This document provides an overview of Teach For America, including its mission to eliminate educational inequity, the causes and impacts of inequity, Teach For America's theory of change and program model, the selection and training of corps members, corps member impacts on student achievement, alumni impacts, and considerations for new site development. The summary highlights that Teach For America recruits recent college graduates to teach for 2 years in low-income communities, provides intensive training, and that corps members have been shown to help students achieve greater gains in reading and math than typical.

1. Building the Movement to Eliminate
Educational Inequity
Alabama
December, 2008
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2. 2
Agenda
I. Teach For America Introduction
II. The Problem, Causes of the Problem, and Our Theory of Change
III. Teach For America Program Continuum
IV. Teach For America’s Impact
V. New Site Development at Teach For America
VI. Questions and Answers

3. Teach For America is the national corps of outstanding recent college graduates who
commit two years to teach in low-income communities and become life long leaders in
education reform.
Introduction
Nashville
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4. The Problem
The educational inequity that persists along socioeconomic and racial lines is our nation’s
greatest injustice.
*[Source: National Assessment of Educational Progress, 2005]
**[Source: Mortenson, Tom. “Family Income and Higher Education Opportunity,”Postsecondary Education Opportunity, 2005]
*** [Source: National Center for Children in Poverty, 2006]
• 9 year olds living in low-income communities are 3 grade levels behind
their high-income peers*
• About half won’t graduate from high school. Those who do will perform on
average at an eighth-grade level*
• Only 1 in 10 students from low-income communities will graduate from
college**
WHERE CHILDREN GROW UP DETERMINES THEIR LIFE PROSPECTS
For 13 million children growing up in poverty today, these disparities severely limit
opportunities in life. Because African-American and Latino/Hispanic children are three
times as likely to live in a low-income area***, children of color are disproportionately
impacted by this inequity.
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5. Causes of the Problem
Children
growing
up in
low income
communities
face extra
challenges
Schools & school
systems lack sufficient
capacity to meet
students’ extra needs
Prevailing
ideology
hasn’t
led to
necessary
policies and
investments
We believe 3 factors come together in a cycle that creates the problem.
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6. Our Theory of Change
We enlist our nation’s most promising future leaders in the movement to eliminate
educational inequity.
Corps Members
(1) commit two years
to teach in public
schools and
(2) exceed traditional
expectations by
moving their students
forward more than
would be expected in
one year.
Corps members
(1) show that low-income
children can achieve at high
levels and
(2) gain added conviction that
educational inequity is a
problem we can and must
solve.
Insufficient school & system capacity
Extra challenges facing
low-income children Prevailing ideology
Alumni work to
minimize the challenges
facing children in low-
income communities,
build capacity of schools
and systems, and
change prevailing
ideology about what is
possible .
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7. Teach For America Program Activities
Recruit the most
highly sought-
after graduates
of all academic
majors and
career interests
Apply a rigorous
model to identify
demonstrated
leaders who will
excel and
significantly
impact their
students’
academic
achievement
Cluster corps
members in
schools and
districts with the
greatest need,
which hire them
as regular
beginning
teachers
Provide intensive
summer training
program to equip
corps members
with foundational
knowledge and
skills to be highly
effective
teachers.
Foster ongoing
leadership of our
alumni working
in education and
in other sectors
by connecting
alumni with each
other and with
opportunities to
grow their
impact further
ALUMNI
NETWORK
ONGOING
SUPPORT
PRE-SERVICE
TRAINING
PLACEMENTSELECTIONRECRUITMENT
Hire program
directors who do
what good
managers do:
provide a cycle of
ongoing support
throughout the
two-year
commitment to
ensure students
achieve
significant
academic gains
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8. Who We Look For
Teach For America recruits talented candidates from 400 colleges across the country.
Through the selection process Teach For America seeks to gain a holistic view of each
candidate in order to find evidence of the following characteristics:
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Selection Criteria
• Demonstrated past achievement
• Perseverance in the face of challenges
• Strong critical thinking skills
• Ability to influence and motivate others
• Organizational ability
• Understanding of and desire to work
relentlessly in pursuit of our vision
• Respect for students and families in low-
income communities

9. Who We Select: Our Corps Members
In 2008, from a pool of 25,000 applicants, Teach For America selected less than 4,000.
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2008 Corps
• Average GPA: 3.6
• Average SAT score: 1320
• 95% held leadership role in college
• 29% people of color
• 26% low-income

