New Fellowships Focus on State-Level Issues Such as ESSA Implementation
BOSTON, MA—Teach Plus, a national non-profit that empowers teachers to lead improvements in policy and practice, is expanding the scope of its Teaching Policy Fellowships for teachers in California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, and New Mexico. The new Fellowships will engage teachers from across each state to help guide policy decision-making and impact key state-level issues, such as the implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The Fellowships are launching throughout the fall of 2016 and are continuing into spring 2017 to provide teachers with advocacy opportunities in conjunction with the legislative sessions in each state.
“Since Teach Plus’ founding in 2007, we’ve trained thousands of teachers in our regions to become bilingual in policy and practice. With these Fellowships, we’ll be able to broaden our reach and deepen the impact our teachers have on policies that affect them and their students,” said Dr. Celine Coggins, Teach Plus Founder and CEO. “Teach Plus has a strong record when it comes to teacher advocacy around ESSA. The new programs will capitalize on our successes, ensuring that highly effective teachers from across each state are at the table helping to implement the new law in ways that are good for all students.”
Teach Plus teachers have provided feedback on key provisions of ESSA at every level of the system up to and including the Oval Office: In October 2015, Teaching Policy Fellows Bootsie Battle-Holt and Farida Mama discussed testing with President Obama in a White House meeting. During the reauthorization process, Teach Plus teachers held Congressional briefings and met with Congressional offices to share their perspectives; published op-eds; and provided feedback on legislation. More than 3,500 teachers in the Teach Plus network weighed in on reauthorization issues through Teach Plus flash polls. This spring, Teaching Policy Fellowship alumna Audrey Jackson was one of two teachers in the country to serve on the ESSA Negotiated Rulemaking Committee.
Teach Plus currently runs Teaching Policy Fellowships for teachers in six regions, including Chicago, Greater Boston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Maryland, and Memphis. Through the Fellowship, highly effective teachers learn to develop their voice in policy and advocacy. The Fellows engage directly with key education stakeholders and policy makers, and work to shape and advocate for policies that meet the needs of their students and the teaching profession.
About Teach Plus
Teach Plus empowers excellent, experienced teachers to take leadership over key policy and practice issues that affect their students’ success. Teach Plus programs are designed to place highly effective teachers at the center of improvements in schools as leaders of their peers and outside schools influencing policy decisions that affect their classrooms. The programs develop excellent teachers into leaders who achieve change and mobilize others in their school, district, state, and across the nation to bring change to scale. Since its inception in August 2007, Teach Plus has grown to a network of more than 22,000 solutions-oriented teachers across the country. www.teachplus.org
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