Posted: December 23, 2010

Training and Instruction Manager – Louisiana Practitioner Teacher Program
New Orleans or Baton Rouge, LA

The New Teacher Project (TNTP) helps school districts and states fulfill the promise of public education by ensuring that all students—especially those from high-need communities—get excellent teachers. A national nonprofit organization founded by teachers, TNTP is driven by the knowledge that although great teachers are the best solution to educational inequality, the nation’s education systems do not sufficiently prioritize the goal of effective teachers for all. In response, TNTP develops customized programs and policy interventions that enable education leaders to find, develop and keep great teachers and achieve reforms that promote effective teaching in every classroom. Since its inception in 1997, TNTP has recruited or trained approximately 37,000 teachers—mainly through its highly selective Teaching Fellows™ programs—benefiting an estimated 5.9 million students. TNTP has also released a series of acclaimed studies of the policies and practices that affect the quality of the nation’s teacher workforce, most recently including The Widget Effect: Our National Failure to Acknowledge and Act on Differences in Teacher Effectiveness (2009). Today TNTP is active in more than 40 cities, including Baltimore, Chicago, Denver, New Orleans, New York, and Oakland, among others. For more information, please visit www.tntp.org.

We are currently seeking a Training and Instruction Manager for our Louisiana Practitioner Teacher Program. The location of this position is New Orleans, LA or Baton Rouge, LA. This position is available to start immediately.

The Program

In 2001, at the request of the Louisiana Department of Education, The New Teacher Project launched the Louisiana Practitioner Teacher Program (LPTP) as the first non-university certification provider in Louisiana. The goal of the program is to provide rigorous, relevant training to new teachers, which maximizes their impact on student achievement in high-need schools. The program, now in its tenth year of operation, has been extremely successful, certifying over 1000 new teachers in 10 districts in the Shreveport, Baton Rouge and New Orleans areas, including the Recovery School District (RSD) and New Orleans charter schools.

Participants are recruited and selected by program partners – Louisiana Teaching Fellows, Teach For America, Teach Baton Rouge, and teachNOLA. Following a rigorous summer training institute, participants teach full-time with a Practitioner License while participating in LPTP’s Teaching for Results certification seminar series.

The seminars prepare new teachers to raise student achievement by helping them become effective at understanding the content their students must master, delivering focused instruction, and using assessment tools and data to set goals, inform instruction and gauge student progress so all students meet or exceed grade-level standards. Seminars are led by outstanding district and charter teachers (called Seminar Leaders) who have a record of success raising student achievement.

According to an ongoing state-sponsored study of teacher preparation providers, teachers who went through LPTP were found to be more effective than experienced teachers at raising student achievement in the areas of math, reading, English Language Arts and science. More information on this study is available on the Louisiana Board of Regents website. http://www.regents.state.la.us/Academic/TE/Value%20Added.htm

For more information about LPTP, go to http://www.lptp.org.

Role and Responsibilities

The Training and Instruction Manager for TNTP’s Louisiana Practitioner Teacher Program is responsible for overseeing the implementation of the program including communicating with approximately 250 Practitioner Teachers, tracking Practitioner Teachers’ progress, recruiting, training and hiring Seminar Leaders, collaborating with program partners, and working closely with other LPTP staff to ensure contract goals are met. The LPTP Training and Instruction Manager will be supervised by the LPTP Site Manager.

Specifically, the LPTP Training and Instruction Manager will be responsible for supporting the implementation of a teacher preparation program that has a singular focus on teacher effectiveness by:

• Leading the recruitment, on-boarding and management of approximately 25 Seminar Leaders (SLs) and 2 Seminar Team Leads
• Planning, coordinating and co-facilitating SL training
• Serving as the primary resource for support to SLs in the effective implementation of the Teaching for Results (TfR) seminar series
o Conduct and document regular structured observations of each SL to ensure quality of delivery of TfR seminars
o Provide ongoing support to SLs by offering resources and tools and sharing best practices
o Plan and facilitate follow up meetings for SLs a minimum of four times a year
o Support SLs in related responsibilities, including guidance on session planning documents, grading participant work products, writing participant evaluations, and administrative tasks
• Support the LPTP SM in development of systems and procedures to assess participants’ effectiveness using student achievement data and other measures
• Contributing to organizational initiatives to improve instruction, including instructor quality, program implementation best practices, and participant supports
• Cultivating client relationships by conducting monthly program partner meetings, meeting with school leaders, and other stakeholders to provide information about the program and ensure a programmatic focus on teacher effectiveness

Qualifications

We are seeking candidates who believe deeply in our organization's mission and who display a record of achievement. Successful candidates will demonstrate:
• Support of alternative routes to teacher certification and an interest in working with new teachers
• Strong education background and instructional skill set with at least two years teaching experience (required), preferably in high-need schools or with high-need populations
• Experience teaching in a Louisiana public school (strongly preferred)
• Familiarity with Louisiana curriculum standards (strongly preferred)
• Previous experience developing and leading teacher professional development (preferred)
• Comfort working with computers and strong working knowledge of the Microsoft Office suite (preferred)
• Track record of raising student achievement
• Previous success managing and developing staff
• Excellent project management and organizational skills
• Evidence of strong leadership and facilitation skills
• Excellent oral communication and writing skills
• Capacity to work independently and manage multiple responsibilities simultaneously
• Ability to thrive in a changing environment
• The ability to work effectively with others at all levels of an organization
• A willingness to work non-standard hours and/or occasional weekends
• Experience as a Seminar Leader with TNTP a plus

Compensation

The annual salary for this full-time position is $60,000 or commensurate with experience in a similar position, with the potential for a performance based bonus. We also offer a motivated team of colleagues, a collegial atmosphere that values professional development, a comprehensive benefits plan effective on the first day of employment – including medical, dental, vision, disability, life insurance, flexible spending account options, generous vacation time, and a 403(b) plan with matching – as well as the opportunity to impact the direction of a growing, mission-driven organization that is committed to the success of our nation’s children.

To Apply

Please submit your resume and tailored cover letter online at: http://tbe.taleo.net/NA5/ats/careers/requisition.jsp?org=THENEWTEACHERPROJECT&cws=1&rid=731

We review applications on a rolling basis – so it is to your advantage to apply as soon as possible. We will not consider applications without a cover letter tailored to this position, which can be addressed to the Human Capital Team. The New Teacher Project is committed to fostering and capitalizing on the diversity of our organization. We are an equal opportunity employer and seek individuals of all ethnic and racial backgrounds to apply to this position. If you would like to learn more about our mission, please visit our web site at www.tntp.org.