A Solvable Problem
We can provide an excellent education for kids in low-income communities
Although 16 million American children face the extra challenges of poverty, an increasing body of evidence shows they can achieve at the highest levels.
Poverty is not destiny
Leading educators explain why we must help kids growing up in poverty beat the culture of low expectations.
A New Mandate for Public Schools
Masharika Maddison (Bay Area Corps '08) describes how we can - and must - provide an excellent education for kids in low-income communities
Jodi Romero
Los Angeles corps 2009
Taught at: Samuel Gompers Middle School
Undergrad: Reed College, 2009, English Literature
"I have seen the achievement gap close for my students."
Q&A
Why does it matter to you that we provide an excellent education for children in low-income communities?
I firmly believe educational inequity is the most tragically solvable injustice. I have seen the achievement gap close for individual students, even those with learning disabilities, when they are given high expectations and the educational opportunities they deserve.
What is it like to be a Teach For America corps member?
Being a corps member simply means you are a teacher in a high needs situation. My initial assumptions about work load and time commitment hold true. I expected it to be a personal and professional challenge that breeds growth in both areas, which it certainly does.
Why did you decide to join the corps?
I decided to join the corps because my teachers had such a positive impact on my education, which led to my academic, professional, and personal successes. I wanted to create enduring impact for my students like my teachers did for me.
Dave Levin
Houston corps 1992
Taught at: Bastian Elementary School
Undergrad: Yale University, 1992, History
Current Employer: Superintendent of KIPP New York and member of Board of Directors of KIPP Foundation KIPP New York
"This is the hardest work on the planet. It’s also the most important."
Q&A
Why is this such a unique opportunity?
At KIPP we’ve quadrupled the low-income college graduation rate in the nation. We’ve exceeded the national average across all demographic groups. It can no longer be doubted that great schools can be built, but the revolution will not happen without more great schools. And great schools will not exist without great principals and without great teachers. Each and every one of us has to answer this question: what can I best do to serve the revolution? If you out there can be a great principal or a great teacher, then that’s what this revolution needs. Because there will be no revolution without great public schools.
What’s the most important thing you’ve learned about what it takes to get the transformative success to scale?
This is the hardest work on the planet. It’s also the most important. We can never forget that unit of change for an individual kid’s life – the transformational place where everything happens – is school. It starts in pre-K and goes straight through college. We need the broader systemic changes and then we need as many committed, talented, and revolutionary teachers and school leaders as this nation can produce.
Teach For America was named one of Fortune magazine's top 100 employers to work for.
Teach For America was named one of America's top 100 Ideal Employers in Universum's 2011 American Student Survey.