225 New Teach For America Teachers Join Local Efforts to Expand Educational Opportunity

SAN FRANCISCO, June 13, 2011—Teach For America announced today that 225 new teachers will teach in the Bay Area beginning this fall as part of the largest entering corps in the organization’s history. In all, 410 Teach For America corps members will be working in the Bay Area’s high-need public schools in the coming year, collectively reaching more than 28,000 students.

Teach For America’s new national corps totals 5,100 teachers who are top graduates from colleges and universities across the country. These corps members represent a wide variety of personal and academic backgrounds and professional experiences. One-third identify as people of color, including 12 percent who are African American and 8 percent who are Hispanic. Twenty-two percent are the first in their family to graduate from college, and nearly one-third received Pell Grants. Twenty-three percent are graduate students or professionals. 

This year, nearly 48,000 individuals applied to Teach For America, and 14 percent were accepted. Applicants included 10 percent of seniors at Stanford University and 6 percent of seniors at the University of California-Berkeley.

“In partnership with the area school districts and charter school networks we work alongside, we are excited to capture the talent and energy of this incoming corps as we combat the quality and equality crises being faced throughout California’s schools” said Emily Bobel, executive director of Teach For America in the Bay Area. “These 225 new teachers are poised to have a real impact on the Bay Area’s highest-need schools and students. Additionally, as we prepare for the coming school year, we are thrilled to welcome new regional board member Meg Whitman to our effort to ensure every student receives an excellent education.”

A growing body of rigorous research demonstrates the effectiveness of Teach For America corps members in the classroom. Recent studies from Louisiana, North Carolina, and Tennessee found that corps members have a positive impact on student achievement. The Tennessee study identified Teach For America as the most effective of the state’s 42 teacher-preparation programs, with corps members demonstrating a greater impact on student achievement than the average new teacher in every evaluated subject area.

School leaders give Teach For America corps members high marks. Nationwide, 94 percent of principals who employ corps members report seeing a positive impact in the classroom. 

Teach For America is building a strong pipeline of leaders in education. Two-thirds of Teach For America alumni are working full-time in the field. A total of 1,400 Teach For America alumni are living and working in the Bay Area, with 62 leading schools or school systems as of this fall. Alumnus Preston Smith is the co-founder and Chief Achievement Officer at Rocketship Education, which is focused on eliminating the achievement gap within our lifetimes. With the support of local residents and area business leaders, this network of five campuses based throughout the South Bay expects to expand to at least an additional 20 campuses throughout the Bay Area in the next seven years.

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 9,000 corps members are teaching in 43 regions across the country while nearly 24,000 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 http://www.teachforamerica.org.