ConnCAN First Person Interview: Ariela Rozman

About Ariela Rozman

Ariela Rozman is the Chief Executive of the New Teacher Project (TNTP), a 140-person national non-profit organization dedicated to improving teacher quality in low-performing schools.  Prior to becoming CEO in 2007, she served for four years as Vice President of Teaching Fellows Programs, TNTP's largest business line.  Today, the programs operated by this business line supply high-need school districts with approximately 3,000 high-quality teachers per year and account for almost 60 percent of the organization's revenue.  She holds a BA in Political and Social Thought from the University of Virginia.

On great teachers:
"Teachers are a critical element to student achievement.  You could change everything in the school, if you do not have good teachers there, you are not going to be able to make the needle move in the way you want it to move."

On teacher retention:
"A good teacher retention strategy is to make sure you have school level support.  That means you have a principal, assistant principal, instructional leader, somebody who is focused on supporting those teachers and meeting their needs at the school level and who sees them on a regular basis."