Committed to Giving All Students a Great Education

To be considered for the program, you must:

• Hold a bachelor’s degree (conferred by June 1 of the year you intend to enroll in teachNOLA) with at least a 2.20 GPA from an accredited institution
• Meet all legal requirements to work in the United States.
• Pass a criminal background check and drug test before the start of school.
• Meet all Louisiana academic and testing requirements.
• Not possess, or have ever held, a professional teaching license from any state; substitute, emergency, conditional or temporary certificates are acceptable.
• Not possess an education degree that would make you eligible for certification.

teachNOLA will consider candidates who are currently enrolled in, or who previously started – but did not complete – another alternative certification program so long as it was outside the state of Louisiana.

Tuition and Fees

As a teachNOLA Fellow, you are responsible for TNTP Academy tuition and fees, which will total $4,700 during the 2025-26 school year. Tuition is not due until October 2025, and then you can pay the $4,700 in full or in 10 installments throughout the school year.

Certification and District Hiring Costs

You are responsible for all costs associated with certification through the Louisiana Department of Education, including fees for any required examinations (Praxis exams are about $160 each) or certification filing fees ($50 application fee). In addition, Louisiana requires all teachers to take a drug test and have their fingerprints processed for a background check. You are responsible for any costs associated with state or school hiring requirements that are not covered by your school placement.

Please refer to our detailed expense summary for a comprehensive overview of costs associated with pre-service training, TNTP Academy, licensure and district hiring.

Note: All of the costs below are based on the current school year and are subject to annual increases.

Many external resources can help you manage the financial transition. We have listed a few below. (Note that, aside from the BEEC, TNTP Teaching Fellows does not specifically endorse any of these options. They are presented as suggestions for further research.)

Black Educator Excellence Cohort (BEEC)

In support of our commitment to diversify the classroom, TNTP’s Black Educator Excellence Cohort (BEEC) was designed to support new Fellows who identify as Black/African American transition to the classroom. The BEEC provides additional resources and support, including stipends to help offset living expenses before starting your position, exam fees, and exam preparation. teachNOLA BEEC members may be eligible for financial support in the form of a summer training stipend, tuition scholarship, and a Praxis exam stipend.

Federal Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program (TLFP)

To qualify for loan forgiveness for a federal loan, you must work for five consecutive years in a qualifying Title I school. You also must meet the standard to be considered as “highly qualified” for all five years of service (through degree and required teacher tests). You must not have an outstanding balance on direct loans or FFEL loans as of October 1, 1998, or you must have obtained those loans after October 1, 1998. You cannot be in default on a subsidized or unsubsidized loan, unless you have made “satisfactory repayments.” The loan for which you are seeking forgiveness must have been made within the five years of teaching. All secondary math, secondary science and special education teachers are eligible for up to $17,500 in loan forgiveness. All other teachers are eligible for up to $5,000.

Qualifying Loans: Direct Subsidized Loan, Direct Unsubsidized Loans, Subsidized Federal Stafford Loans and Unsubsidized Federal Stafford Loans

• Read more about the Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program on the Trellis Company website.
• Apply for Teacher Loan Forgiveness through the Federal Student Aid website.

Loan Consolidation

A Direct Consolidation Loan allows you to consolidate (or combine) multiple federal education loans into one loan. The result is a single monthly payment instead of multiple payments. A Direct Consolidation Loan for federal loans has a fixed interest rate based on the weighted average of the loans being consolidated.

In order to qualify, you must have at least one Direct Loan or FFEL Program loan that is in a grace period or in repayment. If you want to consolidate a defaulted loan, you must either make satisfactory repayment arrangements on the loan with your current loan servicer before you consolidate, or you must agree to repay your new Direct Consolidation Loan under the Income-Based Repayment Plan, Pay As You Earn Repayment Plan, or Income-Contingent Repayment Plan.

Repayment plans can range from 10 to 30 years, based on the amount being consolidated, other education debt and the selected repayment plan. Repayment can begin in 60 days or sooner.

