The mission of Teach Plus is to support the retention of high quality teachers into a second stage of their careers by expanding leadership opportunities and financial incentives for those who demonstrate success in the classroom. It is founded on the premise that teachers want to learn in the profession, and want to ensure that their development results in increased learning among their students. In order for schools to continuously improve student achievement, teaching must become a career that motivates and rewards continuous improvement among practitioners.

The Teach Plus initiative bridges practice, research and policy. In brief, these dimensions involve the following:

• Practice. Establishing networks of teacher leaders and enabling change in schools and districts.
• Research. Analyzing and disseminating information on local innovation and national trends in teacher quality policy.
• Policy. Informing state, district and school decision making and supporting teachers in advocating for effective policy.

THE PROBLEM

The quality of classroom teachers is the single most important factor in student achievement, yet the profession is not organized to reward excellence, promote teacher development, or retain top performers in the classroom. Promising young teachers are leaving the field in ever-increasing numbers, at a steep cost to the system. 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.  Our ability to meet the ambitious goals we have established for student performance depends on a pipeline of teachers building experience and committing to stay on as classroom leaders through a second stage of their careers.

There is a generation gap in teaching. The distribution in the profession tends to look like a u-shaped curve – a great percentage of teachers have fewer than five years experience, most others have upwards of twenty years, few exist in the middle. The interests of veteran teachers are well-represented by national and state education leaders. Yet it is those who are just starting their careers now who hold the keys to the future of public education. Teach Plus aims to transform the teaching career to meet the expectations of a 21st century workforce.

Read more about the research basis for our work.

OUR APPROACH

We believe changing the profession should begin by giving voice to the teachers who will soon be the profession’s leaders. At the same time, we work with districts and policy makers to affect system change. Our approach centers on the following strategies:

• Mobilizing teachers to be advocates for the profession;
• Connecting teachers to opportunities and new ideas;
• Forming strategic partnerships with schools and districts to design differentiated role and pay systems; and
• Providing research, technical assistance and contract analysis to partners and policy makers.

OUR FOCUS

Teach Plus is a multi-dimensional initiative designed to address issues of particular interest to teachers contemplating a second stage in the profession. Our areas of focus are:

• Retention;
• Leadership; and 
• Compensation.

The common denominator of all of our work is creating opportunities for teachers including incentives for them to stay in teaching, improve their practice and earn rewards for their contributions.