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Half of the achievement gap between white and African-American children we see in 12th grade is present before kindergarten starts, according to Nobel Laureate of Economics, James Heckman.
More than 85 percent of the brain is developed before the age of five.
Research shows that infants and toddlers in low income communities are exposed to around one-third the numbers of words as children from more affluent communities.
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Accomplishments to Date |
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Given the power of early intervention to tackle the achievement gap before it widens to three or four grade levels, Teach For America launched a national early childhood education initiative in 2006 to bring increasing numbers of outstanding pre-K teachers to our country’s lowest income communities. After spending two years in the pre-K classroom, these individuals, from all academic majors and interests, will continue their work to eliminate educational inequity as leaders in early childhood education or other sectors.
The success of the pilot program in Metro D.C. along with the potential of high quality pre-K to influence a child’s life trajectory compelled us to expand these efforts to ten other regions since 2006:
Chicago, New York City, Greater Philadelphia-Camden, Los Angeles, Houston, Bay Area, Denver, Las Vegas Valley, South Louisiana, and Greater New Orleans
Through our continued efforts to grow this initiative, the number of total early childhood corps members will nearly quadruple in three years, from 112 in 2007 to 477 in 2010, reaching more than 8,000 students in their first experiences with school.
| Year | Incoming ECE Corps Members | Total Number of ECE Corps Members | Total Number of Students Reached |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 26 | 26 | 442 |
| 2007 | 94 | 112 | 1,904 |
| 2008 | 132 | 216 | 3,682 |
| 2009 | 225 | 343 | 5,844 |
| 2010 | 275 | 477 | 8,117 |
| Total | 752 | 1,174 | 19,989 |
This expansion means that in five years nearly 500 ECE alumni will have the experience and conviction from teaching pre-K to become lifelong leaders in early childhood education. As the ECE landscape continues to evolve and attract stakeholders at the local, state, and national level, the efforts of our alumni as excellent teachers, school leaders, public policy leaders, and advocates for change in other sectors will have a catalytic effect on broader reform efforts in the early childhood education arena.
Corps Member Impact:
Since its pilot year in 2006, the early childhood education initiative has already catalyzed substantial progress for our nation’s youngest and most impressionable learners:
Alumni Impact
Despite the fact that Teach For America did not formally place corps members in pre-K settings prior to 2006, several alumni are already making strides in the larger early childhood education context as teachers, school leaders, and advocates for high quality pre-K, such as Khadija Ahmjad, Claire Cohen, and Sandy Escobedo.
| Advisory Board |
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| Helen Blank Director of Leadership and Public Policy National Women’s Law Center |
| Catherine Brown |
| Carol Brunson Day President National Black Child Development Institute |
| Gayle Cunningham Board member National Association for the Education of Young Children Executive Director Jefferson County Committee for Economic Opportunity |
| Libby Doggett Executive Director Pre-K Now |
| Ron Haskins Senior Fellow Brookings Institution |
| Michael Levine Executive Director Joan Ganz Cooney Center for Educational Media and Research, Sesame Workshop |
| Gene Sperling Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress Former Director, National Economic Council |
| Caitlin Sullivan Program Manager of Education Initiatives CityBridge Foundation |
| Supporters |
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| CityBridge Foundation PNC Financial Services Group McCormick Tribune Foundation Sandi and John Thompson |
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