Dallas
Overview
As members of a new expansion site, Dallas corps members will have the opportunity to influence and lead the region’s movement toward educational equality. There will be numerous opportunities for Dallas’s charter corps members to assume leadership positions within the corps in the region's first year. Charter corps members from other expansion sites have valued the unique experience of leading Teach For America's movement in a new area of the country. Like the charter corps members who preceded them, Dallas corps members will help shape and set the vision for Teach For America’s role within a new community and school system. Additionally, Dallas corps members will join a deeply committed community of reformers looking to Teach For America to play a vital role in education reform in the city.
Situated in north Texas, Dallas is the third largest city in Texas, with a population of 1.2 million residents. Despite its large population, most Dallas residents find reasonably priced housing, and teachers commute less than 30 minutes to their school sites. With more than 40 colleges, universities, and professional schools, Dallas caters to young adults with a variety of nightlife and cultural activities. Dallas corps members will find several comfortable and affordable communities to choose from as they settle into Dallas as the charter corps.
Life
Dallas is known as the Southwest's leading business and financial center and as the number one visitor destination in Texas. The downtown is speckled with historic buildings and museums and has a vast array of hotels, shops, restaurants and other businesses. This area is surrounded by the West End, Deep Ellum, McKinney Avenue, Greenville Avenue, and North Dallas areas, all providing unique and exciting cultural, shopping, dining, and entertainment opportunities. While corps members will be placed in high-need schools throughout the city, corps members can choose to live in any of a variety of neighborhoods ranging from vibrant retail areas to small suburban communities.
Whether on field trips with their students or unwinding on the weekend, corps members can explore the range of activities and sights that Dallas has to offer. Dallas has more shopping centers per capita than any other major city nationwide and four times more restaurants per person than New York City. Dallas is home to the famous Dallas Cowboys football team, in addition to the Mavericks basketball team and the Stars ice hockey team. Additionally, the original Six Flags theme park is located in the suburb of Arlington. Corps members visit more than 60 miles of biking and jogging trails, swim in the areas 17 different lakes, and play on more than 600 public athletic fields, as they enjoy the average of more than 230 days of sunshine in Dallas.
Corps Culture
Corps members will be welcomed by the vibrant community of educational and civic leaders in Dallas who view Teach For America as a key lever in eliminating educational inequity and providing quality education to the 160,000 students in the Dallas Independent School District. In addition to building partnerships with school and community leaders, Dallas corps members can directly impact the development of regional programming and corps culture. As with all Teach For America regions, Dallas corps members can expect to participate in all-corps gatherings, exchange best teaching practices with other corps members of the same grade level or content area, and attend cultural and social gatherings with colleagues and friends.
Teaching
There has never been a more critical time for corps members to have a profound impact on student achievement in the Dallas Independent School District (DISD). Only 67 percent of economically disadvantaged students statewide met the fourth grade TAKS (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) proficiency standard in the 2008-2009 school year, while 86 percent of their more affluent peers scored at the same level. In the state of Texas, only 25 percent of eighth graders meet the national standard for reading proficiency. Each year, Texas public high schools lose at least 135,000 students prior to graduation. 60 percent of African American students, 75 percent of Latino students, and 80 percent of ELL (English Language Learners) students do not graduate within five years.
Nevertheless, we know that corps members will join the Dallas community and have a profound impact on student achievement. District officials and community leaders have begun to address this devastating problem with a series of initiatives. Dallas Achieves!, the district’s initiative to become the best urban school district by 2010, includes realigning the curriculum at all levels and allocating resources more effectively.
In light of the strong need and recent focus on school reform, Teach For America has received a warm welcome from the community, including Mayor Tom Leppert, Superintendent Hinojosa, and School Board President Jack Lowe. The Dallas community wants the Dallas Independent School District to become a leader in education reform, and they believe the commitment, leadership, and enthusiasm possessed by Teach For America corps members can play a big part in fueling that reform.
Certification and Testing
In order to meet the requirements to be able to teach in Texas, all teachers must take and pass one or more exams depending on their teaching assignment. The TExES exams are required in Dallas and corps members will take a specific TExES exam depending on their placement area. Please visit this website regularly for updates regarding testing.
In order to teach without traditional certification, corps members will take coursework while teaching. We are working with an alternative certification provider through which corps members will take courses and receive certification. By completing all coursework requirements, corps members can become certified within their first two years of teaching. Please visit this website regularly for updates regarding testing.
Placements
| Elementary |
36% |
| Secondary |
64% |
| Special Education |
5% |
| Teach at a school with another corps member or alumnus |
92% |
Placements Available
-
General subject elementary
-
Specific subject secondary (math, science, social studies, Spanish, English Language Arts)
-
Special Education
-
Bilingual
|
Living and Education Expenses
Salary and Taxes
| Salary |
$40,000 - $44,000 |
| Taxes |
13.73% - 14.7% |
Cost of Living
| Housing Single |
$600 - $1,300 |
| Housing Shared |
$350 - $800 |
| Health Insurance |
$135 |
| Utilities |
$60 |
| Daycare |
$600 - $1,000 / month |
| Monthly Tranist Pass |
$50 |
| Car Insurance |
$92 |
| Car Required |
Access to car is essential |
Start-up Costs
| Testing Costs |
$120 - $240 |
| Up-front Certification Costs |
$3,200 - $4,000 |
| How do you pay start-up costs? |
Out-of-pocket |
Ongoing Costs through the Two-year Commitment
| Ongoing Certification Costs |
$3,900 - $4,400 |
| Use AmeriCorps award for testing/certification costs? |
No |
| How is teaching certification structured in this state/region? |
1 year - Through training partner |
| Is it possible to complete a master's degree at the end of two years? |
No |
| Is the completion of a master's degree required as part of the two-year commitment? |
No |
| Extra Master's Degree Costs |
N/A |
| Partner Universities |
|
Notes and Clarifications
- Beginning teacher salary: If you have a master's degree in education, are placed in a bilingual classroom, or in a math/science classroom you may receive additional compensation.
- Avg. health insurance: In some placement districts, health insurance premiums are pre-tax deductions.
- Total tax rate: Federal + state + city. Only applies to starting salaries.
- Up-front certification: Expenses that must be paid before your first day of teaching.
- Paying start-up costs: Can you pay for testing and up-front certification costs with transitional grants and loans or do you have to pay out-of-pocket?
- Ongoing certification: Total certification costs over two-year teaching commitment.
- AmeriCorps award for certification: Can you use your AmeriCorps award to pay testing/certification costs?
- Master's in two years: Is it possible to complete a master's degree at the end of two years?
- Master's required: Is the completion of a master's degree required as part of the two-year commitment?
- Extra master's degree costs: Additional total cost to obtain a master's degree (on top of ongoing certification costs); does not include AmeriCorps award.
- Partner university(ies): These universities partner with Teach For America for ongoing certification requirements, and in some cases, the fulfillment of a master's degree in education.
