Who We Are

Overview

The New Teacher Project (TNTP) is a national non-profit organization dedicated to increasing the number of outstanding individuals who become public school teachers and to creating environments for all educators that maximize their impact on student achievement. Since 1997, we have partnered with school districts, state education agencies, colleges and universities, and other educational entities to accomplish these goals. To date, we have recruited, prepared or certified approximately 23,000 high-quality teachers, worked with more than 200 school districts and established more than 40 programs in 23 states.

The Problem

Every child deserves an excellent education, yet our nation's public school systems are fraught with educational inequities. In particular, schools serving poor and minority students-especially those in urban areas-have long struggled to provide their students with an education equal to that of their counterparts in the suburbs. Armed with the knowledge that such disparities can be overcome, we have focused our work on these "high-need" schools and, more specifically, on influencing what research has shown to be the single most important factor in improving student achievement: the quality of the teacher in every classroom.

Our Approach

Today, The New Teacher Project is playing an important role in increasing teacher quality in high-need schools across the country. We approach this problem in four ways:

  • We create innovative programs that expand the pool of high-quality teachers available to hard-to-staff schools;
  • We identify the policy and practice barriers that prevent schools from hiring the best teachers possible and advocate for necessary reforms;
  • We work hand-in-hand with school districts to optimize their teacher hiring and school staffing functions; and
  • We develop new and better ways to train, prepare and certify teachers for public schools.

Click here to read Education Week's August 2007 front-page story on our unique approach,The New Teacher Project Brings Holistic Style to Urban Districts (PDF - 220K).