10. Ongoing SupportTraining Institute
How We Train our Corps Members
Structured Sessions
Coursework
Observations
Rubric
Our goal is to increase student achievement through:
Curriculum
Reading
Classroom
Observations
Induction &
Orientation
Independent
Preparation
Familiarize
Set Goals
Plan
Program Directors
Formal Cycle
University Partner
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11. Corps Member Impact
All rigorous independent studies of Teach For America demonstrate that we are having a
measurable impact on student achievement.
• Elementary Student Achievement (Mathematica Policy Research, 2004)
– Greater gains in reading and math than typically expected in a year
– The impact of a corps member is greater than impact of reducing class size
• High School Student Achievement (Urban Institute Study, 2008)
– Three times the incremental impact of a teacher with 3+ years of experience
• Principal Satisfaction (Principal Survey, 2007)
– 96% are satisfied with the Teach For America teacher (s) working in their schools
– 93% report that corps members’ training is at least as good as the training of other
beginning teachers
– 63% rate the training as better than that of other beginning teachers.
• Channeling Our Nation’s Talent
– Less than 10% of corps members would have considered teaching before Teach For
America
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12. Corps Member Impact: Math & Science Initiative
- Since 2004, we have seen a 76% growth in the number of applicants with math/science
backgrounds.
- More than 1,700 corps members are in math or science placements teaching over
122,000 students nationally.
- The impact on a math class of having a Teach For America teacher exceeded the impact
of reducing the class size by 8 students (Mathematica 2004).
- Nearly 50% of all math/science teachers went on to teach a third year. Of those that
continued teaching, over 90% were teaching in low-income communities.
Only 46% of 4th graders in low-income communities can perform “basic” math, such as
adding whole numbers.
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13. Corps Member Placements
• We are 10-30% of new teacher hires in districts and charter schools
• We place across the full range of subject areas and grade levels including Math,
Science, English, and Social Studies
– 11 % of corps members teach in Math placements
– 15 % of corps members teach in Science placements
– 15 % of corps members teach in English placements
– 11 % of corps members teach in Special Education placements
– 6 % of corps members teach in Social Studies placements
• We cluster corps members in groups of 2 or more
• We place corps members in schools where 80% of the student population is considered
low-income
• School districts and charter schools pay the salary of our corps members
• Our corps members earn the same salary as any other entry level teacher
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14. Even though less than 10% of corps members would have taught before Teach For
America, more than 60% are working or studying full-time in education.
*[Source: Self-reported to Teach For America (as of April 2007), reflecting data on 57% of alumni.]
Rachel Walker (Corps ’98) works at
the University of Alabama as the e-
Learning Instructional Developer for
the College of Continuing Studies
and Alabama Online High School.
14 alumni are working
full time in education.
3 alumni are working
in a legal profession.
Alabama natives Kristen Woody and
Leigh Bonner (both Corps ’06) now
work on Teach For America staff.
Kristen works on the Training,
Support, and Development team and
Leigh on the recruitment team.
36 Teach For America Alumni
currently live and work in Alabama.
Alumni Impact: Alabama
7 alumni are classroom
teachers; one teaches
science, and three are
instructional or
curriculum specialists.
Matthew Cregor (Corps ’00)
graduated from Georgetown
University’s Law School. He
currently works for the Southern
Poverty Law Center in Alabama.
Amanda Wallace (Corps ’04)
works as the Health Director for
Girls, Inc., a national research,
education, and direct advocacy
organization that inspires girls to
be strong, smart, and bold.
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15. Our Corps Members and Alumni Members Will…
• Teach in public schools (traditional districts and charter schools)
• Teach in K-12 placements, including special education, math, science, and ESL
• Work relentlessly to increase academic achievement
• Influence the prevailing ideology about what is possible within public education
• Earn the same salary and benefits as any other first-year teacher within the school
system
• Become teachers of record before entering the classroom
• Be considered highly qualified pursuant to No Child Left Behind
• Participate in school-based support/development
• Receive support from Teach For America program staff
• Join the community as a powerful force for change
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16. New Site Development at Teach For America
We evaluate 15-20 potential sites each year and typically grant new site status to 3 to 5
sites. We consider the following 6 factors:
• Existence of a significant achievement gap that persists along
socioeconomic and/or racial lines
• Region’s compelling vision for how our presence will help it close the
academic achievement gap
• District commitment to placing a critical mass of corps members across the
full range of subject areas and grade levels (including elementary and
secondary social sciences positions)
• Ability to assign corps members to the site, given (a) applicant preferences,
(b) the existence of a state-approved alternate route to certification, and if
needed, (c) workable coursework requirements with a university partner
• Ability to fully fund the site at scale in a sustainable way via local and state
support
• Extent to which opening the site is in alignment with our national priorities
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17. Currently, we place over 6,000 in 29 regions. Recently, we declared Nashville and Dallas as
our newest regions. This year, we hope to open 3-5 new regions and are evaluating 15-20.
Points of Possibility
Eastern Kentucky/
West VirginiaNashville
Twin Cities Milwaukee Boston
Dallas
Puget Sound
Detroit
Ohio
Alabama
Georgia
Tulsa
Virginia
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18. Exploring the Possibilities in Alabama
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Poverty and Educational Attainment in Alabama:
• 22% of children in Alabama live in poverty; 41% are considered low-income
• Alabama ranks 45th of all states in the Nation for 8th grade math and reading scores
• According to a recent study, the graduation rate in 2005 was 61.6%; the study projects that
at this rate, Alabama public schools will lose 139 students per day between 2004-2008.
• Only 19% of Alabama residents over age 25 have a bachelor’s degree or higher; in five
Black Belt counties, 10% or fewer residents over age 25 have a bachelor’s degree or higher
*National Center for Children in Poverty
*National Assessment of Educational Progress
*US Census Bureau
*Education Week
By 2010: we could have 50 corps members living and working
in Alabama to improve the educational outcomes for
children
By 2015: we could reverse the brain drain and attract even
more talented leaders to move to and remain in Alabama
to effect systemic changes. Consider the following:
• 400 Alumni in Eastern N. Carolina, 165 from other corps
regions
• 192 Alumni in the Mississippi Delta, 20 from other corps
regions
• 95 Alumni in South Louisiana, 12 from other corps
regions

19. Question & Answer
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20. One day, all children in this nation will have the
opportunity to attain an excellent education.
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