In an effort to better understand what it would take to recruit and support a new cohort of talented and committed teachers, The Project on the Next Generation of Teachers dedicated one year to conducting an interview study with a diverse sample of first- and second-year Massachusetts teachers working in a wide range of public schools. Eighteen months later, Project researchers conducted follow-up interviewsand then continued to track the careers of these teachers for a total of four years. This study became the basis for Finders and Keepers: Helping New Teachers Survive and Thrive in Our Schools. Articles and papers from this study have been published in American Educator, American Educational Research Journal, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Educational Administration Quarterly, Teachers College Record, Phi Delta Kappan, Educational Leadership, and the Journal of Staff Development.

Project researchers are currently studying second-stage teachers and their experience with specialized roles, teachers’ careers and career decisions, hiring practices in schools, professional culture, induction, principals' leadership, new teachers' experiences with curriculum, and alternative certification programs. In subsequent years, we hope to study effective minority recruitment strategies, career ladders, progressive union leaders, and new teachers’ attitudes toward unions.

The Project is directed by Susan Moore Johnson, the Carl H. Pforzheimer, Jr. Professor of Teaching and Learning at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and has received funding from the Spencer Foundation, the Russell Sage Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the NRTA Educator Support Network.