Nearly 50 New Teach For America Teachers Join Local Efforts to Expand Educational Opportunity

MINNEAPOLIS, June 7, 2011—Teach For America announced today that nearly 50 new teachers will begin teaching in the Twin Cities this fall as part of the largest entering corps in the organization’s history. With the addition of these teachers, nearly 100 first-and second-year corps members will collectively reach more than 6,000 students in high-need public schools across the Twin Cities this fall. These corps members will teach alongside other dedicated educators, including some 30 new alumni of Teach For America-Twin Cities who will continue working in education.

“We are pleased to continue our partnership with Teach For America to bring corps members into our schools,” said Dr. Bernadeia Johnson, superintendent of Minneapolis Public Schools. “Teach For America teachers are an asset to our school communities and are renowned for working alongside our teachers and staff to support student achievement every day. We look forward to welcoming our new corps members this fall to join their colleagues who will remain in our schools beyond their original two-year commitment.”

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. 

“I’m delighted to welcome more Teach For America teachers to the Twin Cities,” said Sandra Vargas, president and CEO of The Minneapolis Foundation. “Over the past two years, Teach For America has added immense value to our classrooms and our community. I'm pleased their efforts here will continue and grow to help ensure every student throughout the Twin Cities receives a great education.”

This year, nearly 48,000 individuals applied to Teach For America, and 14 percent were accepted. Applicants included 12 percent of seniors at Macalester College, 7 percent of seniors at Carleton College, and more than 200 seniors from the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities.

“We are thrilled to welcome our new corps members to classrooms across the Twin Cities,” said Daniel Sellers, executive director of Teach For America in the Twin Cities. “These new teachers are eager to join our community’s efforts to expand educational opportunity for all of our kids. They are poised to have a real impact both as corps members and as long-term educators and leaders in our city.”

A growing body of rigorous research demonstrates the effectiveness of Teach For America corps members in the classroom. Recent studies from Louisiana, North Carolinaand Tennesseefound 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.

“We are proud to support Teach For America’s commitment to bringing an additional source of great teachers to St. Paul schools,” said Carleen K. Rhodes, president and CEO of The Saint Paul Foundation. “Every student deserves an excellent education that will put them on a path to success, and we believe bringing more talented teachers to our community is critical to this effort to prepare our community’s future leaders.”

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 Americais building a strong pipeline of leaders in education. Nationally, two-thirds of Teach For America alumni are working full-time in the field, including many alumni who are launching innovative efforts to expand educational opportunity, including Shannon Blakenship, director of Hiawatha Academies in Minneapolis and Katie Piehl, director of the charter authorizing program at Minnesota’s Volunteers of America. Currently, more than 250 Teach For America alumni are living and working in the Twin Cities.

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.