Eligible Loan Types:

• Direct Subsidized Loans
• Direct Unsubsidized Loans
• Subsidized Federal Stafford Loans
• Unsubsidized Federal Stafford Loans
• Direct PLUS Loans
• PLUS loans from the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program
• Supplemental Loans for Students (SLS)
• Federal Perkins Loans
• Federal Nursing Loans
• Health Education Assistance Loans

To learn more about loan consolidation and to apply, visit the Direct Consolidations Loan website or the Student Loans website.

Short-Term Healthcare

You may require short-term health care as you transition out of school or your current job. When choosing your short-term health care, be sure to inquire if your plan meets Minimum Essential Coverage requirements. If not, you may be required to pay a tax penalty.

Affordable Health Care
Though this is not considered short-term health care, you may enroll in a plan now and update or cancel the care once you are hired as a full-time teacher. Contact a healthcare.gov representative (1-800-318-2596) and report this “life event.” Coverage varies by state, and a variety of plans are available. While open enrollment is closed for 2014, visit www.healthcare.gov to see if you qualify for “Special Enrollment.”

eHealth
A variety of plans are available. You can arrange to pay on a monthly basis, and select a six-month or 11-month plan. You may also select to pay up front for a 30-day or one-month plan. Prices range from $35 to more than $100 per month, depending on the individual. Coverage begins the very next day when enrolling in this plan.

Sallie Mae

This plan offers coverage with a maximum of six to 11 months. It offers a $50 co-pay for urgent care with multiple plan options.

COBRA
If you are leaving a job that provided health insurance, you may want to enroll in COBRA. This would allow the previous health insurance to remain in effect for up to 18 months after employment is terminated. COBRA is typically a more expensive option, usually costing several hundred per month.

Temporarily Add-on to a Family Member’s Plan

Another option could always be to add on to the insurance of a family member or significant other. If you are 26 or under, you are eligible to be covered under a parent’s insurance plan. Rules regarding family and significant others vary by insurance policy.

Personal Loans

There are many options for personal loans. These are loans from banks or another source that have a fixed payment schedule and can be used to fund anything desired, including living costs, health care or education costs. You are given a lump sum of money up front, and you will be required to make monthly payments. Eligibility requirements vary by provider, but most also require a credit check.

Personal loan providers:

SoFi
Lending Tree
Wells Fargo
TD Bank 
USAA

Home Equity Loans

Through a home equity loan you may borrow a lump sum of money and use home ownership as collateral. A credit check is required, and most lenders require moderate to good credit ratings. Home equity loans tend to have lower interest rates than many other loans. Also, interest rates can be fixed, so there is no need to worry about increases. These loans allow flexibility for spending and they can be used in any way in which the borrower chooses.

Research where you can find the best rates on home equity loans in your area at Lending Tree or Bankrate.com. These companies will compare rates at banks in your area, and you can select the lowest rate.

Grants and Crowdfunding

The NEA Foundation
The NEA Foundation’s $2,000 Learning and Leadership Grant can be used to pay for an individual Fellow’s professional development programs, like TNTP Academy. Grants are only available to Fellows who will not receive a master’s degree. Deadlines for grant applications are February 1, June 1 and October 1. Fellows must independently complete their grant application.

Go Fund Me
Ask your community to help you make the transition. Some of our Fellows have used crowdfunding on platforms such as Go Fund Me, a personal fundraising site to “crowd-source” personal expenses. You set up the page and friends and family make small donations on a secure site. The money you raise is deposited directly into your bank account. Go Fund Me charges 7.9 percent of your total donation + $0.30.

Amazon Wish Lists
Create a wish list on Amazon.com and send it out to family, friends, former colleagues, and professional networks. This is a great way to start setting up a classroom reading library, or getting basic supplies like Expo markers, poster paper or cleaning supplies.

DonorsChoose.org
Once you enter the classroom, Donors Choose is a way to “crowd-source” funding for classroom projects and expenses. You are able to post projects for your classroom and individuals can donate. Projects can range from paper and pencils to iPads and projectors. Materials are shipped directly to your school. Any donations made are tax deductible. There is no cost to donors or teachers.

