In November 2010, NewSchools received a grant of $3.0 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support Newark Public Schools (NPS) in the planning and implementation of strategies to improve teacher effectiveness. We are working closely with the leadership of NPS to determine the use of those funds.

In August 2011, we made the first disbursement of funds from this grant to The New Teacher Project (TNTP). TNTP is a national nonprofit dedicated to closing the achievement gap by providing excellent teachers to the students who need them most and by advancing policies and practices that ensure effective teaching in every classroom.TNTP will support Newark Public Schools to engage teachers, principals and other stakeholders in the design of a new teacher evaluation system, and plan the implementation of the new teacher evaluation system in a group of pilot schools. The size of this initial grant is $68,000. Further funding may be provided to support implementation and program evaluation. We will continue to share information regarding the use of these funds on this website.