NRTA: AARP’s Educator Community

NRTA: AARP's Educator Community is the nation's largest organization serving the interests and needs of working and retired educators age 50 years and over. Founded in 1947 by retired educator Dr. Ethel Percy Andrus, NRTA: AARP’s Educator Community (formerly known as the National Retired Teachers Association) is a division of AARP. NRTA members share a commitment to learning, voluntary service, and civic participation. NRTA represents the interests of 50+ educators, with a membership of more than one-million active and retired higher-ed and K-12 educators and school personnel at the local, state and national level. The NRTA Network includes a national office in Washington, DC, 53 state and city associations, and more than 2,700 local associations.

Eleven years after founding NRTA, Dr. Ethel Percy Andrus founded AARP in 1958 to further promote her philosophy of productive aging, and in response to the need of all older citizens searching for health insurance. Today, NRTA is a division within AARP and the $12.50 annual dues provides membership into both NRTA and AARP. NRTA members receive all of AARP’s discounts, service and publications in addition to the quarterly publication, NRTA Live & Learn.

Among NRTA’s signature programs and activities:

Launched in November, 2002 as a quarterly publication, NRTA Live & Learn is distributed to all NRTA members. Each issue of NRTA Live & Learn contains a feature cover story, short news segment called Flashcards, along with articles on travel, health, money and NRTA’s national initiatives and connection to state retired educators’ associations. NRTA Live & Learn also provides advertisers with an opportunity to reach the most active and loyal segment of AARP’s membership – current and former educators. With a circulation of nearly 300,000, NRTA Live & Learn reaches a target audience that reads each issue cover to cover! 

 

 

NRTA members have a rich tradition of community service.  In 1997, NRTA created the With Our Youth! initiative to both inspire and honor retired educators who provide thousands of hours in support of young people. For the past four years, NRTA has recognized extraordinary With Our Youth! volunteers through a national awards competition and celebration. Past national honorees have helped establish libraries, provided one-on-one tutoring and reading support and even developed new curricula to help make history come alive for young people.

 

NRTA Educator Support Network

In November 2002, NRTA announced a multi-year initiative to help America’s schools retain quality educators. This initiative is known as the NRTA Educator Support Network. Current statistics indicate that 33% of new teachers leave the profession within the first three years, and the number jumps to 50% in urban areas. Working with its network of state retired educators’ associations, NRTA hopes to engage experienced educators in research and projects that will offer meaningful support to new teachers.

NRTA is uniquely poised to respond to these critical issues – and to engage others to take action as well. Now in its 57^th year, NRTA, its members and affiliated REAs stand to serve as thought leaders and can effectively support educators – both newly minted and those entering in mid-career or after retirement. To address the educator retention challenge, NRTA’s Educator Support Network (ESN) seeks to: 

Ø      Elevate the needs and status of America’s most qualified educators to a national priority,

Ø      Engage a broad and diverse segment of citizens and organizations in support of educators and education in their communities, and

Ø      Expand the visibility of NRTA: AARP’s Educator Community and affiliated REAs as supportive of the careers and life transitions of educators. 

A multi-faceted range of ESN activities are currently underway:

Ø      Conducting research to better understand the resources and motivation needed for educators to be successful and to remain in their professions.  

Ø      Developing pilot programs matching experienced educators with new educators in Chicago, Baltimore and across the state of California:

¨      In partnership with Chicago Public Schools, over 50 members of the Retired Educators Association of Chicago have been supporting new teachers since January, 2004 in 11 of the city’s “hardest to staff” schools

¨      Experienced educators and other older volunteers will be supporting teachers in the city of Baltimore through the Experience Corps program coordinated by Johns Hopkins University

¨      With the advice and guidance of the California Department of Education and the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, members from the California Retired Teachers Association are cultivating five, community-based pilot programs to support new teachers and administrators.

Ø      Assembling a national panel of eminent and respected public figures and researchers who are lending their leadership and voice to NRTA’s Educator Support Network

¨      US Secretary of Education, Rod Paige, University of Miami president, Dr. Donna Shalala, and University of Pennsylvania researcher, Dr. Richard Ingersoll are among those who have lent their support to the NRTA Educator Support Network.

Ø      Building strategic partnerships and organizational alliances across interests and sectors

Ø      Generating civic engagement through REA leadership at the state and community levels

Staying Sharp is an NRTA initiative designed to promote cognitive fitness among the 50+ population and is a cooperative effort between NRTA and the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives (DABI). The Dana Alliance, part of the Dana Foundation, is a nonprofit organization of more than 200 leading neuroscientists, including 11 Nobel Laureates. DABI is committed to advancing public awareness about the progress and benefits of brain research and to disseminating information on the brain in an understandable and accessible fashion. 

There are currently four Staying Sharp booklets on critical aspects of brain fitness available to NRTA members:

·        Memory Loss and Aging

·        Quality of Life

·        Depression

·        Chronic Health Issues

NRTA Pension Roundtable

The NRTA Pension Roundtable monitors trends in public employee retirement issues including pensions and other benefits, and develops recommendations on research, public policy and advocacy.

Recent publications include Fighting Inflation: How Does Your COLA Compare? Available at www.aarp.org/nrta.