Teaching Matters Inc.

“Subcommittees of the Board of Directors cannot act independently of the Board.”

“Prior to filing, a meeting was held with Teaching Matters, Inc.'s independent auditors to discuss and review the Form 990. All board members were invited to this meeting.”

“Teaching Matters, Inc. collectS signed conflict of interest policy forms from each Board Member and highest compensated employee at the first meeting of the Board of Directors each year. Any changes from the previous year are researched by Teaching Matters, Inc.”

“The Board sets the salary of the executive director using guidelines provided by the Nonprofit Coordinating Committee Salary Survey, which is a benchmark of comparable organizations.”

“The highest compensated employees meet annually with the executive director. At this meeting there is a performance review and then a decision is made regarding compensation for the coming year based on benchmarks of salary from comparable organizations. These salary recommendations are submitted for Board approval.”

“Teaching Matters, Inc. makes it governing documents, conflict of interest policy, and financial statements available to the public on its website.”

“Teaching Matters works to close the learning gap in urban public schools where there is an urgent need for great teachers. We partner with districts and schools to increase teacher effectiveness in measurable and sustainable ways. We develop teacher leaders and teachers in five key areas: Teacher Leadership; Literacy, Math, Early Reading and Formative Assessment. In 2016/17 we provided in-depth programming to approximately 50,288 students, 1,589 teacher leaders and teachers and 214 schools. Teaching Matters transforms how educators work together helping the most effective teachers develop the skills needed to lead their peers and drive school-wide improvement. Teaching Matters core methods include developing teacher leaders and helping teachers improve content-focused instruction. Teaching Matters partners with school systems to raise teacher performance through the following services: Through Teacher Leadership Matters and Emerging Teacher Leaders we collaborate with public school systems to support career pathways for instructional teacher leadership. These initiatives are dedicated to developing the competencies of teacher leaders to lead their colleagues, increase teacher retention rates, and scale expertise of the highest performing educators. They combine in-person, peer-based workshops with online modules and coaching that structures Teacher Leader development. Once they display mastery of the teaching and leadership competencies, Teacher Leaders earn the opportunity to formalize their role, and lead educational initiatives within their schools. Teachers receive micro-credentials by demonstrating competencies through job embedded, practice-based coaching. By distinguishing themselves as effective educators, they earn the responsibility to serve as Teacher Leaders. Teacher Leaders are then coached to guide the rest of the faculty, creating a professional development network for all teachers. Assessment Matters develops the necessary systems and culture for using formative assessment data to drive improved teaching and learning in K-12 schools. This service aims to build school-wide capacity for informed instruction leading to a climate that allows students to take ownership of their learning. Early Reading Matters, Literacy Matters, Math Matters and Writing Matters focus on content-based coaching that can be directly applied to the classroom. These services advance K-12 math and literacy teacher instruction as well as student performance in accordance with Common Core standards. Impact Over the course of 20 plus years, Teaching Matters has offered year-round, in-depth programming to approximately 1,000 schools, 30,000 teachers and 500,000 students. Many of Teaching Matters partner schools are in underserved communities with poverty levels of 89 percent or higher. Self reported teacher retention rates among Teacher Leaders is 42% above the national average. Over 90% of principals in participating schools agree that Teaching Matters improved the overall effectiveness of teachers, and that the Teacher Leaders had a positive effect on teacher evaluations. The organizations programs have increased student performance in math and ELA in over 80% of participating middle schools.”