Partners of '63 | Active Programs

The New Teacher Project

Crisis or Opportunity

3 million teachers now teach 47 million students in nearly 15,000 public school districts across the United States. During the next ten years, roughly 2 million teachers must be hired.

It is our belief that no single factor has a greater influence on student achievement than teacher quality.

Many conclude that we are in the midst of a crisis. Applecore Partners takes a contrary view and believes this situation provides a significant opportunity for systemic change. Accordingly, Applecore has formed a Strategic Alliance with The New Teacher Project ("TNTP"). Our classmates will serve as resources to help TNTP "roll out" their programs across the country.

What is The New Teacher Project?

The New Teacher Project is a revenue-generating, non-profit consulting organization that partners with school districts, states, and other educational entities to enhance their ability to recruit, select, train, and support outstanding new teachers.

In 2000/01 TNTP's effort attracted and prepared over 2,600 new high-quality teachers to serve in 19 difficult-to-staff school districts. The vast majority of these new teachers elected to switch career paths and move into teaching.

The TNTP mission is to partner with educational entities to:

	Increase the number of outstanding individuals who become public school teachers, and
	Create environments for all educators that maximize their impact on student achievement.

Why did Partners of '63 select The New Teacher Project?

Our investigation confirmed that TNTP has created an internal culture that embraces many of the disciplines of a "for-profit" business as it purses its philanthropic mission. The organization differs from traditional nonprofits in certain unique ways:

	TNTP is revenue-generating and self-sustaining. TNTP charges school districts a fee for their services. This allows TNTP to focus on creating quality programs and minimize constant fund-raising efforts. The fact that clients find the services important enough to pay for them is a significant confirmation of value delivered. In addition, since each project is self-financing, TNTP has built a business model that is easily scaleable. (Cash-flow planning and collection, project by project, is recognized as a great internal discipline.)

	TNTP's organization is staffed by a dynamic "thirty-something" team of veteran Teach for America staff and by major consulting firms such as McKinsey, Bain, and Accenture. Many have had front-line classroom experience. The diversity of the team enables TNTP to be mission-driven and focused on education — always with sound business principles and results-oriented strategies.

	TNTP has the ability to effect systemic change. Unlike many non-profits that are not scaleable, TNTP was created with scalability in mind. By utilizing a regional structure in which local hires are brought on when contracts are signed, TNTP can grow seamlessly. The focus on building capacity and the ability to scale position TNTP to have a powerful, positive impact on the way educational entities recruit and hire new teachers.

The Partners of '63 Role

TNTP has targeted the 800 school districts with a student body of 10,000 or more. These districts account for only 6% of our school districts but educate about 50% of all students in public schools. Moreover, TNTP has singled out 15-20 largest school districts that are top prospects for 2002. Almost all are urban, and serve the most needy. The Report on TNTP (see below) outlines a number of ways Partners of '63 can help. In the next year or two, the most important assistance we can provide is to serve as a "resource" to one of the 9 TNTP Regional Partners. These TNTP PARTNERS need our support to access Superintendents and community leaders. Your network (and "gray hair") could help.

How to learn much more about TNTP and the Strategic Alliance:

A team from Partners '63 conducted significant due diligence on the organization and prepared a Report on TNTP outlining its findings and the Strategic Alliance. This document was mailed to all members of the Harvard Business School class of 1963 in July 2001. Click here to download a copy of the Report on TNTP. After you have studied this report, you can obtain additional insights at www.tntp.org/tp63.

How do I register my interest to participate in this Active Program involving the Strategic Alliance with The New Teacher Project?

Click here and complete the "Program Registration Form".

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