The T3 Initiative is an innovative program that recruits, develops, and supports effective, experienced teachers to serve in low-performing schools. This program was designed by teachers to address the problem of inequitable access to effective teachers in the highest need schools.

The T3 Initiative:

• creates cohorts of highly effective and experienced teachers

• supports them in becoming turnaround specialists with the help of an embedded T3 coach

• places them in teams in the schools in which they are most needed

Research shows that no school-based factor is more important for a student’s success in school than the teacher in front of that child’s classroom. Yet the students who need effective, experienced teachers the most are the least likely to be assigned to them. The lowest performing schools not only have the most significant achievement gaps, but also the highest rates of teacher turnover.  Four consecutive years with highly effective teachers could close that achievement gap and begin to give all kids the education they deserve.¹

President Obama and Education Secretary Duncan challenged the nation to turn around 5000 chronically underperforming schools (the bottom 5%) by 2015. To date, school improvement efforts have lacked focus on the highest leverage means of improving student learning—ensuring that students in those schools are assigned experienced, effective teachers with a track record of success in an urban setting.

The T3 Initiative is among the first efforts nationally to address this notable deficiency in the design of school turnaround. Nationally, there is currently an intense focus on chronically low-performing schools. These schools are the focus of comprehensive support to enable them to significantly raise student outcomes. T3 teacher leaders play a central role in helping to transform these schools, having been chosen for their effectiveness with urban students and trained in a cohort for the challenge of a turnaround environment.  

T3 teacher leaders have the opportunity to work with a team of effective teachers who are high performing and dedicated to working collaboratively. T3 teams are trained in strategies that have been used by other highly effective teacher teams. They are part of a broader strategy that supports effective teaching and can take on leadership roles without leaving the classroom. The T3 Initiative offers a path toward mastery in both urban teaching and teacher leadership.

T3 is currently partnered with eight chronically low performing schools in Boston, two schools in Fall River, Massachusetts, and three schools in the Achievement School District in Memphis, Tennessee. T3 will add teacher leaders in all these districts for the 2013-2014 school year and is working to launch a partnership with the District of Columbia Public Schools. To learn more about T3's ongoing work in these schools, visit the T3 Greater Boston page, the T3 Memphis page, and the T3 Washington, D.C. page.

A partnership between*:

1 Gordon, Kane, and Staiger (2006) Identifying Effective Teachers Using Performance on the Job. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution

*A final agreement with DCPS is pending, and identified T3 partner schools are tentative.