Every child deserves a great teacher. Right now, New York can’t put one in every classroom.
Educators for Excellence–New York is launching a new teacher leader fellowship that pairs your classroom expertise with the policy and organizing skills to shape how decisions get made in New York.
Teacher shortages aren’t spread evenly. They cluster in specific subjects and specific schools, and they hit students in poverty and students of color hardest. More than 20% of teachers in high-poverty schools are teaching outside their certification area. Teacher preparation enrollment has fallen 53% statewide since 2015, even as demand climbs. As the class-size law takes effect, those gaps will widen unless we act.
There’s a smarter way to pay teachers.
Teachers are the most important in-school factor in student learning, and they consistently name compensation as the top factor that would keep them in the profession. With budgets tight, New York can’t afford to spend broadly. It has to invest where the need is greatest.
NYC Public Schools already has the flexibility in its contract to offer compensation incentives for hard-to-staff schools and subjects, so the city doesn’t need to wait for Albany to act. Over the next two years, E4E-NY educators will press the city to use that flexibility and make New York City a model for what strategic compensation can do for students across the state.
We need teachers to design what happens next.
Too often, compensation policy is written about teachers without them. This fellowship puts educators who live these shortages every day at the center of the solution.
Interested in learning more to help you decide if this opportunity is right for you? Join us at our upcoming virtual info session on Wednesday, November 18th from 6- 7 p.m.
As a teacher leader fellow, you will:
- Lead with Purpose and Build Relationships: Analyze how power operates within your school and the broader NYCPS system, build relationships across stakeholder groups, and communicate a clear vision for change.
- Organize and Mobilize for Change: Apply leadership and organizing strategies to navigate conflict, engage colleagues, and advance a shared goal by completing at least five organizing actions during the fellowship.
- Design and Measure Change: Develop and implement a leadership project with clear goals, measurable outcomes, and a plan for sustaining or expanding its impact.
The E4E-NY Teacher Leader Fellowship is a 16-month commitment of about 10 hours per month. That time includes two 90-minute group sessions each month (virtual and in-person) and independent work. Fellows must attend at least 90% of sessions to receive the full $4,500 stipend.