The Difference a Teacher Makes
We added New Teacher Center, a pioneer in the field of teacher development, to the Tipping Point portfolio this summer. Read on for a look at why we invest in this groundbreaking work.
Most of us can call up the names and faces of our best teachers. We remember the ones who initiated us into the world of English grammar with clever mnemonics; those whose experiments taught us the importance of hypotheses; those who came to school dressed as leaders from American history. Above all, we remember teachers who saw a flicker of potential in us and went out of their way to nurture it.
A few years ago, economists at Harvard and Columbia followed over two million students from fourth grade into adulthood to better understand the value of a good teacher. The findings were clear: teacher quality matters, not only for academic achievement among students, but also when it comes to longer-term measures of financial stability and overall wellbeing.
If a student gets a good fourth grade teacher, they found, he or she is more likely to go to college, and less likely to become a parent as a teenager. On average, students who receive great instruction for fourth grade alone earn $25,000 more over the course of their lifetimes than those who do not. A subpar instructor has the same effect on a student as missing about 72 days of the school year.
At Tipping Point, we know that education is one of the most reliable tools to disrupt generational cycles of poverty. But while studies show that new teachers need up to seven years to be effective in the classroom, roughly a fifth leave the profession within the first five. Turnover among new teachers here in San Francisco Unified School District is an estimated 56% per year. This high rate of burnout costs schools across the country about $7 billion annually, with disproportionate impact on poorer areas where the stress of teaching is compounded by a lack of resources and higher incidence of trauma. Over 15 million students in low-income schools suffer the effects of inexperienced, inconsistent teachers every year in this country.
Tipping Point grantee New Teacher Center (NTC) was founded in Santa Cruz in 1998 and has since scaled nationally to partner with school districts, state agencies and others in support of teachers early in their careers. The organization pairs new teachers with expert teachers, trained to be full-time mentors for two years. NTC also provides coaching for veteran teachers so they may support their peers through professional learning and instructional practice in schools. Finally, NTC supports school leaders with coaching, network development, and professional learning opportunities.
A third party evaluation of NTC’s model in 2010 proved the organization’s effectiveness. It found that new teachers who received NTC’s induction program produced greater student gains when compared with those who received less intensive models. Students of new teachers that were supported by NTC demonstrated learning gains at the same level as students of veteran teachers at both elementary and secondary levels in math and language arts. Furthermore, new teacher retention increased by 30% after two years of NTC support.
“We know that excellent teachers put young people on a path out of poverty,” said Melissa Wang, Tipping Point’s Director of Grantmaking. “And with 35,000 students served across 14 Bay Area districts, NTC has a bigger footprint than any grantee currently in our education portfolio.”
“My colleagues and I are working toward a world in which every student has a talented teacher, every year,” said New Teacher Center Founder and CEO Ellen Moir. “We’re thrilled to join forces with Tipping Point to help realize this vision in the Bay Area. Having the support of such an engaged funder will allow us to forge new connections and access distinctive expertise as we deepen our impact and improve educational outcomes for students across the region.”
Click here for more information about our work with NTC.
