Teach For America’s Effective Teachers and Committed Alumni Continue to Expand Educational Opportunities for Hispanic Children
For Immediate Release
Contact: Claudia Santa Cruz | Teach For America
626.538.4330 | claudia@santacruzpr.com
NEW YORK CITY, October 12, 2010—With a corps of 4,500 new teachers, including 330 Hispanic teachers, and more than 1,200 Hispanic alumni, Teach For America is marking its 20th anniversary with unprecedented growth in size and impact, proving every day that the achievement gap can be closed.
Teach For America is one of the nation’s largest service organizations, reaching more than 500,000 children in underserved communities across 39 regions in 31 states and Washington, D.C. The 2010 corps reflects Teach For America’s focus on recruiting teachers who share the racial and economic backgrounds of the students they serve, 90 percent of whom are Hispanic or African American. Teach For America teachers like Kelly Murguia and Melissa Dreyer, who experienced the educational inequities that affect so many Hispanic children, are channeling their talent and leadership skills to provide their students with the educational opportunities they deserve.
Asked about her motivation for joining Teach For America, Ms. Dreyer says, "I was aware that I’m from an under-represented ethnic group and that the majority of students I would potentially serve as a bilingual pre-kindergarten teacher are Hispanic like me. I knew that joining Teach For America would allow me to give back to my own community and try to close the achievement gap my students had experienced."
Research over time has conclusively shown that Teach For America corps members' impact on their students' achievement is greater than that of other new teachers. Moreover, the most rigorous studies, from Mathematica and the Urban Institute, have shown that corps members' impact equals or exceeds that of experienced and certified teachers in the same schools. In order to share the lessons it has learned about effective teaching practices, Teach For America published Teaching As Leadership: The Highly Effective Teacher´s Guide to Closing the Achievement Gap (2010), which outlines six strategies common to highly effective teachers in the highest-need classrooms.
Teach For America´s impact extends beyond the classroom. With firsthand experience in what it will take to solve educational inequity, more than 20,000 Teach For America alumni are setting a new vision for what is possible in public education. Two-thirds of alumni continue working in the field of education, including more than 500 school leaders, such as the founders of highly successful charter networks KIPP, YES Prep Public Schools, and IDEA; more than 500 alumni work in government, politics, or advocacy; and 45 serve as elected officials. Teach For America’s alumni network is a force of leaders committed to eliminating the disparities of the current educational system.
Their efforts are supported by Teach For America’s focus on partnering with organizations that promote the advancement of the populations it serves, including the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, and the Hispanic Heritage Foundation. According to Esther Aguilera, president and CEO of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, “Working with Teach For America is a great way for young Latino leaders to become involved in the lives of young people all over the country to make a difference in the field of education."
Most recently, Teach For America named Amanda Fernandez as vice president, diversity and inclusiveness, in order to strengthen its work in these areas. Fernandez, a professional with more than 18 years of experience in consulting and in-house human resources, will implement strategies that raise awareness about the educational achievement gap. She also will serve as the main liaison between Teach For America and Hispanic groups, working to increase Hispanic representation at all levels of the organization.
Teach For America recruits at 370 schools across the country, including 23 Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs) and other top, diverse campuses such as the California State University system, the University of California system, the University of Texas system, the University of Florida, Florida State University, and Rutgers University. This recruiting approach provides the organization with access to the nation’s best, diverse talent.
About Teach For America
Teach For America is the national corps of outstanding recent college graduates who commit to teach for two years in urban and rural public schools and become lifelong leaders in expanding educational opportunity. Today, more than 8,200 corps members are teaching in 39 regions across the country while 20,000 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.
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