More than 4,000 of our alumni are currently making the decision to go beyond the call of duty by remaining in the classroom after their two year commitment is complete. These alumni teachers have been recognized as the best in their field, winning national and state teacher of the year awards, as well as Milken Educators Awards, Presidential Awards for Excellence in Math and Science, and National Department of Education Teaching Ambassador Fellowships.

They are also leading beyond their own classroom walls. They are designing and implementing professional development resources and tools for their schools and districts, publishing in distinguished education journals, and presenting at national educational conferences. They are the heads of math departments, starting AP programs and helping to graduate classes where a hundred percent of the students will continue on to college. These teacher leaders continue to demand that the focus remain on impacting student achievement for all students and on keeping high-quality teachers in the classrooms where they are needed most.

By 2015, the number of alumni in teaching will grow to over 11,000. The Teacher Leadership Initiative aims to help support this growing number of alumni teachers in their efforts by building partnerships that offer recognition for professional excellence, that provide the opportunity to impact education policy from the classroom, and that support them in improving their instructional practice.

Resources

The Teacher Leadership Initiative aims to provide a diverse portfolio of supports and resources to our alumni teachers. Current resources include:

• Support for Alumni Seeking Professional Leadership Recognition: Alumni can access information and support around professional leadership awards and fellowship programs such as the Teaching Ambassador Fellowship, the Albert Einstein Distinguished Fellowship Award, the Fulbright Distinguished Teacher Award, and more.
• Support for Alumni Seeking National Board Certification: Alumni have the opportunity to learn best practices for National Board candidacy and find resources that may help with portfolio development and off-setting application fees.
• Ongoing Professional Development: A calendar of professional development opportunities help alumni become more effective teachers and identify programs that best meets their needs.
• Comprehensive Teaching Resources: Through a robust, fully searchable, user-rated collection of resources and strategies on TFANet, alumni can access lessons uploaded by corps members, staff, and alumni teachers, conduct online classroom visits, and listen to advice highlighting best practices.
• Job and Opportunity Board (JOB): Alumni can upload their resumes to the JOB Teacher Leadership Resume collection (launching January 2010) and use a searchable database of job postings to connect to schools that value their experience. Alumni can also join a webinar series on high-performing schools to learn more about schools that value and reward effective teachers.
• Opportunities to Impact Education Policy: Alumni have access to webinars focused on teachers' roles in education policy, can share their thoughts on how to retain high-quality teachers, and connect with other teachers on LEE, our sister organization focusing on the intersection of education, policy, and advocacy.
• Access to Experienced Teacher Mentors: Alumni can connect with nearly 200 experienced educators across the country, learn how they engineer successful classroom environments, overcome challenges and continue to achieve significant gains with their students.

Alumni leading from the classroom

Of the 63% of alumni in education, nearly half are teachers.

The vast majority of our alumni teachers work in district or charter public schools.

Hundreds of alumni have been honored as teachers of the year at the national, state, district, and school level, including.

• Jennifer Coughlin (North Louisiana '95): 2008 Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching
• Sara Egli (Phoenix '05) and Brian MacKenzie (Mississippi Delta '96): 2009 Arizona Teacher of the Year semifinalist and finalist
• Eric Kinne (Rio Grande Valley '01), Anne Claire Tejtel (Baltimore '00), Kristina Walrath (Mid-Atlantic '03): 2008/2009 Teaching Ambassador Fellows awarded by the U.S. Department of Education
• Jeffery Li (New York City '03) and Casey Fullerton (D.C. Region '02): 2008 American Stars of Teaching
• Emily Masengale (St. Louis '06): 2009 St. Louis Public Schools Teacher of the Year
• Elisa Schorr (Houston '01): 2007 Milken Educator Award for Teaching

Contact Us

To learn more about the Teacher Leadership Initiative or to learn how to partner with us, please contact Tamara Arroyo at tamara.arroyo@teachforamerica.org.