the venture fund at work
The Venture Fund has already helped bring three exceptional organizations to work in Indianapolis: Teach For America, The New Teacher Project and College Summit. Efforts are currently underway to bring other highly successful organizations to the city.
The New Teacher Project.
The Venture Fund’s first success was to help bring The New
Teacher Project (TNTP) to Indianapolis to recruit highly talented
people to teach in the Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) and Mayor-sponsored charter schools.
TNTP is a national nonprofit organization that has successfully recruited top college graduates
and mid-career professionals to teach in challenging urban classrooms in cities such as New York
and Chicago. In Indianapolis, TNTP’s goal is to recruit up to 200 teachers over three years in the areas
local public schools are most in need of teachers: math, science, Spanish and special education. Individuals chosen
for TNTP's "Indianapolis
Teaching Fellows" program
must hold a bachelor’s degree, but no other education coursework is
required. The program allows highly talented, well-rounded individuals
who do not hold teaching certificates an avenue into teaching in IPS or Mayor-sponsored charter schools. In
2007, 862 people applied to be Teaching Fellows, 216 were selected for interviews, 84 were offered
admission, and 46 enrolled in the program. TNTP has partnered
with Marian College to ensure that all TNTP Teaching Fellows complete the
coursework necessary to become fully licensed teachers within two
to three years. This initiative is funded by a United States Department
of Education Transition to Teaching grant with matching funds provided by
The Mind Trust.
College Summit. College
Summit trains teachers, counselors, and student leaders to dramatically increase
college enrollment rates of low-income students. For instance, nearly
80% of students who participate in College Summit’s summer workshop enroll
in college, compared to the national average of 46% among low-income students. And
these students remain in college at a rate of 80%, far above the national average
of 64% among students across all income levels. College Summit achieves
this goal by providing teachers and counselors in high-poverty schools with
professional development on how to promote a college-going culture within the
school; holding summer workshops for incoming 12th grade students to prepare
them for post-secondary planning; and training “peer leaders” who
are influential students within the high school trained to inspire their peers
and build a college-going culture. In over a decade of operations, College
Summit has served over 15,000 students across the nation. In 2007, The Mind Trust
invested $100,000 in College Summit to support a pilot of its program at the
Indianapolis Public School’s (IPS) Manual High School. Nearly the entire Manual
senior class (202 students) enrolled in College Summit’s college preparatory course,
taught by IPS teachers. Although this pilot is not yet complete, the preliminary
results are very impressive. As of January 2008, 85% of participating Manual seniors
had completed their personal statements for their college applications, and nearly 50%
had already applied to college. Based on the success of the pilot, in March 2008,
The Mind Trust invested another $455,000 in College Summit to support a full launch of
College Summit in Indianapolis. Next year College Summit will expand in IPS and launch
in the Metropolitan School District of Decatur Township.
Teach For America. In 2007, The Mind Trust successfully recruited to Indianapolis Teach For America,
a national corps of top college graduates who commit two years to teach in
under-resourced public schools and become lifelong leaders in the pursuit of
educational equity. In its 17-year history, Teach For America has placed 17,000
talented, committed teachers and built a force of more than 12,000 alumni who
continue to work within education and from all other sectors to level the playing
field for children and families in low-income communities. More than 60%
of Teach For America alumni remain in the field of education, where they are
starting schools, becoming principals and district administrators, and winning
accolades as teachers, including 2007 State Teacher of the Year Awards in two
states. Currently, 5,000 Teach For America corps members are teaching in 26
urban and rural regions across the country. For the 2008-09 school year, Teach
For America plans to place some 6,000 corps members in 28 regions, including
50 corps members in Indianapolis Public Schools. The Mind Trust invested $2.15
million to support the expansion of Teach For America to IPS, with
principal support coming from Lilly Endowment. Additional support was provided
by the United Way of Central Indiana and local businessmen Randall Tobias and
Rollin Dick