We recruit for high demand subject areas. This allows us to provide partner schools with the teachers they need the most and also provides more options for you to find a teaching job.

The first step in the application process is to submit an online application. On the application, you will indicate your program and subject area preferences and share basic information about your background and experiences. You will also respond to a hypothetical scenarios that a first-year teacher might experience. We’re not looking for a “right” answer so don’t sweat it! We don’t expect candidates to have in-depth knowledge of education issues or teaching strategies when applying; that is why we have a rigorous training program. Simply draw on your critical thinking and other transferable skills to briefly explain how you might approach the situation. Our students come from diverse backgrounds and experiences and we’re looking for the same in our Fellows.

Applications are evaluated on a rolling basis, so apply early to increase your chance of admission to your first-choice program and subject area. You will receive a response to your application approximately two to three weeks after submission.

Based on your written application, you may be invited to the next step of the selection process: the recorded interview. You’ll have the option of recording a video or audio interview – whichever is easier for you! Through our flexible interview process, you can submit your interview at any time, day or night, when it is most convenient for you. No scheduling is required! The interview will take you approximately 30 minutes to complete, including set-up, practice, and tech check time.

During your interview, you will respond to several questions asking you to apply your skills to the classroom. Our hope is that these scenarios help you understand more about being a Fellow and a teacher and give you an opportunity to show how your talents might shine in the classroom. As with the application, we are looking for how you apply your critical thinking skills, how you approach your personal learning, and your commitment to educational equity.

Once you successfully complete the selection process, you’ll receive an official offer to enroll. Offers are extended on a rolling basis. You will need to complete a few tasks to formally enroll, such as uploading unofficial transcripts. After you complete your tasks and accept your offer, you will connect with your assigned program staff to begin preparing for summer training.

Once enrolled, you’ll receive guidance on completing mandatory state exams in your subject area, which you must pass before training starts. Test dates are limited and the exams may be challenging to pass. We encourage you to register and complete your required exams as early as possible.

You’ll begin your commitment with a rigorous, five-week pre-service training (PST) that is centered on field experience. PST will begin late May and end late June, with a mandatory orientation held prior to training. You will study proven teaching techniques and begin to develop the in-depth content knowledge that great teachers use every day to advance student learning and can expect to practice these techniques intensively, both with peers and with real students in summer school classrooms. Rather than overwhelming you with training, we focus first on mastery of four foundational teaching skills before shifting to more advanced practices.

There are three main elements to summer training:

• Skill Building Sessions – During skill building sessions, program instructors teach foundational skills such as lesson planning and delivery, classroom management techniques and content specific strategies.
• Field Experience – Field experience is time spent teaching in a summer school classroom. Fellows typically observe a mentor teacher in action and gradually take on responsibility delivering instruction for students in the class. Program coaches visit the classroom regularly to provide real-time feedback and support.
• Responsive Coaching Sessions – In these small group sessions, Fellows practice and receive coaching on targeted skills.

Outstanding local teachers will prepare you to confidently manage your classroom and support your students in building bridges between challenging academic content and their own unique values and experiences. You must demonstrate emerging proficiency in these fundamental skills by the end of pre-service training to earn teaching eligibility for the fall.

Pre-service training is a full-time commitment with sessions five days per week.

During pre-service training and continuing through your first year, teachNOLA coaches will be your most critical line of support as you apply lessons from training sessions with students in your classroom. All coaches are experienced teachers with a track record of raising achievement in challenging classrooms.

Throughout pre-service training, teachNOLA coaches will observe you regularly in your classroom, providing real-time guidance to improve your teaching. After class, you will meet to debrief and discuss concrete strategies you can apply in future lessons. Coaches may also pull you into small skill-building sessions to address your high-priority development needs. You can’t improve without feedback. Whether you are struggling with lesson planning or striving to improve your classroom management skills, your coach will focus their expertise on helping you quickly get up to speed in that area. This rich feedback and personalized support will help you grow quickly into an amazing teacher.

