What are some of the responsibilities in your current role?
As the Site Director for Texas Teaching Fellows in San Antonio I am responsible for ensuring the overall program quality. My primary focus is overseeing our Content Seminars certification coursework during the school year and supporting our Fellows through classroom observations. I look for the connections between what they are learning and what they are doing and try to figure out how to best support them as they work to raise student achievement.

What does a typical work day look like?
There is no such thing as a typical work day, really, but here’s an example of what one day could look like: I might start off the day observing and debriefing with several Fellows who are in the thick of their first year of teaching, spend some time analyzing Content Seminar survey data to figure out where we can improve our work, and then round out the day by checking in with our Content Seminar Leaders in regards to their upcoming seminars. The given focus can change on any day; like most roles within TNTP, it can vary depending upon the time of the year as well.

What impact have you had in your current role?
Every teacher we recruit, train and certify impacts the lives of hundreds of students. Given that several schools in San Antonio have been labeled “drop out factories” and that the achievement gap is very much present, I feel like the work our Fellows do is extremely important—and that makes my work important.

What do you like most about TNTP?
I feel lucky to work for TNTP. First of all, I think the people are fantastic— they inspire you to constantly be at your best and push yourself beyond your limits. Second of all, I love the breadth of our organization. We have such diverse lines of business, and I think that lends a lot of richness to the workplace. At an organizational gathering I could find myself seated at a table with a policy expert, a curriculum guru or a marketing genius. I really like that.

 

 

What path led you to your current role?
In college I focused intensely on writing. I worked as managing editor for the student newspaper and as the director of the peer writing tutor program while taking literature and creative writing classes. When I graduated, it was the height of the dot-com boom. I took a job as an editor for a website intended to be something like WebMD for college students. It lasted about as long as you might guess, but the bust turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I applied for a job as Communications Manager at the NYC Teaching Fellows program and went on to write ads and build the program’s communications operation over the next couple of years. One of the things I liked most about the program was its start-up quality – that shared sense of commitment, energy and possibility I got while working with a tight group of exceptionally talented and creative people. I’ve been with TNTP for eight years now, and I still have that feeling everyday.

What are some of the responsibilities in your current role?
I’m responsible for articulating TNTP’s ideas, identity and policy positions. I develop and manage the organization’s communications strategy, which means crafting messages, creating internal and external communications plans, and generating presentations, marketing materials and business development materials. Mainly it means a lot of writing and editing.

What impact have you had in your current role?
I feel fortunate that much of my work is very concrete, and its impact is often easy to recognize. Early on, I wrote a subway ad for the NYC Teaching Fellows program that is still in use today: “You remember your first grade teacher’s name. Who will remember yours?” I still run into Fellows who say that ad was one of the things that prompted them to apply. Since then I’ve helped write and release TNTP’s national policy reports—most recently, The Widget Effect—and I’ve seen those studies influence policy decisions and change the way people think about the teacher quality challenges we grapple with everyday at TNTP. That’s tremendously rewarding.

What do you like most about TNTP?
First, the people – I feel very fortunate to work with such talented and driven colleagues. They impress and inspire me every day. Second, the work itself – I love what I do and even after eight years it’s still interesting and challenging. More importantly, it has an impact. I know that, one way or another, my work gives kids from poor communities a better chance of getting a great teacher. And that’s the whole point.

 

 

What are some of the responsibilities in your current role?
I manage the Training and Support Team for the largest alternative certification program in the country— the NYC Teaching Fellows. We plan and run a seven week pre-service training experience for new teachers before they enter the classroom in the fall. This means that we recruit, hire and train talented, experienced educators to support our new Fellows; develop training curriculum and content-specific workshops to meet our new Fellows’ needs as incoming teachers; and collect and analyze data throughout pre-service training on our Fellows’ progress. Overall, we coordinate all the many moving parts that make up training to ensure that we are all working towards meeting our big goal: that Fellows are prepared to go into the classroom and raise student achievement.

What does a typical work day look like?
It depends on the time of year. Usually, I meet with my team members to ensure that they have the resources that they need to do their work successfully; I meet with our client team to ensure that we are meeting their needs for upcoming training; and at this time of the year, I am usually working on larger programmatic training issues, such as tracking our progress to meeting our training goals, analyzing staff and Fellow performance data, and proving support to staff to support them in staying focused on our big goal, preparing Fellows to go into the classroom and be successful teachers.

What impact have you had in your current role?
Last year, I helped to train over 1,400 new teachers who went through our June 2008 pre-service training program. This year, I will help to train over 700. The result of this work is that hundreds of new teachers from various backgrounds are going into the classroom with the sole purpose of working in the highest-need schools with the students that need them the most to raise student achievement.

