Our Organization

All kids – no matter where they live, how much money their parents make, or what their skin color is – deserve access to a great education. But in our country today, a significant achievement gap exists between low-income children and their wealthier peers. It’s not easy to close this gap, but hundreds of proof points show that it’s possible. It takes committed leaders in our classrooms today who will continue to fight for students tomorrow. Teach For America’s mission is to build the movement to eliminate educational inequity by developing such leaders.

• We recruit committed recent college graduates of all backgrounds to teach for two years in urban and rural public schools
• We train and develop these corps members so that they have an immediate positive impact on their students
• We foster the leadership of our alumni as they address this problem from all sectors

The work we do is about people – our students, who have the potential to achieve at the highest levels, and their parents, who want the best for them; our corps members, who work relentlessly to put their students on different academic trajectories; our alumni, who work in education and across all sectors to accelerate the pace of change; and our staff members, supporters, and partners, who make our efforts possible. These individuals bring a rich diversity of experiences to our work but are united by a shared vision that one day, all children in this nation will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education.

Since 1990, nearly 33,000 leaders have joined Teach For America to help move us closer to that vision. As corps members and alumni, they have reached more than 3 million students across 43 urban and rural communities, founded dozens of high-performing schools, boldly led school districts and charter management organizations, and helped pass groundbreaking education legislation. In the 2011-12 school year, more than 9,000 corps members will teach 600,000 students while nearly 24,000 alumni will continue to deepen their impact as educational leaders and advocates.

We’re a high-growth, outcome-oriented non-profit organization. Each of our more than 1,500 staff members assumes personal responsibility for making a measurable impact on our work. We are committed to learning from others and continuously improving. In 2011, our organization was named one of Fortune magazine’s 100 Best Companies to Work For.