Louisiana Study Rates TNTP-Trained Teachers as Exceptionally Effective for Fourth Consecutive Year

TNTP Continues to Be a Leading Supplier of Outstanding Teachers for Louisiana’s Highest-Need Schools and Communities

NEW ORLEANS, LA – The New Teacher Project’s teacher preparation program ranks among Louisiana’s most effective for a fourth-consecutive year, according to results of a state-sponsored study by researchers at Louisiana State University and A&M College. The New Teacher Project (TNTP) trains hundreds of teachers to work in Louisiana’s highest-need schools annually, significantly improving access to outstanding teachers for the students who need them most.

According to the study, new teachers trained by TNTP showed evidence of being more effective than both new and experienced teachers in advancing student academic growth in three core subject areas: math, English language arts and science. In math, TNTP-trained teachers had a greater impact on student achievement than teachers from the 18 other programs studied. The study also found that TNTP-trained teachers were on average as or more effective than new teachers in boosting student achievement in reading and social studies.

New teachers enrolled in TNTP’s Louisiana Practitioner Teacher Program (LPTP) earn their certification during their first year teaching—a rigorous, field-based approach that immediately exposes teachers to the realities of the classroom and accelerates their post-certification impact on student learning. It is specifically designed to help career changers with deep content knowledge to be immediately effective in high-need schools.
 
More than 1,800 teachers have been certified or are pending certification through the LPTP since it was founded as the state’s first non-university teacher preparation program in 2001. The program currently serves 20 districts and charter school associations in the Baton Rouge and New Orleans areas, including the Recovery School District. Teachers certified by LPTP include Teach For America corps members, teachers recruited by TNTP’s own teachNOLA program, and teachers from Teach Baton Rouge, all of which are highly selective programs that recruit accomplished professionals and outstanding recent graduates to work in Louisiana’s high-need schools.
 
During the previous three years that this study was conducted, TNTP earned the highest-possible rating—Level 1 out of 5—a total of 9 times, more than any other provider in Louisiana. This year, the study did not designate level ratings for programs, but TNTP-trained teachers again outperformed the average new and experienced teacher in three core subject areas: math, English language arts, and science.

• In math, TNTP-trained teachers had a positive effect estimate on student achievement of 5.0 points, 4.9 points higher than the mean for experienced teachers and the highest of any program in the state. In previous years, the study’s authors calculated that being eligible for free lunch has a negative effect of 2.1 on a student’s academic achievement; therefore, having a math teacher trained by TNTP may more than compensate for this disadvantage of poverty. TNTP has trained over 280 math teachers to date, including 108 whose performance was evaluated in this study.
• In English language arts (ELA), TNTP-trained teachers ranked highest among all programs, outperforming both new and experienced teachers in boosting student learning. With an effect estimate of 1.5, TNTP-trained teachers were 2.6 points above the mean for new teachers and 1.2 points above the mean for experienced teachers.
• In science, TNTP-trained teachers had an effect estimate of 1.4, 1.7 points above the mean for new teachers, and 1.2 points above the mean for experienced teachers.

In social studies and reading, TNTP-trained teachers outperformed the average new teacher in Louisiana, but did not match the impact of experienced teachers in the state. This marks noteworthy improvement in social studies, where last year TNTP-trained teachers were rated Level 3, indicating that teachers certified by the program had an effect on student achievement that “is typical for new teachers.” In response to those results, TNTP revisited its coursework to enhance its training in social studies.

“This study again shows that TNTP has developed a highly successful model for preparing new teachers to be immediately effective in the classroom,” said Ariela Rozman, Chief Executive Officer of The New Teacher Project. “Clearly, pairing careful teacher recruitment and selection with rigorous, field-based training can produce new teachers capable of helping poor and minority students make dramatic gains. We’re especially proud of the gap-closing impact our teachers achieved in math, but we won’t be satisfied until we see those results across all subjects.”
 
The study results will inform TNTP’s ongoing efforts to improve and scale up its teacher certification programs nationwide. TNTP currently operates a network of similar programs in eight states and the District of Columbia, all of which are dedicated to preparing excellent teachers who make a difference for disadvantaged students.

“We know that great teaching starts with great training,” said Timothy Daly, President of The New Teacher Project. “We are proud to provide a huge infusion of outstanding teachers to students who have historically been denied equitable access to them, and we applaud Louisiana for holding us and other teacher certification programs accountable for preparing teachers capable of getting real results in the classroom.”

For more information on the study, please visit the Louisiana Board of Regents website. 

Note on Study Methodology: The study is intended to assess the relative effectiveness of Louisiana’s teacher training programs. These include alternate routes to certification like TNTP’s program, whose teachers earn certification during their first year teaching, and undergraduate programs, whose teachers do not begin teaching until after being certified. This design complicates direct comparisons of the effectiveness of newly certified teachers from the two types of programs to one another, because the former group has the advantage of a year in the classroom. However, regardless of whether alternate route teachers like those trained by TNTP are defined as first- or second-year teachers, performance of our teachers indicates that they exceed their peers—both new and experienced teachers—in effectiveness.