Mississippi Delta
Overview
The Mississippi Delta was the site of many pivotal events during the civil rights movement in the 1960s, and continues to reflect educational inequity as a prime civil rights issue. The Delta is in dire need of quality teachers and education reformers who will help change the life prospects of the region’s students. Delta corps members are viewed as role models for the entire community, in terms of both teaching capability and the local leadership responsibilities they quickly assume.
In spite of the positive changes our country has experienced as a result of the civil rights movement, the Delta has remained behind in education.
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Almost 90 percent of the students in the Delta’s low-income schools are African-American.
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Eighth-graders in the region are reading three and a half grade levels behind their higher-income peers.
Life
Teach For America • Mississippi Delta’s reach includes two states, Arkansas and Mississippi, and stretches some 220 miles from Forrest City, Arkansas, in the north, to Jackson, Mississippi, in the south. While most towns where corps members teach are county-seat towns, a few communities are quite small with a population of 350 people or less. Corps members tend to live with one to three other corps members in low-rent, larger houses in the communities where they teach, or within a 20-35 minute commute to their schools. Despite the region’s vast geography, placement districts are clustered, giving corps members the chance to live near each other and embed themselves in their communities. Corps members can often be found exploring, hiking, camping, and canoeing in the local parks and preserves, attending a concert series or stage plays, eating weekly dinners at the local Mexican restaurant, or playing an informal sports game.
Corps Culture
Even though the Delta corps has grown from nine to nearly 360 corps members over the past 18 years, corps culture remains very tight. The Delta corps values not only professional collaboration, but also less formal interactions such as weekly potluck dinners, Tuesday night movies and book clubs, and Frisbee games every Sunday afternoon. The Delta corps and staff have worked diligently to build a comprehensive support network comprised of current corps members, alumni, and local teachers. Corps members and alumni alike are known and commended for adopting a “can-do” entrepreneurial spirit to tackle the region’s needs. Due to both the welcoming spirit of the region and ripe opportunities for change, Delta corps members and alumni have created holistic experiences for their students and are building institutions in the Delta that will change not only their students’ lives, but also the social fabric of the region.
Teaching
The achievement gap in the Delta is palpable; children face the dual obstacles of attending underperforming public schools and living in one of the most economically depressed areas of our nation.
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One-third of the population lives below the poverty line.
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More than one-third (and as high as 60 percent) of its residents do not hold high school diplomas or GEDs.
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On average, only 10 percent of low-income eighth-graders score proficient in math, and only 12.5 percent in reading, on national exams.
Motivated by the evident injustices and the prospect for collective impact, dedicated corps members quickly become key players in school-wide reform efforts. There is ample opportunity for teachers to play a part in thoughtful efforts to improve the schools, as most Delta teachers have reasonable latitude in constructing or enriching their own curricula. Corps members have been the primary driving forces behind several positive changes in Delta schools:
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A remodeled library in Moorhead, Miss.
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A brand new soccer league and a cross country team
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A new after-school program for their students in both Marianna, Ark. and Indianola, Miss.
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Seven Delta alumni are now principals or assistant principals in Delta schools.
View a map of our placement areas.
Certification and Testing
The Teach For America • Mississippi Delta staff has worked hard to remove barriers, restrictions, and duplication and to streamline the licensure experience for corps members so that they can become fully certified within their two-year commitment. Initial provisional licensure is primarily dependent upon passing a series of tests.
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All Delta corps members are first required to take and pass the Praxis I (professional assessments for beginning teachers) series in reading, writing, and mathematics.
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All corps members must also take a Praxis II subject-specific test that applies to their specific teaching placement.
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These exams must be taken before or during the summer training institute.
Teach for America • Mississippi Delta’s professional development model, which includes Professional Saturdays and Investment, Community, and Execution Groups, is a required part of the certification process for corps members in both states. These states also require corps members to enroll in and complete the nine graduate course credits offered at the Teach For America summer institute. Delta staff will provide further details about the certification process and testing requirements to corps members at the time of admittance to the corps, and again at orientation, once state and subject placements are finalized.
Additionally, Teach for America • Mississippi Delta corps members have the option to participate in tuition-paid master's programs at Delta State University (DSU) in Cleveland, Mississippi. DSU is able to offer some graduate assistantships which cover part of the cost of tuition and fees for Teach For America corps members. A limited number of assistantships are available. Delta staff are currently in conversations with DSU about what this partnership will look like for the 2010 school year.
Placements
| Elementary |
29% |
| Secondary |
71% |
| Teach at a school with another corps member or alumnus |
92% |
Placements Available
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self-contained elementary
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departmentalized elementary (including art and music)
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specific subject secondary, including art and music
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special education at secondary level
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Living and Education Expenses
Salary and Taxes
| Salary |
$28,000 - $36,000 |
| Taxes |
18.51% - 19.41% |
Cost of Living
| Housing Single |
$250 - $450 |
| Housing Shared |
$150 - $400 |
| Health Insurance |
$30 - $50 |
| Utilities |
$100 |
| Daycare |
$280 - $360 / month |
| Monthly Tranist Pass |
N/A |
| Car Insurance |
$125 |
| Car Required |
Access to car is essential |
Start-up Costs
| Testing Costs |
$250 - $350 |
| Up-front Certification Costs |
$750 - $1,000 |
| How do you pay start-up costs? |
Out-of-pocket, some TGL |
Ongoing Costs through the Two-year Commitment
| Ongoing Certification Costs |
$160 - $1,200 |
| Use AmeriCorps award for testing/certification costs? |
No |
| How is teaching certification structured in this state/region? |
Through Teach For America |
| Is it possible to complete a master's degree at the end of two years? |
Yes |
| Is the completion of a master's degree required as part of the two-year commitment? |
No |
| Extra Master's Degree Costs |
$300 - $770 |
| Partner Universities |
Delta State University |
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.
