NIET's 25ᵗʰ Anniversary Report
January 14, 2025
Building Educator Excellence: 25 Years of Impact
3.5 million students.
350,000 educators.
35,000 teacher leaders.
11,000 schools.
25 years of impact.
Knowing that teachers are the most powerful lever for change, for 25 years we have worked with educators across the country to ensure every student, in every school, has an excellent teacher every day. As we celebrate our 25ᵗʰ Anniversary, we are proud to share the results achieved by our partners across the country and recognize their groundbreaking work to improve instruction, close learning gaps, and achieve award-winning academic growth.
For 25 years – from Arizona to Louisiana to South Carolina – we have delivered precision focus and results, working with schools, districts, states, and universities to bolster educator effectiveness and ensure generations of students – no matter their background or circumstances – have the opportunity for success. Our work with more than 350,000 educators is rooted in our shared belief that intentional, sustained investments in teachers and the leadership that supports them are the foundation for this success. We have trained 35,000 teacher leaders and 12,000 school leaders across the country, building systems of support for teachers that increased student achievement and transformed underperforming schools into schools that consistently outperform their peers. These proven practices to attract, develop, and retain talented educators have been successful in public and charter school systems, rural and urban school systems, and systems with diversity in size and student demographics.
My goal was to put in place on the ground a system to achieve meaningful and sustained improvements in teacher practices and student learning. A key component of our success has been the focus on teacher leadership. Teacher leaders are too often an untapped resource for improving our nation’s schools, yet we have seen again and again that the establishment of formal teacher leader roles elevates the profession and attracts effective educators to our schools.Lowell Milken, Founder and Chairman, NIET
Through four sections within the Report – Building Educator Excellence, Achieving Results, Improving Instruction, and Advancing the Profession – we celebrate 25 years of NIET’s most powerful lever for change – teachers and the leadership that supports them. Read stories from NIET's partners, our work through the years, and stories of success from schools.
Over our 25-year history, NIET has pioneered innovative approaches and impressively taken those impactful practices to scale across highly diverse communities. Our ability to create the systems and structures that allow districts to scale and sustain improvement has been a key differentiator. Working with our partners, we have piloted reforms in educator effectiveness that have led to policy changes at the national and state levels.Dr. Joshua Barnett, CEO, NIET
This publication shares highlights from NIET’s first 25 years and how our work is expanding, improving, and responding to new challenges. We look forward to celebrating the progress we have made with our partners to strengthen the one profession that prepares all others: teaching. We hope you will enjoy reflecting along with us.