During your first year as a full-time teacher, you will also complete TNTP Academy certification coursework via our online learning platform and through a series of virtual seminars that are designed to set new teachers up for success from the outset of their careers. This includes a focus on developing your proficiency in high-impact teaching skills that we know translate into improved student learning. This approach ensures that you have consistent access to high-quality, Common Core-aligned professional development resources and an instructor to guide your practice and better support student success. The coursework is designed to provide you with an integrated training experience, with support to build your content and pedagogy expertise and practice opportunities to support classroom implementation.

Unlike some traditional teacher preparation programs, your experience as a teachNOLA Fellow will not include research papers or standard classroom quizzes. We know that teachers improve their instructional skills through practice and feedback. As a result, practice and feedback will be central to your work in this program. You will open your classroom to your coach regularly, through classroom visits and/or through video you record, allowing them to see you in action and provide actionable guidance and concrete strategies to apply in future lessons. You will engage in a professional learning community with your peers through small group coaching sessions and all-cohort gatherings throughout the school year.

A typical teaching day lasts about eight hours, with classes starting around 8:00 am. In addition, all teachers spend time preparing lessons, reviewing student work, attending meetings, or supervising extracurricular activities. Balancing these priorities with certification coursework is demanding, but our classroom-centered training and support will help you rise to the challenge.

TNTP Academy holds high standards for certification and our teachers are widely recognized for their ability to help high-need students make significant learning gains.

We use the Assessment of Classroom Effectiveness (ACE) to ensure you remain on track to become a great teacher. ACE incorporates evidence from your classroom to create the fullest possible picture of your performance. ACE is also designed to help you grow – providing regular feedback about your strengths and weaknesses and enabling us to customize coaching and coursework to address your high-priority development needs.

At the end of the year, you must pass ACE to earn licensure. By setting a high bar and helping you meet it, we ensure you are capable of getting real results for students. And as a TNTP Academy graduate, principals and district officials will know you are not simply a certified teacher, but one with a proven track record in the classroom.

After successful completion of your first year of teaching, Fellows will have the opportunity to apply to an online program to earn a Master of Science in Education degree from the Johns Hopkins University.

This program is designed to build on the TNTP Academy training experience, with collaborative spaces for experiential learning through TNTP Academy to be applied toward Johns Hopkins University Master’s degree requirements. Participants will earn a Master’s degree while enjoying savings achieved through a reduced course load.

Teachers are more successful when they work in a school that is a good fit for them. As a teachNOLA Fellow, you will be responsible for leading your own job search to ensure that both you and your principal feel good about the match. While our staff will offer resources and guidance, all hiring decisions are ultimately made by principals or other school-based administrators. We do not place Teaching Fellows in a school. Instead, you should expect to conduct a personal job search.

New Orleans offers a unique educational landscape, with Fellows teaching in the Orleans Parish charter schools. This program exists to help ensure our state’s most under-served students have great teachers, so you will need to be flexible about your teaching assignment, anticipating that you will work in the school where you are needed most.

Although this may sound daunting, teachNOLA will help you navigate the hiring process, showing you how to find vacancies and reaching out to principals or school leaders on your behalf.

Check out the full list of our partner schools here!

Once you find a position, you will be a full-time employee of a district or charter school management organization and will earn the same starting salary as any other first-year teacher in your school. In 2025-26, first-year teacher salaries will range from $38,000 to $50,000. It is not uncommon for first-year Fellows to be hired as Teacher Associates or Co-Teachers, positions where two teachers work as a team within a single classroom. Due to the autonomous nature of charter schools in New Orleans, salary and benefits are competitive but vary widely from school to school.

Upon graduating, you will be invited to join the TNTP Teaching Fellows Alumni Network. As a member of our alumni community, you will receive a regular newsletter with links to valuable professional development and career opportunities. More importantly, you’ll be able to connect with more than 33,000 Fellows across the country to share resources, talk through challenges, and discuss important education issues affecting classrooms like yours.