I have been a supporter of Teach For America since the beginning. This is such a great program. Teach For America helps children get the high-quality education they deserve. [Corps members] will help us meet this challenge in the Clark County School District.
- United States Senator Harry Reid, Nevada
This year, a corps of more than 100 of the nation’s most promising future leaders are teaching in our city’s lowest-income classrooms as a part of Teach For America • Las Vegas Valley. They are working to ensure their students have the educational opportunities they deserve. Our alumni are a leadership force, working from within education and every professional sector to effect broader change. Together they are helping us make educational equity a reality in Las Vegas. Learn about living and teaching in the Las Vegas Valley.
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Corps Impact | |
Alumni Impact | |
Financial Sustainability | |
Regional Supporters | |
Contact Us | |
Executive Director |
During the 2007-08 school year, more than 100 corps members are directly impacting the lives of nearly 10,000 students in the Las Vegas Valley. Jacqueline Bennett is one example of the tremendous difference our corps members are making.
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Jacqueline Bennett (Las Vegas Valley Corps '06) |
Jacqueline teaches second grade at Cyril Wengert Elementary. Starting on the first day of school, she challenged her students to increase their reading comprehension. Their hard work resulted in huge success on standardized assessment tests, as they achieved more than 80 percent mastery in math and language arts and advanced their reading by 1.5 grade levels in one academic year. Because of her dedication, determination, and student achievement results, Jacqueline now serves as the second grade lead teacher for her school’s East Region Literacy Team and was nominated for Clark County’s New Teacher of the Year. After her two-year commitment, she plans to pursue a doctorate in educational research.
Las Vegas Valley: Our Impact on Students and Schools Today
| School Year | Corps Members | Students Reached |
|---|---|---|
| 2005-06 | 123 | 10,455 |
| 2006-07 | 128 | 10,880 |
| 2009-10 | 100* | 8,500* |
*projected |
Principal Satisfaction
*"Teach For America 2007 National Principal Survey,” Policy Studies Associates, July 2007.
Impact on Student Achievement
According to a highly regarded study by Mathematica Policy Research, corps members outpaced fully certified and veteran teachers in their schools in moving their students ahead academically. Read national results.
Student Profile
Las Vegas Valley: Corps Member Placement
| Assignment | # of Corps Members | % of Corps |
|---|---|---|
| Mathematics | 3 | 2.9% |
| Science | 5 | 4.8% |
| Special Education | 18 | 17.3% |
| Bilingual Education | 3 | 2.9% |
| English | 11 | 10.6% |
| Elementary | 64 | 61.5% |
| Total | 104 | 100% |
*Percentages are rounded and may not add up to 100 percent.
Characteristics of the 2007 Corps
| Corps Profile | Top alma maters by market share* |
|---|---|
| Average GPA: 3.6 | Duke University, Spelman College, University of Chicago: 10% |
| Average SAT: 1321 | University of Notre Dame, Rhodes College: 9% |
| Held leadership roles on campus: 95% | Princeton University: 7% |
| People of color: 28% | Georgetown University, Stanford: 6% |
*Percentage of senior classes who applied to Teach For America
Fostering Alumni Leadership for Systemic Change
As the number of corps members grows, so does our alumni base. By 2010, we will have over 300 Teach For America • Las Vegas Valley alumni pursuing professional careers and impacting educational reform from every sector.
Justin White (Las Vegas Valley Corps '05) |
Jenny Tan (Los Angeles Corps '00) |
Justin White and Jenny Tan are two of the many alumni continuing to work toward our vision in the Las Vegas Valley. Justin is working to clearly define academic expectations for students in Southern Nevada from within the Clark County School District and in a joint effort with Melissa Brennan (Corps ’05), he has created Wiki-Teacher.com, an online forum for educators to share resources, insights, and best practices. Jenny now serves as an administrator in a charter public school where current corps members and alumni teach. From her office, Jenny is working to raise the level of academic expectation and measurable performance at her school.
Growing Our Impact: Funding Needs, 2007-2010
Each additional recruit is another dedicated teacher for children growing up in low-income communities in the Las Vegas Valley, and another talented leader with the insight and commitment necessary to sustain the reform efforts underway, which is critical to the ongoing vitality of our region.
| Year | Corps Size | Revenue Needs |
|---|---|---|
| 2007-08 | 104 | $1.5 million |
| 2008-09 | 100* | $1.8 million* |
| 2009-10 | 100* | $2.4 million* |
*projected |
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We are grateful to have many supporters who generously contribute to our movement in the Las Vegas Valley. The foundations, corporations and individuals listed below have made it possible for Teach For America to continue to recruit, select, train, and support teachers who are working to eliminate educational inequity in our city.
| Regional Advisory Board |
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| Sandy Miller (Chair) |
| Quentin Abramo President Faciliteq Business Interiors, Inc. |
| Krista J. Darnold Director of Development ABA, Avery Brooks & Associates |
| J. D. Decker Senior Vice President, Dealer Financial Services Bank of America, Nevada |
| Rebecca Howell Assistant Vice President Wilmington Trust |
| Jennifer Mesa Vice President, Gaming Division US Bank |
| Gary N. Jacobs Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary MGM Mirage |
To support Teach For America • Las Vegas Valley with a gift or to request additional information about our impact or finances, please contact:
Teach For America • Las Vegas Valley
Allison Serafin, Executive Director
1785 East Sahara Avenue
Suite 460
Las Vegas, Nevada 89104
p 702-696-9059 ext. 1, f 702-696-0907
allison.serafin@teachforamerica.org
Allison Serafin oversees Teach For America – Las Vegas Valley. A 2001 Houston corps member, she most recently worked on Teach For America’s Recruitment team, leading the effort to recruit young professionals in the Houston area. In that role, she managed an initiative that resulted in more than 150 recent graduates and professionals applying to the 2008 corps. Her efforts also helped the team achieve 34 percent growth in such applicants nationally. Serafin previously served as a recruitment director, and also worked on the Marketing team as director of online media and video production. She joined Teach For America staff in 2003 as a program director in the Greater Philadelphia-Camden region, before returning to the classroom for the 2004-05 school year. At YES College Preparatory School in Houston, she led 100 percent of her seventh grade arts and humanities students to pass the Texas reading and writing exams. She also spent three summers on staff at Teach For America’s Houston institute, most recently as a school director. Serafin earned a B.S. from Texas Christian University and a master’s degree in social work from the University of Texas at Arlington.
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