Moir, a longtime teacher and educator of teachers, founded the New Teacher Center (NTC), which improves student achievement in American public schools. NTC does this by accelerating the effectiveness of new teachers, specifically those who work with low-income, minority and English as a second language (ESL) students. Its mentorship and professional development programs provide support and guidance to novice teachers in the early stages of their careers, as well as to principals and administrators. NTC also influences policy at the district, state, and federal levels. It is the only national nonprofit in the US that is focused on new teacher effectiveness and inducted 26,818 teachers and 1,762 new and experienced principals (reaching 1.84 million students) in 2009-10.
IMPACT AS OF JAN. 2013:
In the 2010-2011 school year, New Teacher’s services reached 3,516 school administrators, 7,534 mentors, 24,195 beginning teachers and about 1.5 million students.
Research into retention rates in Chicago Public Schools found that new teachers were nearly twice as likely to say they wanted to remain in their school when they had strong mentoring based on New Teacher Center principles. When new teachers also had strong support from school administrators and other teachers, they were 3-4 times more likely to want to remain in their school.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THEIR WORK:
Social entrepreneurs don't generally set out to incite protest or topple despots, but they are revolutionaries nonetheless. They understand that wars can be waged by a thousand cuts, that crimes against humanity occur when millions of children die of diarrhea or tetanus. When medicine fails the poor, when education squanders young educators and sacrifices it's young.
And they refused to accept that this is reality, the status quo, just the way things are. They know better and they set out to make it so. The 2011 Skoll Award winners we honor tonight offer scalable, proven solutions to these toughest of problems.And to unacceptable conditions of poverty and injustice that breed and sustain them. Ellen Moir New Teacher Center. In the US one third of our new teachers. Young men and women entering a noble profession with noble aspirations, don't make it.
The turnover rate saps education of its talent and scars schools, classrooms, and students. Even worse, the problem hits the most vulnerable the hardest, since new teachers are most commonly placed in the toughest school settings. Ellen Moir traces her passion for education to her high school Spanish teacher, who encouraged her to be the first one in her family to attend college. For more than 20 years, Ellen has tested and refined a model to pair talented and experienced veteran teachers with talented and inexperienced new teachers, launching New Teacher Center in 1998.
In 2010, the center reached more than 26,000 teachers to affect 1.84 million students. To bolster its impact, the Center plays an active role in the National Education Policy debate, advocating for state and federal policies that line up with the needs of educators and students. Ellen Moir, New Teacher Center.
My first year as a classroom teacher, I felt like a complete failure. I wanted to quit. I'd never worked so hard in my life. And I knew in my heart that I really wasn't making a difference in the lives of my students. From the moment I left college, I knew I was going to be a phenomenal teacher, but when I met my students, I could see quickly that I didn't know what to do, maybe I'd chosen the wrong profession.
Those are the words of new teachers across America. We have a horrible way of inducting them. It's really a trial by fire experience; one that you'd never want to happen to anyone you know. Yes, we can find a key for them to the classroom, but the room is bare. There's nothing for them to know, a guide on what to teach or how to teach.
And, they're disproportionately assigned to the toughest schools and within schools the toughest assignments. No wonder fifty percent leave within the first three to five years. And let me be clear, those that leave are leaving from the communities and from the students that need stability and connectedness the most.
It's a tragedy. It's despicable. And, it haunted me for years to watch this play out as we simultaneously talked about building a profession.
How could we be ever really recruit the most talented to stay and care and do their best? If we really reach, if we greet them with the conditions that we've done so far. At the New Teacher Center, we're driven to build a better profession, to really honor and value teachers. Each of you remembers a teacher that made a difference in your life.
I, personally want to be sure that it's not left to chance, that every under privileged child in America, every Latino and African American child in this country gets the best teachers.
So, we built a model to actually on board or induct new teachers into the profession. Where we not only wanted to help new teachers and their students, but we wanted to create optimism and hope in our profession, by releasing the most talented of teachers, to serve in the role of mentor. And these exemplary teachers, they teach new teachers how to teach.
That's their job. They are beside the new teachers every week of the year, for two years. So if a new teacher has a problem and it's 8PM at night, they can ping them and get an answer or they can simply pick up the phone. Let me tell you a moment about Vivianna Espinoza. Vivianna teaches in East Palo Alto.
