News / Press | Teaching Matters

Press Releases:

For press inquiries, contact Sharon Rubinstein, communications@teachingmatters.org, 703-901-7947

2.21.13 - Nominations being solicited: 2013 Elizabeth Rohatyn Prize for Schools Where Teaching Matters
1.2.13 - Governor's Education Commission Hits the Right Marks
12.13.12 - New independent study shows students in Teaching Matters' writing program significantly outperformed students in similar urban middle schools

Teaching Matters In the News:

4.11.13 - gothamgazette.com, "A Signature Bloomberg-Era Education Innovation Is At A Crossroads"
"Siewart argues that school improvement isn't analogous to one-time solutions or product fixes; rather, he says, it's about iterative learning and follow-through."
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2.11.13 - eduinreview.com, "Give Back to Teachers at CharitySub in February"
"...Teachers in urban schools are trained through Teaching Matters to build skills that help close the learning gaps within each grade. ...."
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12.13.12 - Youth Today, "Students in Coaching-Centered Writing Program Post Statistically Significant Gains"
"...ALTA Solutions Group found that students in schools with "Writing Matters" curriculum demonstrated greater levels of improvement in writing skills than students at schools without the program in place...."
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11.27.12 - Gotham Schools, "Video: Teachers show off student work aligned to Common Core"
"GothamSchools' makeshift art gallery Monday night featured student essays about wolves, personal conflict, and classic fiction dotted the walls..."
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10.18.12 - NY Daily News, "A Partner in Civics"
"Involving younger citizens and future voters in the political process is essential to building informed, active and engaged communities.."
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7.24.12 - Thirteen.org, "Staten Island School Wins $15,000 Prize for Innovative Teaching Model"
"The winner of the $15,000 prize was the Staten Island School of Civic Leadership. The public, pre-K-8 school, located in Graniteville, beat out almost 100 other entries with its “triad teaching model...”
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5.25.12 - New York Times, "A Spotlight on Teaching, Not Teachers"
"We applaud Bill Gates for financing research on defining and measuring effective teaching..."
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7.19.11 - GothamSchools, "Online teacher collaboration nets West Side school $15,000"
"The tools, showcased in a video the school produced, last week won Principal Jeanne Rotunda the Elizabeth Rohatyn Prize for School Innovation from Teaching Matters, a nonprofit that helps schools integrate technology..."
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6.28.11 - WNYC, "The Big Fix: Fixing Schools, Fixing Teachers"
"Wolff got training from Jelbin De La Cruz, a consultant from the group Teaching Matters, who helped 16 teachers at Chelsea make better use of technology in English, history, science and math..."
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1.29.10 - NY Community Trust, "Helping Schools Harness Learning Technologies"
"Nothing convinces a principal that they can do something new more than seeing another principal do it..."
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7.20.09 - Gotham Schools, "No more free messages for text-happy principals"
"Because they are received faster than e-mail, text messages can be a useful tool for tech-savvy school leaders, according to Lynette Guastaferro, head of Teaching Matters..."
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3.25.09 - Gotham Schools, "Under pressure to score tests faster, a proposal to scrap writing"
"Lynette Guastaferro, the executive director of Teaching Matters, a non-profit based in the city, said eliminating writing would make the test less rigorous. “I’m not in favor of throwing out the section that I think tests higher-order thinking skills..."
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10.21.08 - The Village Voice ,''Learning 2.0' Brings Schools into the Digital Age"
"At the Joseph B. Cavallaro middle school in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, teachers say an autistic student who had been completely mute began to speak when his class did a computer writing lesson developed in the 2.0 mold, by the nonprofit Teaching Matters...."
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10.6.08 - CBS 2 Interview

10.6.08 - New York Post, "'24-Hour' Students to Cast a Wide 'Net"
"We just saw this as an opportunity to bridge the home-school component," said Evan O'Donnell, technology director at Teaching Matters, the nonprofit group that's organizing the program..."
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9.30.08 - The New York Sun, "Low-Price Laptops Tested at City Schools"
"...Ms. Guastaferro's group is not only putting the computers in schools but is developing a curriculum to help teachers use them in the classroom...."
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4.22.08 - Education Week, "Companies Targeting Low-Cost ‘Netbooks’ Directly at Education"
"...A smaller test of the XO has been under way since January at Kappa IV Middle School, in New York City, led by Teaching Matters, a nonprofit group that helps schools rethink their use of technology, usually through professional development..." view story

4.15.08 - eSchool News, "Technology helps boost students' writing skills"
"...The nonprofit group Teaching Matters has invested more than $2 million in the development of Writing Matters, a comprehensive middle-school writing program that integrates technology to support student writers in grades 5-9. The program gives teachers free online access to a private or public publishing and collaboration space for their classroom..." view story

