New Teacher Center (NTC) seeks to reduce the achievement gap in American schools by accelerating the effectiveness of new teachers and principals, through comprehensive mentoring and professional development programs.
NTC partners with school districts, policymakers, and leaders in education to implement induction programs that build leadership capacity, enhance working conditions, improve teacher retention, and transform schools into vibrant learning communities.
Their induction programs include one-on-one mentoring and professional development, all taking place within school environments that support new teachers.
NTC believes that when we focus on teachers, students succeed. New teachers and administrators are typically placed in difficult assignments in hard-to-staff schools. Many of their careers will not survive this trial by fire.
Yet, it is these schools, and the low-income and students of color that attend them, that stand to benefit the most from excellent teaching. Improving teacher effectiveness delivers on the promise of public education and helps close the achievement gap in American schools.
Assigned to the most difficult classrooms, half of new teachers leave the profession within five years, leaving behind the students most in need of stability.
NTC pairs talented and inexperienced teachers with experienced, veteran teachers who guide them through the crucial first two years.
Ellen Moir intends to ensure that every district trains and mentors new teachers to deliver highest quality educational outcomes.
5,700 mentors are working with 23,000 new teachers in 35 states, benefiting 1.6 million students.
Improve teacher quality and close the achievement gap by ensuring that every school district trains and mentors every new teacher to deliver highest quality educational outcomes.
Demonstration and Uptake of Model into Existing Systems.
Build mentorship programs into school district structure and funding systems.
Founder and CEO, New Teacher Center
After beginning her career as a bilingual teacher, Ellen Moir spent 15 years directing the teacher education program at UC Santa Cruz. Dismayed to see new teachers become disillusioned and leave teaching, she developed an instructional mentoring program to induct new teachers. Ellen then founded NTC in 1998 to scale high quality teacher induction services to a national audience. She is widely recognized for her work in new teacher development and school reform. Ellen was named a recipient of the 2015 Mary Utne O’Brien Awards for Excellence in Expanding the Evidence-based Practice of Social and Emotional Learning, the 2015 California Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (CASCD) Outstanding Instructional Leader award, the 2014 Brock International Prize in Education Laureate, became a Pahara-Aspen Education Fellow in 2013, and an Ashoka Fellow in 2011. Other major awards include the 2013 NewSchools Venture Fund Organization of the Year Award, 2010 Civic Ventures Purpose Prize Fellow, 2008 National Staff Development Council Contribution to the Field award; the 2008 Full Circle Fund Impact Award; the Harold W. McGraw, Jr. 2005 Prize in Education; and the 2003 California Council on Teacher Education Distinguished Teacher Educator Award. Ellen Moir retired in August of 2018 and NTC's new CEO is Desmond K. Blackburn. Desmond comes to NTC as the former Superintendent of Brevard Public Schools, and we are now working through the goals of his First 100-days Plan. As the leader of Florida’s 10th largest school district, and overseeing 75,000 students and 9,000 educators and employees, Desmond exercised his leadership skills to create a new vision and strategic plan for the district. Desmond is also a Broad Fellow and a former principal, classroom teacher, and community leader with two decades of experience leading educators driven to achieving educational equity for every student.
