Posted: June 14, 2010

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 two part-time Operations Interns for our Human Capital Strategy Initiative in partnership with the Recovery School District (RSD). Each position requires approximately 20 – 25 hours per week with the potential to increase work hours during the peak months of July and August, and the flexibility to work evening and/or weekend events on occasion. The Interns will be TNTP employees based in the school district office in New Orleans. These positions will begin immediately and will end September 30, 2010.

Human Capital Strategy Initiative, Recovery School District

Research has shown that effective teachers are the solution to increasing student achievement in under-resourced schools. As a result, TNTP has always focused on increasing the concentration of highly effective teachers in high-need classrooms. We have done this primarily by strengthening the pipeline into schools through our Teaching Fellows Programs, Model Staffing Initiatives, and Training and Certification programs.

In order to achieve our vision of a human capital system that revolves around the objective of an effective teacher in every classroom, we not only need to create a supply of effective teachers, but we also need to help school districts and states optimize the effectiveness of the teacher workforce overall. School districts must focus not only on teacher recruitment, selection, training, and certification, but also on components like teacher performance evaluation, compensation, and school-level human capital management (the ability of principals to manage and keep highly effective teachers). In short, all aspects of the human capital strategy within a school district must be focused on the following metrics: increasing the percentage of new teachers that are effective at increasing student achievement, retaining the most effective teachers, outplacing the least effective teachers, and improving the overall effectiveness of the teachers in the district over time.

To help urban districts attain this vision, TNTP is launching a comprehensive Human Capital Strategy Initiative in which we provide consulting and deep technical support to a district on its human capital efforts. Through this initiative, we aim to prove that through comprehensive human capital reform, a district can increase the concentration of effective teachers and substantially improve the academic achievement of students in that district.

Role and Responsibilities

The Operations Interns will help facilitate our work to develop and implement a teacher evaluation and support model in the RSD. This position offers the successful candidate the opportunity to have a profound impact on schools in New Orleans. Specifically, the Operations Interns will be responsible for the following:

• Planning, organizing, and managing logistics for training events, focus groups, and steering committee meetings
• Synthesizing and reporting on survey and interview data
• Generating innovative solutions to technological challenges
• Maintaining data and information management systems and compiling data reports
• Working with the client, TNTP Senior Partner, and other TNTP staff on additional projects as necessary

The Interns will report to the Project Manager of the Human Capital Strategy 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 $19/hour, or commensurate with experience, for approximately 20-25 hours a week with the potential to increase work hours slightly during the peak months of July and 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=571

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.