Posted: January 19, 2010

Part-time Operations Intern – Recovery School District Staffing Initiative
New Orleans, 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 recognizes that although teachers matter more than any other school factor in student success, the nation’s education systems are not aligned with the goal of an effective teacher in every classroom. In response, TNTP develops customized programs and policy interventions that enable education leaders to diagnose their teacher quality challenges and find, develop and keep great teachers. Since its inception in 1997, TNTP has recruited or trained approximately 33,000 teachers—mainly through its highly selective Teaching Fellows™ programs—benefiting an estimated 4.8 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 25 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 part-time Operations Intern for our Recovery School District (RSD) Staffing Initiative. This position requires approximately 10 – 15 hours per week during the afternoon with the potential to increase work hours slightly during the peak months of May-August and the flexibility to work evening and/or weekend events on occasion. The Intern will be a TNTP employee based at the Recovery School District office. The position will begin immediately and will end August 31, 2010.

The Program

The quality of the teacher is the biggest factor in determining whether or not students achieve at high levels. A report published by TNTP, entitled Missed Opportunities: How We Keep High Quality Teachers Out of Urban Classrooms, showed that urban school districts lose their high quality teacher candidates because they hire late.

The Recovery School District Staffing Initiative, a partnership between The New Teacher Project and the Recovery School District, works to address hiring challenges for the RSD direct-run schools in New Orleans to ensure that these schools have the opportunity to hire the highest quality teachers possible. Through this partnership, the Staffing Initiative (SI) program team manages a supplemental internet teacher recruitment campaign, provides high-touch, customized logistical support during the hiring process, holds job fairs and provides customized strategic staffing support for school leaders and their hiring teams to assist them in their effort to fill vacancies effectively and with the strongest possible teacher candidates.

Role and Responsibilities

The Operations Intern will help facilitate early hiring for the public schools that the Recovery School District operates. This position offers the successful candidate the opportunity to have a profound impact on how teachers are hired in approximately 30 hard-to-staff schools in New Orleans. The Operations Intern’s responsibilities will include:

• Assisting with on-site, day-to-day operations, including maintaining the applicant database, scheduling interviews between candidates and principals, and responding to candidate communications in a timely manner
• Meeting ambitious goals that support the early hiring of high quality teachers and ensuring that all vacancies in RSD schools are filled by the first day of school
• Generating innovative solutions to program challenges
• Executing an internet recruitment plan to increase the number of high quality applicants
• Planning, organizing, and managing the logistics of teacher hiring events
• Maintaining data management systems and compiling data reports
• Working with the client and TNTP Site Manager and Program Manager on additional projects as necessary

This position will report to the Program Manager of the RSD Staffing Initiative.

Qualifications

We seek detail-oriented, independent self-starters who believe deeply in our organization's mission and who display a proven record of achievement in challenging situations. Successful candidates will also demonstrate:

• Outstanding interpersonal and teamwork skills
• A commitment to producing consistently high quality, detailed work
• The ability to learn quickly, work in a fast paced environment and multi-task effectively
• The ability to identify challenges and actively work to find solutions
• Excellent communication and writing skills
• Excellent event planning, organizational and time-management skills
• Extraordinary attention to detail
• The ability to work well independently while collaborating with others on meeting common goals
• Flexibility
• The ability to work effectively with others at all levels of an organization and to consistently display a high level of professionalism in all interactions
• Excellent skills working with computers, including database management and a strong working knowledge of the Microsoft Office suite
• Knowledge of the New Orleans school system (strongly preferred)
• Experience working with under-performing schools (strongly preferred)

Compensation

The hourly rate for this position is $15/hour, or commensurate with experience, for approximately 10-15 hours a week with the potential to increase work hours slightly during the peak months of May-August and the flexibility to work evening and/or weekend events on occasion. We also offer a motivated team of colleagues and the opportunity to impact the direction of a growing, mission-driven company 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=4&rid=491

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.