Teach Plus Pennsylvania
Welcome to Teach Plus Pennsylvania! Our mission is to empower excellent, experienced, and diverse teachers to take leadership over key policy and practice issues that advance equity, opportunity, and student success. In pursuing our mission, Teach Plus is guided by our Student Opportunity Mandate: All students should have the opportunity to achieve their potential in an education system defined by its commitment to equity, its responsiveness to individual needs, and its ability to prepare students for postsecondary success.
We provide teachers with training and opportunities to change and influence policies and practice at the school, district, and state level—achieving change in schools and in the broader education system. We help elevate teacher voice and teacher leadership in service of improved student opportunity at the school, local, and state levels.
Did you know?
- Teach Plus PA’s instructional leadership work began in 2017 with the T3 program in the School District of Philadelphia, where T3 teacher leaders received Teach Plus coaching and support to lead their grade teams and improve student outcomes. In the first three years, T3 partner schools improved faster than the district average and developed systems of shared leadership. Teach Plus PA’s policy work began in 2020 with a Teacher Policy Advisory Board and expanded to the first full Teaching Policy Fellowship in 2021. Policy fellows learn about education policymaking and advocate for equitable policies in areas such as school funding, early childhood education, teacher diversity, and teacher preparation.
Regional Programs
A highly selective leadership opportunity for outstanding PA teachers and early childhood educators to deepen their knowledge of education policy and gain a voice in decisions that affect their students and the teaching profession.
Creates teacher-led culturally affirming, supportive spaces for educators of color to help retain them. In year one, Teach Plus supports 30 teacher leaders of color to facilitate affinity groups serving 320 educators of color.
A group of experienced teacher leaders who, with Teach Plus coaching, facilitate professional learning communities (PLCs) focused on effective implementation of curriculum and best practices.
Supports two cohorts of six districts in southwestern PA in improving the diversity of their workforces. We bring together teacher, school, and systems leaders in a continuous improvement process to improve recruitment and retention of teachers of color.
Engages a community of 700+ educators to gather input on key issues in PA, engage in advocacy and research efforts to improve student outcomes, and provide training opportunities to learn about education policy, practice, and leadership.
Recent Impact
In our first six years in Pennsylvania, our teachers and staff, along with our partners, have:
- Won historic increases in state funding of public education, including:
- Over $2 billion in new funding over the past three years
- $325 million for a new program to accelerate resources to the 100 most underfunded districts
- Proposed reforms in response to the school funding lawsuit that would close a $5.4 billion statewide adequacy gap over the next seven years.
- Passed multiple bills to address Pennsylvania’s teacher shortage crisis, including legislation that creates a new high school pathway into teaching, improves data collection on the diversity of the workforce and the number of teacher vacancies, and creates a $10 million student teacher stipend program.
- Updated teacher certification requirements in Pennsylvania to ensure teachers are trained in the science of reading and culturally relevant and sustaining education.
- Supported partner schools in Philadelphia to make large gains in early literacy, exceeding their goals and the growth rates of comparison schools and the district as a whole.
Teach Plus Pennsylvania’s Strategic Goals
Over the next 10 years:
- Pennsylvania will become the fastest-improving state in the country in 4th grade reading. 1
- Philadelphia will become the fastest-improving urban district in the country in 4th grade reading. 2
- During this time, achievement gaps will narrow, with Black, Hispanic, special education, and economically disadvantaged students making larger gains that the overall state and city averages.
- This goal is meaningful because of the correlation between early reading and future life outcomes, along with the significance of reading on level to parents and students across Pennsylvania.
- Specifically, Pennsylvania students will grow by 10 scale score points on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 4th grade reading assessment. This is in line with the growth made by Mississippi between 2013 and 2019, one of the fastest-improving states in the country.
- Specifically, Philadelphia students will grow by 10 scale score points on the NAEP Trial Urban Districts Assessment for 4th grade reading. This is in line with the growth from 2009 to 2019 of students in Washington, DC, the fastest-growing urban district in the country.
Meet our Teacher Leaders
Get to know the teachers in our programs.
Read Our News
Find out about our work and successes.
