Teach For America is a unique organization that brings new teachers and fresh insights into our inner-city schools. It represents a crucial source of talented leaders at all levels who work tirelessly for education equality in our city.
- Antonio R. Villaraigosa, Mayor of Los Angeles
This year, a corps of 386 of the nation’s most promising future leaders are teaching in our city’s lowest-income classrooms as a part of Teach For America • Los Angeles. 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 Los Angeles. Learn about living and teaching in Los Angeles.
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Executive Director |
Recent press releases
Recent press coverage
During the 2007-08 school year, 386 corps members are directly impacting the lives of more than 33,000 students in Los Angeles. Nicole Soussan is one example of the tremendous difference our corps members are making.
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Nicole Sousaan (Los Angeles Corps '06) |
Nicole is working relentlessly to improve student achievement at Locke High School in Watts. At the beginning of the 2006 academic year, Nicole’s ninth grade students were reading, on average, at a fourth grade level. Nicole set high expectations, and through an independent reading program and direct instruction in reading strategies, her students made, on average, 2.8 years of growth by the end of the school year, as demonstrated on state and district assessments. The vast majority of her students also raised their California Standards Test (CST) scores as compared to their eighth grade year. All of these results demonstrate Nicole’s students’ ability to master ninth grade content at a dramatically improved level in just one school year.
Los Angeles: Our Impact on Students and Schools Today
| School Year | Corps Members | Students Reached |
|---|---|---|
| 2005-06 | 280 | 23,800 |
| 2007-08 | 386 | 32,810 |
| 2009-10 | 475* | 40,375* |
*projected |
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Principal Satisfaction
*"A Survey of Principals in Schools with Teach For America Corps Members," Kane, Parsons & Associates, June 2005
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
Los Angeles : Corps Member Placement
| Assignment | % of Corps* |
|---|---|
| Early Childhood | 5% |
| Mathematics | 5% |
| Science | 17% |
| Special Education | 14% |
| English | 18% |
| Elementary | 41% |
| Total | 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, Scripps College, University of Chicago: 10% |
| Average SAT: 1321 | Yale University, Princeton University, Pomona College, Occidental College: 7% |
| Held leadership roles on campus: 95% | Georgetown University, Stanford: 6% |
| People of color: 28% |
University of Southern California: 3% |
*Percentage of senior classes who applied to Teach For American
Fostering Alumni Leadership for Systemic Change
As the number of corps members grows, so does our alumni base. By 2010, we will have over 1,600 Teach For America • Los Angeles alumni pursuing professional careers and impacting educational reform from every sector.
Layla Avila (Los Angeles Corps '97) |
Layla Avila (Corps ‘97) grew up in East Los Angeles. After graduating with a degree in economics from Columbia College and receiving a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard, she returned to Los Angeles as a bilingual elementary school teacher in Compton. Currently, Layla is working to close the educational achievement gap in California as Vice President for The New Teacher Project’s Teaching Fellows Programs and as an elected member of the South Whittier School District Board of Trustees.
Growing Our Impact: Funding Needs, 2007-2010
Each additional recruit is another dedicated teacher for children growing up in low-income communities in Los Angeles, 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 | Fundraising Goal |
|---|---|---|
| 2007-08 | 386 | $7.85 million |
| 2008-09 | 404* | $8.68 million* |
| 2009-10 | 475* | $9.63 million* |
*projected |
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We are grateful to have many supporters who generously contribute to our movement in Los Angeles. 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.
| Advisory Board |
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| Greg Laetsch (Interim Chair) Executive Vice President and Regional Director of the Southern California Region Smith Barney |
| Ruth Bloom Vice President California State Board of Education |
| Andrew Haas |
| Doug Herzog MTV Networks Entertainment Group |
| Melanie Lundquist |
| Dr. Shane Martin Dean, School of Education Loyola Marymount University |
| Michael Rotenberg 3 Arts Entertainment |
| David Unanue Vice President of Personal Investment Management Capital Guardian Trust Company |
| Emeritus Board |
|---|
| Daniel H. Adler Grace Fritzinger Harriet Gold Carol Henry Babs Sobel Fred Stern |
To support Teach For America • Los Angeles with a gift or to request additional information about our impact or finances, please contact:
Teach For America • Los Angeles
Brian C. Johnson, Executive Director
Krupa Desai, Senior Managing Director, Development
606 South Olive Street
Suite 300
Los Angeles, CA 90014
p 213-489-9272, f 213-489-9383
brian.johnson@teachforamerica.org
krupa.desai@teachforamerica.org
Brian Johnson first became involved with Teach For America as a 1999 corps member teaching first grade in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Since his time in the classroom, he has worked in a variety of areas, including co-creating a program in Tanzania that has disbursed more than $25 million in loans to women-owned small businesses. He served as a summer associate with McKinsey & Company, where he worked to optimize the licensing strategy of a leading entertainment technology client. Johnson graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University and holds a JD from Stanford Law School and an MBA from Stanford Business School, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar. He served on the Board of Trustees of Princeton University from 1999 to 2003.
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