LEVELING THE PLAYING FIELD: DEC '07

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Visit us online  ·   Our mission  ·  Our regions   ·  The teaching experience  ·   Your career December 2007 Only 1 in 10 students in low-income communities will graduate from high school. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Take advantage of winter break to learn more about educational inequity and what you can do to help end it>>  What the Experience Is Really Like Report from the field: "What happened in my classroom was not magic. It was a product of setting incredibly high standards, pursuing results relentlessly, and never giving up. Under those conditions, anything is possible."—Liam Honigsberg (Phoenix Corps ’04)  Read more about Liam’s experience and the daily rewards and challenges of teaching>>          Mythbusters: Are you wondering how you can succeed as a teacher if you’ve never taught before? Teach For America teachers can lead students to make dramatic academic gains in a single year. Learn more about becoming an exceptional teacher>>  How This Fits in with Your Career Goals Why Teach For America? "I know that it will be incredibly difficult—in fact, that it will almost certainly be the most difficult thing I have ever done—but I want to take on the challenge and overcome it. In doing so, I will learn a great deal about myself and grow immeasurably as a person, in ways that I never would were I simply sitting in an office for the next two years." —Scott Thompson (New York City Corps ’06), 2008 Rhodes Scholar Graduate school and employer partnerships: Google, JPMorgan, and other employers join top-ranked graduate programs such as Harvard University Law School and New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service to offer deferrals and other benefits to Teach For America teachers. View all of Teach For America’s graduate school partnerships and employer partnerships>> Work that matters: Join a network of individuals who’ve made a difference—Teach For America alumni. Learn how Teach For America alumni are working from every professional sector to expand educational opportunity>> Regional Spotlight: Rural Regions With national attention often focused on struggling urban schools, few Americans have a clear picture of the educational challenges facing rural schools or the potential economic and social policies that might benefit rural communities. Learn about our rural placement sites including the Mississippi Delta, the Rio Grande Valley, and South Louisiana>> Send to a friend      ·      Contact us Opinions expressed in this document or linked documents are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Teach For America, the Corporation for National Service, or the AmeriCorps program.

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YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE: NOV '07

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Visit us online ·  Our mission · Our regions  · The teaching experience Your career  · Grads and professionals November 2007 Of the 13 million children growing up in poverty today, about half will graduate from high school. Those that do graduate will perform, on average, at an eighth-grade level. Educational inequity is    our nation's greatest injustice—and you can help solve it.  What the Experience is Really Like Mythbusters: All first-year teachers experience a steep learning curve. However, Teach For America corps members say that our five-week training institute helped prepare them for the challenges they experienced during their first year of teaching. Read more about Teach For America training>>           Video report from the field: “There’s this really honest moment that you have to have with yourself when you’re in a [classroom] . . . and you’ve got a lot of work to do. It’s hard. But as someone who really enjoys a challenge, I’ve got to say—there’s nothing like it.”—Linda Mendez (Houston Corps ’05) Hear more from Linda and other corps members who offer an inside look at life in the classroom and in the corps>> Developing your skills: Highly effective teachers in under-resourced schools employ the same skills required for success in any profession. You will build these skills during your Teach For America training and ongoing professional development>>  How this Fits in with Your Career Goals Not just for graduating seniors: If you’re enrolled in a graduate program or you’re a college graduate working in the public or private sector and you want to be a powerful force in the lives of others, consider joining Teach For America. Learn more from individuals who joined Teach For America after graduate school or after time in other professions>> Graduate school partnerships: Top-ranked graduate programs, including Georgetown University’s Public Policy Institute and Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Graduate Program in Chemistry, offer deferrals and other benefits to Teach For America teachers. View the full list of Teach For America graduate school partnerships>> Employer partnerships: Google, Goldman Sachs, GE, and many other top companies offer two-year deferrals, summer internships, and signing bonuses to Teach For America corps members and alumni. View the list of Teach For America's job deferrals>> Teach For America alumni impact: “Very early in my Teach For America experience, I realized that poor health, nutrition, and a lack of access to adequate medical services negatively impacted my students’ ability to achieve in school. This reality played a large part in my decision to pursue medicine as another way to serve my students.”—Prasanna Jagannathan (Los Angeles Corps ’98), Internal Medicine Resident, University of California, San Francisco; Harvard University ’06 M.D.; University of California, Berkeley, ’98 B.A. Learn more about the impact of Prasanna and other alumni in a variety of fields>> Career Spotlight: Law Experience that counts: “It is easy as a law student to treat our studies as abstract analytical exercises, but underneath each case we read is a real story involving the frustrated hopes of some flesh-and-blood human being. With this in mind, it is central to the task of any lawyer, in whatever field, to be able to think in terms of the interests of his client and to put those interests ahead of his own. My experience as a teacher has prepared me to see this human dimension and to accept the responsibility that comes with it.”— Nick Pyati (New York City Corps ’05), J.D. candidate at Yale Law School, Stupski scholarship recipient Read more about Nick’s path to law school>> Yale Law School scholarship and benefits: Two applicants who defer their acceptance to Yale Law School to join Teach For America will each receive a $30,000 Stupski Scholarship for Civic Leadership. Read more about Yale Law School and the Stupski scholarship>>  What law schools think: “At Harvard Law School, we look for passion, energy, and social awareness in our students, and we’ve found these qualities consistently in Teach For America alumni. They share our commitment to law as public service and we’re confident that they’ll use the resources and opportunities available here to go out and change the world.”—Elena Kagan, Dean and Charles Hamilton Houston Professor, Harvard Law School Top law schools value the commitment, leadership skills, and social awareness that Teach For America alumni bring. Read more about Teach For America’s law school partnerships>> Regional Spotlight: Greater New Orleans “At what other point in your lives have you had the opportunity to literally write history—to change the course of history? That is the moment we are living here in Greater New Orleans, and you feel it every day.”—Kira Orange-Jones (South Louisiana Corps '00), Executive Director, Teach For America-Greater New Orleans Learn more in a video spotlight on Greater New Orleans>> Send to a friend      ·      Contact us Opinions expressed in this document or linked documents are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Teach For America, the Corporation for National Service, or the AmeriCorps program.

