The Equity Project (TEP) is a New York charter school, that opened in September 2009. The school will instruct students in fifth through eighth grades, and will pay its teachers a starting salary of $125,000 per year, more than double the national average. However, they must also work double the hours a typical teacher works and they get no health benefits. [1]
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TEP was created by Zeke Vanderhoek, a Yale graduate and former middle school teacher with Teach For America. Prior to creating TEP, Zeke was the founder of ManhattanGMAT, a test preparation company headquartered in New York City. The New York State Education Department approved a five-year provisional charter for the school, which will expire on January 14, 2013. TEP will open with a single class of 120 fifth grade students, and 7 teachers. Each year, a new class of 120 fifth graders will be added, and 7 new teachers hired to teach the next grade level, until the school reaches full capacity of 480 students and 28 teachers in its fourth year of operation.
Teachers will earn a starting salary of $125,000, while the principal's salary starts at $90,000. In exchange for their higher-than-average salaries, teachers will work longer hours, and take on additional responsibilities. These responsibilities include leading an after-school activity for the school's "Extended-Day Program", and taking on a whole-school position (Disciplinary Dean, for example).
Unlike regular public school teachers, these teachers can be fired at will. To counter the teachers' high salaries, the school will not have any assistant principals, deans, or any other bureaucrats.[3]
Recent news reports that despite a starting salary of $125,000 for all its teachers, TEP has under-performed when compared to the rest of the school district; Fifth graders at TEP took the New York State Math and Reading exams, and the "results were disappointing", with "other schools scoring better, on average, than TEP." [4]
TEP students at all levels take one 55-minute class every day in the following subjects: English Language Arts, Social Studies, Mathematics, Science, Latin, and Music. In addition, students take 55 minutes of Physical Education three days a week, and spend one additional hour three days a week in the "Extended-Day Program".[5]
The inclusion of Music and Latin as the only "electives" was decided upon to supplement TEP's focus on Language Development. Extended study of both subjects has been shown to improve students' scores on the SAT. In addition, by only offering these two courses, and making them mandatory across all levels, the students will become strong students in both.[6]
Under TEP's Extended Day Program, students will spend an additional hour, three days a week, taking an extra-curricular activity. Each TEP teacher must develop and lead one of these extra-curricular activity classes. Students rank their preferences of the available activities at the start of the year, and is assigned to one activity each semester.
This time will also serve as a time for students who are struggling to receive additional help. TEP's two Special Education teachers, and the two Reading & Language Specialists will be available to aid struggling students either one-on-one, or in small groups.