TEACH FOR AMERICA BRINGS RECORD NUMBER OF NEW TEACHERS TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN HOUSTON THIS FALL

Organization Receives Grants from State of Texas and Arnold Family Foundation to Support Growth

HOUSTON, May 27, 2009—Teach For America announced today that it will place 250 new teachers in Houston this fall, the largest incoming corps in the region’s history. A total of 450 Teach For America corps members will teach in Houston, with a record 40 percent teaching math and science at the middle and high school levels.

“Teach For America’s teachers have been a vital part of our city’s efforts to accelerate student achievement for nearly 20 years,” said Abelardo Saavedra, superintendent of the Houston Independent School District. “I am pleased to welcome such a large group of our nation’s best and brightest young people into Houston’s classrooms next fall, and I look forward to seeing the impact they will have on our students in both the short and long term.”

Teach For America’s growth in Houston is made possible by the strong support of the state of Texas and the Arnold Family Foundation. The state recently awarded Teach For America $8 million to support its work over the next two years in Houston, Dallas, and the Rio Grande Valley. In addition, the Arnold Family Foundation will provide Teach For America with a two-year, $2 million grant, which will support the recruitment, training, and professional development of its Houston corps members.

Houston’s new Teach For America teachers are part of a national corps of 4,100, the largest incoming class in the organization’s 20-year history. Teach For America corps members commit to teach for at least two years in urban and rural public schools and become lifelong leaders in the pursuit of educational equity.

Including Houston, corps members will head to classrooms in 34 regions across the United States, encompassing a record-setting six new sites: Boston; Dallas; Milwaukee; Nashville, Tenn.; Tulsa, Okla.; and Wilmington, Del. School districts in new and existing Teach For America sites are eager to hire corps members, who bring new energy and leadership to the challenge of closing the academic achievement gap for students in low-income communities. On average, these students are three years behind their peers in more affluent areas by the time they are 9 years old, according to the latest data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (also known as the Nation’s Report Card), released last month.

Teach For America recruits on more than 450 college campuses, seeking seniors and recent graduates from all academic majors and backgrounds who have demonstrated outstanding achievement, perseverance, and leadership. Admission to the teacher corps was even more selective than in previous years, with a record 35,000 individuals applying to join. At more than 130 colleges and universities, more than 5 percent of the senior class applied, including 11 percent of all seniors at Ivy League universities and 8 percent of those at Rice University.

“We’re inspired by the record number of outstanding recent graduates who are choosing to channel their talent and energy toward addressing the unacceptable disparities in educational outcomes that persist in our country,” said Wendy Kopp, Teach For America’s founder and chief executive officer. “Our corps members and alumni, together with many other educators, are demonstrating every day that it is possible to ensure that all of our nation’s children have the opportunities they need to excel academically. We’re excited about the leadership and energy this new group—our largest and highest-caliber ever—will bring to our efforts.”

The large number of highly qualified candidates allowed Teach For America to increase not only the size of its 2009 corps but also its strength. Incoming corps members earned an average GPA of 3.6 and a combined SAT score of 1333, and 89 percent held leadership positions as undergraduates. Almost one-third of incoming corps members are people of color, and one-quarter received Pell Grants. Nearly 10 percent are African-Americans, which is double the percentage of African-Americans enrolled at the colleges where Teach For America primarily recruits.

A growing body of research on Teach For America demonstrates the effectiveness of corps members as classroom teachers. In March, the Urban Institute released updated data from a 2008 study of the impact of Teach For America corps members teaching high school in North Carolina. The update, which employed larger sample sizes, confirmed that Teach For America teachers have a positive effect on student achievement relative to other teachers, including experienced teachers, traditionally prepared teachers, and those fully certified in their field.

Beyond their impact in the classroom, Teach For America alumni are staying in Houston as teachers, principals, and leaders who continue to advocate for children and families in our lowest-income communities. Nearly 600 alumni call the area home, including Natasha Kamrani, a member of the Houston Independent School District school board. Twenty-five alumni are expected to be leading Houston schools next year, including Port Houston Elementary principal Reid Whitaker; and many more will be preparing to do so through Teach For America’s partnership with the Rice Education Entrepreneurship Program. Of the 14,400 Teach For America alumni across the United States, some 380 serve as school principals or superintendents, more than 500 work in government or policy, and more than 20 serve as elected officials.

About Teach For America
Teach For America is the national corps of outstanding recent college graduates who commit to teach for at least two years in urban and rural public schools and become lifelong leaders in expanding educational opportunity. In the 2008-09 school year, 6,200 corps members are teaching in over 1,600 schools in 29 regions across the country while more than 14,000 Teach For America alumni continue working from inside and outside the field of education for the fundamental changes necessary to ensure educational excellence and equity. For more information, visit www.teachforamerica.org.