Every day, teachers are the ones making the biggest difference for our students. Research shows that teachers have a greater impact on student achievement than any other single factor in schools. Students say this also – when they talk about school, they often talk about their teachers. However, we face a significant challenge in New Orleans: we need to find, recruit, and retain more excellent educators for our city’s public schools. Every year, we face a shortage of approximately 900 teachers.
In order to address this shortage, NSNO is launching the Teach New Orleans recruitment campaign. We are excited to share that the first phase of this campaign kicks off today: a citywide teacher recruitment website. Until now, there has been no centralized way for teachers to find and apply for roles across our system of schools. When you use a search engine to look for information about teaching in New Orleans, the search results do not provide a single clear path to help you begin the journey towards a role in our classrooms. To address this challenge, NSNO has created a website that will make it easy for teachers to find jobs, and for schools to find teachers.
For the first time in our unique system of schools, there will be a central hub for current and future educators who want to serve our city’s children. The site contains a wide array of features and resources, which are outlined in the graphic below.
All of these resources together will help prospective teachers understand the full landscape of education in New Orleans. Not only does the website provide context and data about our system of schools, it also showcases the voices of students themselves, explaining what they look for in an educator. The site makes it easy to learn about individual schools and what makes each of them special, with a filterable directory of every public school and charter network in the city. There is even a page with a library of citywide perks — discounts and offers that local businesses have shared to show that they value our educators.
Once prospective teachers have the information they need about the city and our schools, they can use the Teach New Orleans site to take action, whether they are experienced educators or new to the field. Individuals who are already teachers can easily peruse and apply for open roles at public schools across New Orleans. We have partnered with WorkNOLA — GNO, Inc.’s website for professional employment listings in Greater New Orleans — to compile and share all open roles that are posted by public school operators in the city. For candidates interested in casting a wider net, there is also a “resume drop” option which allows them to send their resume to all operators/schools with the click of a button.
For potential future educators, the Teach New Orleans site can help them begin their journey to enter the field. The website provides descriptions of and links to local teacher preparation programs, which span a variety of models and approaches to meet the needs of candidates — teacher residencies, alternative certification programs, traditional undergraduate programs, part-time graduate programs, and more.
Screenshot from Teach New Orleans website
The launch of the Teach New Orleans site ushers in a new era in the city’s teaching landscape. Teachers will be connected with open positions and future teachers will be connected with high-quality preparation programs. The site will streamline currently arduous processes and increase accessibility for all, because you shouldn’t need a friend or former coworker in New Orleans public schools in order to learn about the wealth of opportunities. The information will be at your fingertips.
We know New Orleans is a great place to teach, and we want others to see that, too. We live in a beautiful city with phenomenal students. They are ready to learn and grow with the best teachers in the country. The Teach New Orleans website is a significant step in improving our city’s ability to attract and hire passionate educators who will stay and make an impact. This campaign, in combination with NSNO’s $13 million SEED grant partnership for expanding local teacher pipelines, will bring us closer to eliminating New Orleans’ teacher shortage. Together, we will empower the next generation of great New Orleans teachers — the children sitting in our classrooms today.
Follow us! You can find Teach New Orleans on Twitter and Instagram under the handle @teachneworleans, and on Facebook as well.