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Celine Coggins (CEO). Coggins is a former teacher from Worcester, MA, who launched the Policy Fellows program while she was the Research Director at the Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy in Cambridge, MA. She is a Mind Trust Education Entrepreneur Fellow. She has been a labor-management consultant in Providence, RI as well as Worcester and Springfield, MA and was special assistant to the Massachusetts Commissioner of Education on teacher quality. She is the author of more than two dozen reports and journal articles and the editor of two books. She earned her Ph.D. in Education Policy Analysis from Stanford University.

Monique Burns Thompson (President). Burns Thompson has experience as a social entrepreneur, management and human capital expert and district administrator. Monique was the co-founder, President and Chief Curriculum Officer of New Leaders for New Schools. She developed her understanding of human capital in the private sector, as a Consultant for the McKenzie Group, as an assistant principal in DCPS, and as Special Assistant to the Superintendent of the Philadelphia Public School District. Monique has a Bachelor's from Dartmouth College, an MBA from Harvard Business School, and a Masters in Education Policy from Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Problem

Too few low-income students are assigned to great teachers with a proven track record of effectiveness.

Innovation / New Solution

Teach Plus runs three programs designed to place teacher leaders at the center of reform. They are the Teaching Policy Fellows Program, the T+ Network, and T3: Turnaround Teacher Teams. Our programs focus on demonstrably effective teachers in the second stage of their careers (in most cases, years 3 through 10) who want to continue classroom teaching, while also expanding their impact as leaders in their schools and in state and district policy.

Policy Fellows
The Teaching Policy Fellows is a highly-selective program for teachers interested in having a voice in the decisions that affect their classrooms. During a cohort experience that spans two school years, teachers meet in monthly sessions that offer:

• Personal interaction with key education leaders;
• A challenging course of study in education policy, research and best practice from around the nation;
• The opportunity to advocate for policies that will better serve students and retain excellent teachers.

T+ Network
The T+ Network is a rapidly-growing national movement of teachers who believe a critical voice has been missing from education policy decision-making: the voice of teachers for kids. With an expanding series of interactive in-person and virtual forums, we provide opportunities for teachers to:

• Connect with highly-motivated peers and national and local policy leaders;
• Learn about innovative policies to empower and retain effective teachers;
• Be a voice for change within the teaching profession.

T3: Turnaround Teacher Teams
The T3 Initiative is a first-of-its-kind program designed to ensure that underserved students have increased access to effective, experienced teachers. The concept was developed by Boston-area teachers. The program is based around five principles. Teacher leaders:

• Apply through a rigorous process that requires evidence of at least 3 years of effective teaching in an urban classroom;
• Work as a team that comprises at least 25% of the school staff;
• Receive specialized training;
• Take on teacher leadership roles within the school; and
• Earn additional compensation.

T3 teachers are charged with producing dramatic gains in student achievement in a previously low-performing school.

Impact

Teach Plus has a track record of ensuring that teacher advocacy results in innovation in schools and districts. Our work has led to:

• Improvements to local teachers’ contracts;
• New programming to increase high-need students’ access to strong teachers;
• Nationally-significant, teacher-led reports; and
• Greater media attention to the voice of the incoming generation of teachers.

The goal of our teacher voice work is policy change that leads to better retention of effective teachers and improved student outcomes.

Expert Comments

• Teach Plus is pursuing an innovative set of strategies for improving the retention of outstanding teachers in urban school districts. Originating in Massachusetts, it is now also working in Chicago and Indianapolis. Much of their work is focused on creating peer networks of motivated, high performing teachers and giving them voice in state and district policy change efforts--a vital missing ingredient and potential counterweight to the monolithic perspective brought to bear on behalf of teachers by the leadership of their collective bargaining units.
  
  
• The mission of Teach Plus is to improve outcomes for urban children by ensuring that a greater proportion of students have access to effective, experienced teachers. It is founded on the premise that teachers want to learn and grow in the profession and want to ensure that their development results in increased learning among their students. Teach Plus addresses this urgent need by engaging both reform-minded teachers and education policy leaders in transforming the profession to reward excellence and results via an intensive policy fellowship and the creation of a network of reform-minded teachers. Teach Plus works with demonstrably effective teachers in the second stage of their careers (years 3-10) who want to continue classroom teaching and engage in “bigger picture” policy reforms that will help to retain teachers like themselves. Founder and CEO Celine Coggins was selected as one of three 2008 entrepreneurial fellows (out of 342 applicants) by the Mind Trust and they provided her with start-up support along with NewSchools Venture Fund. Research makes clear that teachers are the most important variable in student success, yet the profession is not organized to reward excellence, promote teacher development, or retain top performers in the classroom. Nearly half of teachers leave urban schools within their first three years in the classroom, just as they reach their peak effectiveness. Large urban systems‚ where the need for continuity and quality is arguably greatest‚ are the hardest hit, spending billions annually to replace teachers who leave after one, two, or three years. Teachers can provide a unique view into why this occurs and what policy changes are needed to address this problem. Teach Plus, with its teacher members, is focused on developing innovative policy solutions in the following areas: measuring teacher effectiveness; improving performance evaluation systems; developing new compensation systems that create incentives for teachers who demonstrate effectiveness with students; and creating hybrid roles that combine teaching and leadership. Via a two-year intensive Policy Fellows program, Teach Plus gives teachers a voice in issues related to the future of the teaching profession. The program brings fellows into the center of the education policy dialogue by educating them on teacher quality research and policy, training them to develop and advocate for their ideas, and supporting them to advance their ideas to effect policy changes at the district and state level. As fellows, teachers have the chance to: connect with reform-minded peers and national and local education policy leaders, learn about innovative policies to empower and retain effective teachers, and be a voice for change within the teaching profession. Each cohort is comprised of approximately 20 early career teachers with between three and nine years of teaching experience.
  
  
• Teach Plus is evolving from a pilot project in Boston to a few select cities and districts across the country. Their fellow model for adopting policy change provides teachers with alternative pathways outside the traditional path for advancement.
  
  
• This organization is focused on getting continuous feedback from teachers to effectively implement and improve major transformation initiatives. It also trains teachers to serve as policy leaders at the system level. This is critical work to which few other organizations are attending.
  
  
• Teach Plus aims to involve "second stage" teachers (i.e. those with 3-5 years experience) in policy work so that their voices can be heard in the policy process, and so that they are more likely to continue in the teaching profession.
  
  
• This is an interesting new organization focused on drawing strong teachers to teach in high poverty schools. They have innovative ideas, and it is also striking that it is teacher led.
  
  

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