New York City’s school system is by far the largest in the country. The system enrolls 1.1 million students in over 1,400 public schools with nearly 80,000 teachers. New York City corps members are currently teaching in approximately 300 public schools and serving an estimated 75,000 students, which represents a student population larger than each of the public school systems in Washington, D.C., Boston, San Francisco, and Atlanta.
New York City faces monumental challenges in ensuring that all of its students receive the education they need and deserve. Less than half of the city’s students are performing at grade level, and student achievement is even more dismal in schools where a large percentage of students are receiving free or reduced-price lunch. Forty percent of students in New York City’s public school system live in households where a language other than English is spoken; schools have consistently struggled to make engagement in student achievement as feasible for parents as possible. Additionally, New York City schools suffer from remarkably high teacher and principal attrition rates.
Since 2002, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein have brought significant change to the city’s schools, including mayoral control of the Department of Education, a unified curriculum, and a major reorganization of the school system to strengthen school leadership, bring empowerment to principals and create accountability for student achievement. Education reform efforts are gaining momentum as leaders in the city government, school districts, teachers’ unions, the private sector and education reform organizations join efforts to improve student achievement in a variety of ways.
During the spring and summer of 2007, Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein launched the second major phase of reforms focused on fair funding for schools, accountability, teacher excellence, and empowering all public schools to take ownership over student achievement. The many changes and the intense focus on education reform over the last few years make New York City a very exciting place to be involved in Teach For America’s movement.
In addition, Chancellor Klein has called upon Teach For America alumni to take on even greater school leadership roles, including helping to fill some of the several hundred projected principal vacancies in the coming years. Many Teach For America alumni have assumed leadership roles at all levels of the school system — from leading traditional public schools and starting public charter schools, to assuming administrative roles within the Department of Education. Currently, over 100 Teach For America alumni serve as superintendents, principals, assistant principals, and principals-in-training in New York City, and many more serve in key leadership roles in district offices. Recently, Chancellor Klein appointed Teach For America alumna, Cami Anderson (Los Angeles Corps ’93), the Superintendent of Alternative High Schools and Programs, responsible for providing alternative educational environments and opportunities for an estimated 20,000 high school students, young adults, and adults with unique needs.
| School Districts: |
|---|
| New York City Department of Education |
| Ethnic Breakdown-Student Population: (In our placement regions-instructional regions 1, 2, 5, 8, 9 and 10) |
|---|
| 40% African-American |
| 2% Caucasian |
| 55% Latino/Hispanic |
| 3% Asian-American |
| N/A Native American |
| N/A Other |
| Ethnic Breakdown-New York City at Large (2000 US Consensus) |
|---|
| 27% African-American |
| 45% Caucasian |
| 27% Latino/Hispanic |
| 10% Asian-American |
| < 1% Native American |
| 3% Other |
| Percentage of Students Qualifying for Free/Reduced-Price Lunch Served by Teach For America • New York City |
|---|
| 84% (in Teach For America placement schools) |
Our corps members
Placement regions
Corps and Alumni