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Teach For America News: October 2007

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Visit us online  ·   Our mission  ·  Our regions   ·  The teaching experience  ·   Your career    October 2007 Ninety percent of students growing up in low-income communities will not graduate from college. Educational inequity is our nation's greatest injustice—and you can help solve it. What the Experience is Really Like Report from the field: “I've been teaching for a month now and everything has been running smoothly on the whole,” writes New York City corps member Maribel Gonzalez. “But there is one student in particular who has been requiring a lot of my time and attention during class...He refuses to sit with any of the four groups the class has been arranged into and instead chooses to sit in the back of the room by himself..." Read more about Maribel’s experience and the daily rewards and challenges of teaching from other corps members>>         The impact you can have: You can help level the playing field for children in low-income communities and make a significant impact on their academic achievement>> Mythbusters: Teach For America corps members are not volunteers. In fact, they're paid directly by the school districts for which they work and receive the same compensation as other beginning teachers. Learn more about corps member salaries and benefits>>  Your training and development: In Teach For America, you will learn the skills and strategies that work for highly effective teachers in under-resourced schools. Read more about your training and ongoing professional development>> “I know how satisfying it is to be a teacher, and I understand the excitement that motivates young people to Teach For America. Corps members bring to their classrooms extraordinary skill, compassion, energy, and idealism . These are important qualities in any workplace, but they're especially important in schools, where teachers aren’t just job-holders, but they’re role models, mentors, and friends.”—First Lady Laura Bush “Teach For America’s corps members and alumni become lifelong leaders in the effort to ensure that all children in our nation have an equal chance to succeed in life."—Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y. How this Fits in with Your Career Goals Teach For America ranks among top entry-level employers: Teach For America is recognized as one of the best places to launch your career by BusinessWeek, Fortune, the Princeton Review, and the Wall Street Journal. Graduate school partnerships: The latest graduate schools to partner with Teach For America include the University of California, Berkeley - College of Engineering and Northwestern University programs in chemistry, mathematics, and earth and planetary science. View the full list of Teach For America graduate school partnerships>> Employer partnerships: Google, GE, JPMorgan, and many other top companies offer two-year deferrals, summer internships, and more to Teach For America corps members and alumni. View the list of Teach For America's job deferrals>> Alumni in every sector: After their two-year commitment, Teach For America alumni work from every career sector to level the playing field for children growing up in low-income communities. Learn how from alumni working in engineering, public policy, technology, and more>>  Career Spotlight: Business What business schools think: Top business schools, such as Stanford University Graduate School of Business and The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, recognize the entrepreneurial spirit, leadership skills, and committment to social justice that Teach For America alumni bring. Read more about Teach For America's business school partnerships>> M.B.A. benefits for Teach For America alumni: The William Bowes Scholarship for Emerging Business Leaders awards $50,000 annually to two Teach For America alumni entering each of the following business schools: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, University of Chicago, and University of Pennsylvania. Learn more about these schools>> The Harvard Business School equation: Harvard Business School is partnering with Teach For America and others on a deferred M.B.A. admissions program - HBS 2+2. Learn more about the HBS 2+2 Program>> Regional Spotlight: 2008 Expansion Sites Jacksonville: “Teach For America provides us with a wonderful opportunity to bring new leaders to the community who are passionate about educational reform. These young educators share our commitment to and vision of eradicating the achievement gap, and they will be placed in some of our most critical schools.”—Dr. Joseph Wise, Superintendent of Duval County Public Schools, welcoming Teach For America to Jacksonville, Florida Kansas City: "The Teach For America program and its corps members are a valuable addition to our community, our schools, and our vision for the future."—Anthony Amato, Superintendent of the Kansas City Missouri School District, speaking about Teach For America’s expansion to Kansas City Indianapolis: “Teach For America [corps] members have left deep, positive impressions on many school systems…. Over time, their competence and zeal [will] have a replenishing effect on our struggling urban schools.”—Indianapolis Star editorial about Teach For America’s expansion to Indianapolis Send to a friend      ·      Contact us Opinions expressed in this document or linked documents are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Teach For America, the Corporation for National Service, or the AmeriCorps program.