Many of you've heard of Palo Alto, probably one of the most affluent communities in America. But have you heard that East Palo Alto, across the bridge, resembles the south side of Chicago? The Inglewood community, it's tough. I remember when I went there the first time, 10 years ago, I couldn't believe that we called this a school and a district.
Against all odds, Vivianna with her 20 first graders. Those 20 students of 17 were English language learners. Vivianna set out an aggressive course with her mentor to help every single one of those students read at grade level by the end. And I am happy to tell you that with this expert other at her side, Vivianna was able to do just that.
Fifteen of the students met grade level and all 20 of them had made growth beyond a year. I tell you that story about Vivianna because you can see that her students are really the primary beneficiaries of this work. But I want you to know that Viviana's mentor and the other mentors that we've reached across the country, 6,000 of them, for the first time in their careers feel empowered and proud to be teachers and are very focused on how to build in this continuous improvement process into the schools. We reached 1.5 we're going to double that number, we're going to reach three million new students coming from communities where they are under served and not getting the kind of quality education that America touts as being part of our democracy.
Imagine if every single new teacher in America got this kind of induction, mentored support for two years, how the students could actually, the new teachers would be better, faster and the students would actually improve and the results would be fabulous and the new teachers would have a fire and a passion for being the best that they can.
Imagine how we'd move the needle on performance if we had this kind of a system. Let me just share with you the words of one of the mentees that had a great mentor for two years. She said, "My mentor was like a light that guided me through my first years. I was able to take that light and shine it on my students.
My heartfelt thanks to the Skoll Foundation and to Jeff Skoll for this award. I accept it on behalf of every teacher in America who's trying to be the best that they possibly can and who cared deeply about all students and know that all students can be successful. This award is going to help the New Teacher Center shine that bright light on millions of students, under privileged students across the country, new teachers and their mentors, to transform education in America.
This is our time, join me in making this difference. Thank you.
Skoll Entrepreneur(s): Ellen Moir Change(s) Addressed: Education and Economic Opportunity
Moir, a longtime teacher and educator of teachers, founded the New Teacher Center (NTC), which improves student achievement in American public schools. NTC does this by accelerating the effectiveness of new teachers, specifically those who work with low-income, minority and English as a second language (ESL) students. Its mentorship and professional development programs provide support and guidance to novice teachers in the early stages of their careers, as well as to principals and administrators. NTC also influences policy at the district, state, and federal levels. It is the only national nonprofit in the US that is focused on new teacher effectiveness and inducted 26,818 teachers and 1,762 new and experienced principals (reaching 1.84 million students) in 2009-10.
IMPACT AS OF JAN. 2013:
In the 2010-2011 school year, New Teacher’s services reached 3,516 school administrators, 7,534 mentors, 24,195 beginning teachers and about 1.5 million students.
Research into retention rates in Chicago Public Schools found that new teachers were nearly twice as likely to say they wanted to remain in their school when they had strong mentoring based on New Teacher Center principles. When new teachers also had strong support from school administrators and other teachers, they were 3-4 times more likely to want to remain in their school.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THEIR WORK:
Social entrepreneurs don't generally set out to incite protest or topple despots, but they are revolutionaries nonetheless. They understand that wars can be waged by a thousand cuts, that crimes against humanity occur when millions of children die of diarrhea or tetanus. When medicine fails the poor, when education squanders young educators and sacrifices it's young.
And they refused to accept that this is reality, the status quo, just the way things are. They know better and they set out to make it so. The 2011 Skoll Award winners we honor tonight offer scalable, proven solutions to these toughest of problems.And to unacceptable conditions of poverty and injustice that breed and sustain them. Ellen Moir New Teacher Center. In the US one third of our new teachers. Young men and women entering a noble profession with noble aspirations, don't make it.
The turnover rate saps education of its talent and scars schools, classrooms, and students. Even worse, the problem hits the most vulnerable the hardest, since new teachers are most commonly placed in the toughest school settings. Ellen Moir traces her passion for education to her high school Spanish teacher, who encouraged her to be the first one in her family to attend college. For more than 20 years, Ellen has tested and refined a model to pair talented and experienced veteran teachers with talented and inexperienced new teachers, launching New Teacher Center in 1998.
