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Miami-Dade

This year, a corps of 90 of the nation’s most promising future leaders are teaching in our county’s lowest-income classrooms as a part of Teach For America • Miami-Dade. They are working to ensure their students have the educational opportunities they deserve. Our alumni are a leadership force, working from within education and every professional sector to effect broader change. Together they are helping us make educational equity a reality in South Florida. Learn about living and teaching in Miami-Dade. Learn about living and teaching in Miami-Dade.

Press

Corps Impact

Alumni Impact

Financial Sustainability

Regional Supporters

Contact Us

Press

Recent press coverage

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Corps Impact

During the 2007-08 school year, 90 corps members are directly impacting the lives of more than 7,500 students in Miami-Dade. Katrina Ruiz is one example of the tremendous difference our corps members are making.

Katrina Ruiz (Miami-Dade Corps '06) Undergraduate University: University of Florida Major: English, Spanish

Katrina Ruiz began teaching first grade at Morningside Elementary with the ambitious goal that all of her students would grow 1.5 grade levels in reading and achieve 80 percent mastery of first grade math objectives. Morningside’s unique dual-language program provided Katrina and her students with the additional mission of learning and appreciating the Spanish language and culture. The class monitored their progress by creating bar graph charts and celebrating each objective mastered. Ultimately, her students surpassed their goals by scoring the highest of all first grade classes at Morningside on the SAT-10, a national reading comprehension exam, and by demonstrating 84 percent mastery of math objectives. Katrina has moved with her students to the second grade and together they have set even more ambitious goals, including two years of growth in reading and 80 percent mastery of second grade math objectives.

Miami-Dade: Our Impact on Students and Schools Today

School Year	Corps Members	Students Reached
2006-07	90	7,650
2009-10	95*	8,075*
*projected

Principal Satisfaction

• 95 percent of recently-surveyed principals (in schools with Teach For America corps members) in the Miami-Dade region reported they would hire another Teach For America teacher if their was a vacancy at their school.
• 95 percent of recently-surveyed principals (in schools with Teach For America corps members) in the Miami-Dade region regard Teach For America teachers as effective as, if not more effective than, other beginning teachers in terms of overall performance and impact on student achievement.*
  

*"Teach For America 2007 National Principal Survey,” Policy Studies Associates, July 2007.

Impact on Student Achievement
According to a highly regarded study by Mathematica Policy Research, corps members outpaced fully certified and veteran teachers in their schools in moving their students ahead academically. Read national results.

Student Profile

• Students served who are eligible for free/reduced lunch: 90%
• Students served who are African-American and/or Latino: 99%

Miami-Dade: Corps Member Placement

Assignment	# of Corps Members	% of Corps
Elementary	32	36%
Secondary	58	64%
Total	90	100%

Characteristics of the 2007 Corps

Corps Profile	Top alma maters by market share*
Average GPA: 3.6	University of Chicago, Scripps College, Spelman College & Duke University: 10%
Average SAT: 1321	Rhodes College, University of Notre Dame: 9%
Held leadership roles on campus: 95%	Princeton University, Yale University: 7%
People of color: 28%	Emory University, Stanford University: 6%

*Percentage of senior classes who applied to Teach For America

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Alumni Impact

Fostering Alumni Leadership for Systemic Change
As the number of corps members grows, so does our alumni base. By 2010, we will have over 450 Teach For America • Miami-Dade alumni pursuing professional careers and impacting educational reform from every sector.

• Nationally, more than 60 percent of corps members continue to work in education,
  including more than 200 who are school leaders.
• 91 percent of all alumni report they are supporting Teach For America’s mission
  through their career, volunteer activity or graduate study.
  

Keith Brooks (Miami-Dade Corps '03) Undergraduate University: Colgate University Major: Philosophy and Religion Current profession: Assistant Principal

Keith Brooks and Gemma Torcivia are two of the many alumni continuing to work toward our vision in Miami-Dade. Keith taught fifth grade at Holmes Elementary during his two-year teaching commitment. While continuing to teach in the classroom, Keith completed a master’s degree in education in 2006, and then entered Miami-Dade’s Assistant Principal Preparation Program. Today, he serves as the assistant principal at Phillis Wheatley Elementary. His long-term goal is to provide educational leadership in one of Miami-Dade county’s highest-need schools by taking on the role of principal.

Gemma Torcivia (Miami-Dade Corps '04) Undergraduate University: University of Florida Major: Women’s Studies Current Profession: Building Excellent Schools Fellow & Executive Director of Rise Academy Charter School

Gemma is a 2006/2007 Fellow in the Building Excellent Schools program. Building Excellent Schools aims to raise the quality of charter schools by providing practice-based training to aspiring charter school founders and guiding them through designing, launching and sustaining an excellent school. During her two-year Teach For America commitment as a special education and reading teacher at Miami Central Senior High School, Gemma was frustrated by the low literacy levels of not only her special education students but also of the general education students. She decided to design and create Rise Academy, a school where every child would receive an excellent, college preparatory education. The academy, opening in August 2008, will serve the families of Homestead and Florida City. The school will begin with kindergarten and first grade, and it will add a grade a year until it is at full K-8 growth, serving approximately 800 students.

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An Efficient Program: Cost Breakdown

Growing Our Impact: Funding Needs, 2007-2010

Each additional recruit is another dedicated teacher for children growing up in low-income communities in Miami-Dade, and another talented leader with the insight and commitment necessary to sustain the reform efforts underway, which is critical to the ongoing vitality of our region.

Year	Corps Size	Revenue Needs
2007-08	90	$1.85 million
2008-09	95*	$2 million*
2009-10	95*	$2 million*
*projected

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Regional Supporters

We are grateful to have many supporters who generously contribute to our movement in Miami-Dade. The foundations, corporations and individuals listed below have made it possible for Teach For America to continue to recruit, select, train, and support teachers who are working to eliminate educational inequity in our city.

Advisory Board
Maria Alonso Senior Vice President, Market Development Manager Bank of America
C.L. Conroy President The Conroy Martinez Group
Evelyn Greer Member Miami-Dade County School Board
Jack Lowell Vice Chairman Flagler Real Estate Services

Jeffrey J. Stay Chief Relationship Officer Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler

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Contact

To support Teach For America • Miami-Dade with a gift or to request additional information about our impact or finances, please contact:

Teach For America • Miami-Dade
Dorit Matthews, Development Director
1541 Sunset Drive, Suite 201
S. Miami, FL 33143
p 305-661-1623, f 305-661-2955
dorit.matthews@teachforamerica.org
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