2015-16 Public Education in Tennessee: A Policymaker’s Guide | Page 29

school funding. With offices in Memphis and Nashville, Stand for Children works at all levels by engaging parents, making and implementing changes in local schools, and advocating state reform. Executive Director (This position was unfilled at the time this guide was published) 615.636.8128 StudentsFirst www.studentsfirst.org/tennessee The mission of StudentsFirst is to build a national movement for public education centered on student interests, and to pursue transformative reform to make America’s education system the best in the world. The organization works with parents, teachers, administrators, and citizens to ensure access to great teachers, access to great schools, and effective use of public funds. Based in California, StudentsFirst is active in 18 states, including Tennessee, and its policy agenda includes student achievement and growth-driven evaluation measures for teachers and principals, staffing decisions based on those measures, performance pay for teachers, enhanced school choice, data transparency for parents, and increased accountability. Brent Easley, State Director - Tennessee [email protected] 615.830.2875 Teach For America (TFA) www.teachforamerica.org Teach For America seeks to eliminate educational inequity by recruiting high-achieving college graduates of all backgrounds to teach in underresourced urban and rural public schools. A non-profit organization founded in 1990, TFA provides its corps members with training before they serve two-year commitments in 43 communities nationwide. In Tennessee, TFA corps members are now placed in public schools in the Memphis and Nashville areas. Athena Turner, Memphis Executive Director [email protected] 901.527.7510 Lindsay Wright, Interim Nashville Executive Director [email protected] 615.242.6263 working to retain good teachers. The organization helps to recruit and train new teachers in both Memphis and Nashville. In Memphis, TNTP leads the recruitment, selection, and staffing for all Shelby County Schools, including Memphis. Timothy Daly, President [email protected] 718.233.2800 Teach Plus www.teachplus.org With the goal of improving outcomes for urban children, Teach Plus seeks to ensure that greater proportions of students have access to effective, experienced teachers. It has programs in six urban areas across the country, including Memphis, where Teacher Policy Fellows learn how to advocate for policies to better serve students and retain teachers. Teach Plus also coordinates the T+ Network in Memphis, which seeks to connect teachers with highly motivated peers and national and local policy leaders in order to facilitate dialogue about innovative policies that empower effective teachers. Kristen Smith, Memphis Policy Program Lead [email protected] 615.533.9900 TNTP (formerly The New Teacher Project) www.tntp.org Founded in 1997, TNTP is a national nonprofit whose mission is to ensure that disadvantaged students have equal access to effective teachers. TNTP assists urban school districts enrolling high numbers of poor and minority students with teacher recruiting and training. Other activities of TNTP include helping to staff struggling schools, designing systems of evaluation, and Public Education in Tennesee | 29