What do you like most about TNTP?
I love the people. Working with intelligent, insightful, committed (and fun!) people is what motivates me to do this challenging work.

 

 

What are some of the responsibilities in your current role?
In my role as a Program Associate, I work closely with schools and principals in the New Visions network (a subset of New York City Public Schools) to address their staffing needs. Specifically, I set up interviews, screen candidates, help deliver professional development workshops, adjust our recruitment efforts to meet the needs of our schools as they change and provide as much support to our principals as possible. I also oversee many of our day-to-day operations, like the maintenance of our online application and our part-time pre-screening staff.

What does a typical work day look like?
On any given day, I will receive requests from principals within our network of schools to help find teachers for the vacancies in their staff rosters, either because they are expanding or because another teacher has quit. That leads me to reach out to candidates who have applied to teach with our schools in order to find the best fit and to connect them with that principal. I also have the opportunity to make school visits, which is one of my favorite parts about the work that we do. I might also participate in a client meeting, strategize for how to overcome a staffing obstacle or connect with local universities and alternate-route certification programs to try to find high-quality teachers for our schools.

What impact have you had in your current role?
I’ve had the satisfaction of connecting teachers with schools that really benefit from their expertise. Meeting teachers who are thrilled and excited about the work that they do and helping them find school communities where they are valued and appreciated is a great reward for all the hard work that we do. Helping urban public schools address the challenges that prevent them from bringing on outstanding teachers is another impact of our work. I love the moments after a successful interview when a match has been made, and both the principal and the candidate are ecstatic about working together to serve students and to close the achievement gap.

What do you like most about TNTP?
Without a doubt, our staff! We are a committed, incredibly intelligent group of people all working hard to improve schools across the country, and every interaction I’ve had with another TNTP staff member has floored me. I also relish the fact that we’re a results-oriented organization that uses data to drive the work that we do. It is so rewarding to see the impact of our work in a real, tangible way, and to have the opportunity to partner with schools to tackle the challenges they face every day.

 

 

What path led you to your current role?
I developed a strong interest in education reform as a graduate student at the University of California at San Diego. During my term there, I gained a foundation in educational theory and research methods. After acquiring a Masters degree, I decided to pursue an opportunity as a research analyst for a local school district. I learned many practical research skills while at the district but the job wasn’t quite right for me. My passion has always been reform-centered research and I wanted to find an organization with the same focus. It was TNTP’s mission and commitment to advocacy that led me to my current role. At TNTP, I’ve found an organization that is equally dedicated to quality research and reform.

What are some of the responsibilities in your current role?
I am currently working on several district and state research projects around the nation. I am primarily responsible for the data collection and analysis for each site. All of our projects are collaborative and I typically work in teams of three. Together, we produce reports and present the findings to state and/or district stakeholders.

What impact have you had in your current role?
The policy team writes every report with the intention of fueling positive change in districts and states. Though systemic change can take time to materialize, we have helped many districts improve their human capital strategies. Our reports spark dialogue and keep districts and states focused on what matters most—making sure that all students get outstanding teachers.

What do you like most about TNTP?
The people and their unwavering commitment to TNTP’s mission! The people at TNTP are some of the most dedicated, intelligent and creative people I have ever met, and it is a pleasure to work with, and learn from, them.

 

 

What path led you to your current role?
I have always wanted to do work that mattered. And I have always loved figuring out complicated problems. Graduate school gave me the quantitative skills that I needed to do the kind of work I envisioned for my future, and TNTP has enabled me to blend my love of data with real world application.

What are some of the responsibilities in your current role?
I supervise policy projects across the country. To do this, I work with our analysts and project directors as we analyze data, research local policy barriers and publish reports that examine district barriers to attracting and keeping great teachers.

What does a typical work day look like?
A typical day involves looking at a lot of data and trying to make sense of it with my team. To do this, we think about the data’s significance for improving instructional quality in school districts and spend a lot of time translating that information into something that local districts can use in their everyday life to make a difference for students.

What impact have you had in your current role?
The biggest success to date was with a district study that we did. The district had lost a significant number of students due to enrollment declines, and as a result, laid off many teachers. Our data were able to show the degree to which the number of layoffs exceeded the total reduction in staff needed. Because of our data, the district adopted a new calculation for layoffs, and this year significantly fewer teachers were laid off as a result.

What does your role at TNTP mean to you?
The people. You have great colleagues who all get out of bed for the same reason—to increase the number of great teachers in front of students.