By Kim Jones, CEO, Curriki
Teach for America is now a quarter-century old. Each year it fields around 5000 new teachers in disadvantaged urban and rural areas within the U.S. The number of applicants each year is in the range of 40,000 to 50,000.
Its mission?
“Our mission is to enlist, develop, and mobilize as many as possible of our nation’s most promising future leaders to grow and strengthen the movement for educational equity and excellence.” – Teach For America website
Teachers in the Teach For America program are “full-fledged faculty members” in their schools, receiving a regular salary and benefits plus a small stipend for credentialing courses, further education, or payments toward student loans.
Teach for America has an excellent track record. Independent studies in various geographies have indicated:
- 1.3 months of reading gains in elementary schools (Mathematica study)
- 2.6 months of gains in secondary school level math instruction (Mathematica study)
- 3 months of math instruction gains (Calder Center and American Institutes for Research study)
- 1-2 extra months of gains in English and Math (Harvard Strategic Data Project)
- Teach for America teachers are the most effective pool of new teachers in North Carolina and Tennessee
- A very high percentage of principals are satisfied with the TeachForAmerica experience in their schools
We encourage recent college graduates, college seniors and professionals to consider making a difference. Consider applying to Teach For America!
And if you get selected, you can search at Curriki for supplementary K-12 materials. Our site hosts nearly 75,000 open educational resources, all free.
To learn more go to: https://www.teachforamerica.org/