3.26.08 - New York City Council Honors Teaching Matters
"The Council of the City of New York is proud and pleased to honor Teaching Matters, Inc. and Computers for Youth for their commitment to improve the school and home learning environments of many of New York City’s most underserved students. Through the innovative and effective use of technology, these two organizations increase student engagement in core academic areas and help students do better in school." view full proclamation

Archived News

4.22.08 - Education Week, "Companies Targeting Low-Cost ‘Netbooks’ Directly at Education"
"...A smaller test of the XO has been under way since January at Kappa IV Middle School, in New York City, led by Teaching Matters, a nonprofit group that helps schools rethink their use of technology, usually through professional development..." view story

4.15.08 - eSchool News, "Technology helps boost students' writing skills"
"...The nonprofit group Teaching Matters has invested more than $2 million in the development of Writing Matters, a comprehensive middle-school writing program that integrates technology to support student writers in grades 5-9. The program gives teachers free online access to a private or public publishing and collaboration space for their classroom..." view story

12.9.07 - Daily News, "Educators get TeacherTube"
"Schools around the city are tapping into the resource. Seventh-graders from South Bronx Prepatory School wrote and starred in scenes about bullying and gangs for a public service announcement produced by DelaCruz, who works for Teaching Matters Inc..." view story

5.16.07 - Gotham Gazette, "Have Laptops Flunked the Test?" view story

4.30.07 - El Diario, "Education program creates leaders"
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12.30.05 - New York Times, "New York City's Big Donors Find New Cause: Public Schools"
"When I went out 10 years ago to dinners, I rarely ever spoke about what I was doing in education," said Mrs. Rohatyn, who in 1994 founded Teaching Matters, a nonprofit organization that advocates better use of technology in schools. "I find that's very different now. People want to engage in it. They want to talk about it. They are enthused." view story

9.1.05 - American School Board Journal, "Teaching in Transition"
"Guastaferro leads one of many programs that train New York City teachers for a new era of teaching and learning..." view story (login required)

11.26.03 - New York Daily News, "Boro kids want to chip away at junk food"
"Citywide, the poll found, 56% of students said schools should mind their own business about what kids eat..." view story

1.15.03 - Education Week, "People in the News"
"Teaching Matters' board of directors has promoted Lynette Guastaferro to be the nonprofit teacher-training organization's executive director..." view story (education week log-in required)

11.6.02 - Education Week: Volume XXII, Number 10, "Program Makes Elections Relevant for Students"
"Richard Ciceron couldn't vote this week in the election for governor of New York, but the 12-year-old spent the past few months analyzing campaign ads and even grilled representatives of the candidates at a town hall forum..." view story(education week log-in required)

11.6.01 - New York Daily News, "STUDENTS' MOCK ELECTION ENDS IN A SQUEAKER"
"At Maritime Academy for Science and Technology in the Bronx, where students picked [Mike Bloomberg] nearly 2 to 1..."

5.29.01 - New York Daily News, "JHS KIDS DO 'MACBETH' Shakespeare as animated video"
"[Charles Chen], 13, the voice of Macbeth in the short film, was one of 47 students at Junior High School 189 who spent countless free periods, lunch and after-school hours this year producing "Shakespeare's 'Macbeth': As Adapted by the Students of JHS 189..."

5.3.01 - Press Release: Teaching Matters, Inc. Selects Centra’s Virtual Classroom Software To Extend Coaching and Professional Development Services Online
"Teaching Matters is able to reach out to new clients over the Internet without sacrificing the highly interactive learning methods of its on-site training programs..."

11.22.00 - Education Week: Volume XX, Number 12, "Election Called 'A Great Civics Lesson'"
"Eleventh graders in government classes at Millbury Memorial High School had a special reason to keep a close tally of the legal lobs and volleys Democrats and Republicans hit at each other in Florida last week..." view story (education week log-in required)

7.1.99 - American School Board Journal, "Beyond Hardware"
"...Schools that do effective curriculum and/or technology planning have the least trouble with technology training, says Lynette Guastaferro..."

Awards

9.20.05 - Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg names September 20th, 2005 "Teaching Matters Day" in recognition of Elizabeth Rohatyn's (Teaching Matters' board chairman) work with NYC public schools.

6.28.05 - "Thirteen WNET New York Community Hall of Fame" in recognition of outstanding community service and leadership

9.22.02 - "Excellence in E-Learning" award from Brandon-Hall and Online Learning Magazine. http://www.brandonhall.com

7.14.00 - D.R.E.A.M. (Dedicating Resources for Education and Motivation) Award from the New York City Council.