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Teach For America News: September 2007

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Visit us online    ·    The issue    ·    Our regions     ·    The experience    ·     Your career   September 2007 Only 1 in 10 students from low-income communities will graduate from college. Educational inequity is our nation's greatest injustice—and you can help solve it. Your Role Your two-year commitment can help end educational inequity. Learn more>>         Teach For America brings top college graduates into the classrooms that need them most, says TIME, in its recent cover story on universal public service. Read more>> Teach For America corps member Megan Scelfo (Philadelphia Corps ’06) was inspired by her mentor, Brent Maddin (S. Louisiana Corps ’99), the corps member who was her chemistry teacher. Read more about Megan and Brent>>  Achieving Your Goals Wondering how the Teach For America experience will affect your goals for medical school or graduate school? Join an upcoming conference call with medical school deans of admissions and learn more about our graduate school partnerships>> Teach For America alumni are working from every sector to improve the life prospects of children and families in low-income communities. Read profiles and watch videos of alumni working in math and science, business, public policy, and more>> Regional Spotlight: Greater New Orleans New Orleans post-Katrina has become a laboratory of new ideas for urban schools, and Teach For America is serving as "a brain magnet" for the city, writes New Orleans native Walter Isaacson, president of the Aspen Institute, in a recent TIME commentary. “I definitely wanted to do something that had an impact on the larger community after college. And teaching was probably the most effective way to do that, and New Orleans needs teachers; [New Orleans] needs energized people to come down and help rebuild after Katrina.” —Alex Pearlman (Greater New Orleans Corps ’07) on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360˚ “Louisiana, if you look at it statistically, was already forgotten. . . . Katrina exposed inequities and atrocities that existed before. I think we have an unprecedented opportunity to do something different. I’m incredibly optimistic.” —Teach For America - Greater New Orleans Executive Director Kira Orange Jones in the New Orleans Times-Picayune Other Regional News: Teach For America has expanded to Jacksonville and is looking to expand to Indianapolis, and Kansas City. What Others Are Saying Teach For America alumni are a dynamic force for education reform, and new D.C. public schools chancellor Michelle Rhee (Baltimore Corps ’92) is the first among them to head a major school system. Read more about Michelle and her fellow alumni in the Washington Post>> (Entire article requires payment) “It’s clear that the skill set the Teach For America experience builds is fantastic preparation for a career in investment banking at JPMorgan. We want analysts who embrace challenge, with instinctive communications skills, and who inspire others around them. A person who can lead and inspire a class of students is someone I want on my team.” —Kelly Coffey, Managing Director, Currency and Interest Rate Risk Management, JPMorgan Investment Bank JPMorgan offers two-year deferrals and signing bonuses to those accepted to both Teach For America and JPMorgan’s Investment Bank Analyst Program. Apply by Friday, September 21, to be eligible. Learn more and  view the full list of our employer partnerships>> Teach For America is recognized as a top entry-level employer by Business Week, Fortune, the Princeton Review, and the Wall Street Journal. Send to a friend      ·      Contact us Opinions expressed in this document or linked documents are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Teach For America, the Corporation for National Service, or the AmeriCorps program.

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