by Elizabeth K. Jeffers
The New School Venture Fund is a major contributor to The New Teacher Project, an invention of Wendy Kopp and Michelle Rhee. The New Teacher Project has worked with NSNO to bring teachNOLA to New Orleans. During its seven years in New Orleans, teachNOLA has trained over 800 teachers. According to LATRAC, the Louisiana Department of Education has had a total of $6,858,813 in contracts since 2008 with TNTP, and of that amount, $4,459,396 was specifically allocated to the RSD “to recruit, train, certify and place” alternate certification teachers as well as to design and implement teacher evaluation systems.
The former state superintendent Paul Pastorek also sits on the board of The New Teacher Project. Pastorek has been making a career in consulting by promoting the “The New Orleans Model” in places like Detroit and Atlanta.