In 2010, the center reached more than 26,000 teachers to affect 1.84 million students. To bolster its impact, the Center plays an active role in the National Education Policy debate, advocating for state and federal policies that line up with the needs of educators and students. Ellen Moir, New Teacher Center.
My first year as a classroom teacher, I felt like a complete failure. I wanted to quit. I'd never worked so hard in my life. And I knew in my heart that I really wasn't making a difference in the lives of my students. From the moment I left college, I knew I was going to be a phenomenal teacher, but when I met my students, I could see quickly that I didn't know what to do, maybe I'd chosen the wrong profession.
Those are the words of new teachers across America. We have a horrible way of inducting them. It's really a trial by fire experience; one that you'd never want to happen to anyone you know. Yes, we can find a key for them to the classroom, but the room is bare. There's nothing for them to know, a guide on what to teach or how to teach.
And, they're disproportionately assigned to the toughest schools and within schools the toughest assignments. No wonder fifty percent leave within the first three to five years. And let me be clear, those that leave are leaving from the communities and from the students that need stability and connectedness the most.
It's a tragedy. It's despicable. And, it haunted me for years to watch this play out as we simultaneously talked about building a profession.
How could we be ever really recruit the most talented to stay and care and do their best? If we really reach, if we greet them with the conditions that we've done so far. At the New Teacher Center, we're driven to build a better profession, to really honor and value teachers. Each of you remembers a teacher that made a difference in your life.
I, personally want to be sure that it's not left to chance, that every under privileged child in America, every Latino and African American child in this country gets the best teachers.
So, we built a model to actually on board or induct new teachers into the profession. Where we not only wanted to help new teachers and their students, but we wanted to create optimism and hope in our profession, by releasing the most talented of teachers, to serve in the role of mentor. And these exemplary teachers, they teach new teachers how to teach.
That's their job. They are beside the new teachers every week of the year, for two years. So if a new teacher has a problem and it's 8PM at night, they can ping them and get an answer or they can simply pick up the phone. Let me tell you a moment about Vivianna Espinoza. Vivianna teaches in East Palo Alto.
Many of you've heard of Palo Alto, probably one of the most affluent communities in America. But have you heard that East Palo Alto, across the bridge, resembles the south side of Chicago? The Inglewood community, it's tough. I remember when I went there the first time, 10 years ago, I couldn't believe that we called this a school and a district.
Against all odds, Vivianna with her 20 first graders. Those 20 students of 17 were English language learners. Vivianna set out an aggressive course with her mentor to help every single one of those students read at grade level by the end. And I am happy to tell you that with this expert other at her side, Vivianna was able to do just that.
Fifteen of the students met grade level and all 20 of them had made growth beyond a year. I tell you that story about Vivianna because you can see that her students are really the primary beneficiaries of this work. But I want you to know that Viviana's mentor and the other mentors that we've reached across the country, 6,000 of them, for the first time in their careers feel empowered and proud to be teachers and are very focused on how to build in this continuous improvement process into the schools. We reached 1.5 we're going to double that number, we're going to reach three million new students coming from communities where they are under served and not getting the kind of quality education that America touts as being part of our democracy.
Imagine if every single new teacher in America got this kind of induction, mentored support for two years, how the students could actually, the new teachers would be better, faster and the students would actually improve and the results would be fabulous and the new teachers would have a fire and a passion for being the best that they can.
Imagine how we'd move the needle on performance if we had this kind of a system. Let me just share with you the words of one of the mentees that had a great mentor for two years. She said, "My mentor was like a light that guided me through my first years. I was able to take that light and shine it on my students.
My heartfelt thanks to the Skoll Foundation and to Jeff Skoll for this award. I accept it on behalf of every teacher in America who's trying to be the best that they possibly can and who cared deeply about all students and know that all students can be successful. This award is going to help the New Teacher Center shine that bright light on millions of students, under privileged students across the country, new teachers and their mentors, to transform education in America.
This is our time, join me in making this difference. Thank you.
LATEST ENTREPRENEUR NEWS
New Teacher Center's New Award and Massive Open Online Course Partnership on March 15
Today we share two bits of news from New Teacher Center.
NewSchools Venture Fund (NSVF) named New Teacher Center Organization ...
Improving Teaching: Ellen Moir's Thoughts on March 15
We had to share this great Q and A with Skoll Awardee Ellen Moir of New Teacher Center called "Conversation ...
