District Notification Letter

APPENDIX D
PRINCIPAL NOTIFICATION LETTER

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES
National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance

Month XX, 2008

Firstname Lastname
Principal
SchoolName
Street Address
City, ST ZZZIP
Dear Mr./Ms. Lastname:
I am writing to tell you about an important new study sponsored by the U.S. Department of
Education. The study concerns the effectiveness of secondary math teachers—in particular, teachers from
[Teach For America (TFA) /and/ the ____ program, which is associated with The New Teacher Project
(TNTP)]. As you know, programs like this/these are a valuable source of secondary math teachers to
many schools across the country. They provide an alternate route to certification for people who did not
complete a traditional teacher training program. What’s more, [TFA / TNTP-affiliated programs differ/s]
from the large majority of alternative certification programs in that [it is/they are] highly selective in
considering applicants. [TFA recruits recent graduates of some of the nation’s most prestigious colleges.
/The ____ program focuses on highly accomplished individuals who work in other fields, but want to
become teachers.] But little is known about how effective such teachers are in the classroom, compared
with other teachers that did not enter the profession through these programs.
We would like to consider your school for this study, because we understand that you may have one
or more math teachers from [this program/these programs] on staff during the 2009-2010 school year. The
study is being led by Mathematica Policy Research, with assistance from Chesapeake Research
Associates and Branch Associates. [TFA /and/ TNTP has/have] endorsed the study, as reflected in the
accompanying support letter/s. Additional details about the project are provided in the enclosed
information sheet.
A member of the research team has already spoken with district officials and received approval to
contact you about the study. Accordingly, a member of the team will call you in the next few days to tell
you more about the study and to discuss your school’s potential participation. In the meantime, if you
have any questions about the study, please feel free to contact me at 202-219-2129 or at
Stefanie.Schmidt@ed.gov.

Sincerely,

Stefanie R. Schmidt, Ph.D.
Federal Project Officer

555 NEW JERSEY AVE., NW, WASHINGTON, D.C. 20208