutual, TNTP developed Teaching for Results, an innovative series of professional development seminars that help alternate route teachers maximize their impact on student achievement by focusing on their ability to translate their existing content knowledge into effective classroom practice. Held in live, small-group settings and led by TNTP-selected and -trained Content Seminar Leaders, Teaching for Results includes seminars in Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, English as a Second Language, and Special Education. This unique approach emphasizes the way excellent teachers teach specific content, integrates content knowledge with state and national standards, and invests students in meeting rigorous academic goals. To date, more than 1,000 teachers have participated in Teaching for Results nationwide.

We help school districts improve their professional development offerings by:

• Tailoring the Teaching for Results series to meet state standards and specific curricular approaches used by the district
• Recruiting, selecting and training high-performing teachers to serve as Content Seminar Leaders
• Integrating Teaching for Results into the district’s current professional development strategy
• Tracking candidate participation and managing program logistics using TeacherTrack, TNTP's proprietary web-based applicant-tracking system
• Evaluating teacher satisfaction with Teaching for Results

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Independent Certification Programs

In California, Louisiana, Maryland and Texas, The New Teacher Project has partnered with school districts to create and administer programs that not only provide new teacher training, but also recommend new teachers for state certification. Participants in these programs, the Louisiana Practitioner Teacher Program, the Maryland Practitioner Teacher Program and the Texas Teaching Fellows, earn full state certification by completing TNTP's Teaching for Results content seminar series, successfully completing a year of full-time teaching, and participating in district mentorship programs.

Our programs are distinguished by both their emphasis on alternate route teachers and their explicit focus on teaching in high-need schools and subject areas. Upon completion of the program, all candidates meet federal "highly qualified" requirements. To date, TNTP has certified over 800 teachers in three states. In Texas, 90 percent of our participants report that participating in the Teaching for Results seminars made them more effective teachers; 96 percent of our teachers nationally report that their Teaching for Results instructors were valuable in making them more effective teachers.

Today, we work with school districts and states to design true alternatives to traditional teacher preparation and certification by:

• Partnering with districts and state certification bodies to develop and implement innovative programs that are responsive to school needs and meet state regulations for teacher certification providers
• Focusing on the certification of teachers for school districts’ highest-need subject areas
• Continually refining the certification program based on our experiences training and certifying new teachers across the country
• Utilizing TeacherTrack, TNTP's proprietary applicant-tracking system, to monitor new teachers' progress toward certification

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Questions?

For more information on our services, contact us at info@tntp.org or (718) 233-2800.

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