Overview

South Louisiana is a region of audacity. Driven corps members and alumni have made serious gains in recent years – shifting the culture of low expectations and underachievement to one with an urgent sense of possibility: possibility for what students are able to achieve and what they must achieve to escape a crippling cycle of poverty and poor education.

In a state consistently ranked 49th or 50th among all states in school performance, the reform movement has come to a head. Considered the underdog region, South Louisiana doesn’t receive the national attention of “post-Katrina” New Orleans yet still suffers the same fate of a failing education system required to absorb hundreds of thousands following “The Storm”.

South Louisiana is one of the five original Teach For America regions. Despite all that corps members and alumni have fought for, there are still serious economic disparities contributing to the severe achievement gap. Louisiana has the fifth highest poverty rate in the nation, particularly in rural parishes with little industry or employment.

• Only 35 percent of fourth graders and 32 percent of eighth graders in corps members’ classrooms demonstrate at least “basic” knowledge on the state’s standardized test – a test that determines whether students are promoted with their peers or are retained.
• In the last four years, over 70,000 students have dropped out of Louisiana schools, reducing the graduation rate to approximately 50 percent. In some areas. 40 percent of public school freshmen do not graduate from high school.
• Louisiana ranks last in AP tests and opportunities per student.
• Many high school graduates are reading at an eighth grade level.
• When most high school students are preparing college applications, some students in this region color pictures of cornucopias for Thanksgiving, Santa and his reindeer for Christmas, or are given word searches for the daily lesson.

South Louisiana is a community in need, but never despondent. Its people and its culture exude hope, happiness, and ease of life. Poverty and segregation have left scars and impede progress, but have not crushed the region’s spirit. Corps members’ impact manifests itself in the following ways:

• Entire cohorts of students at Jackson Elementary will enter middle school this year having had Teach For America teachers every year since first grade.
• Last year, 70 percent of eighth grade special education students taught by corps members passed the state standardized LEAP exam, compared to an average of 48 percent for the traditional students in the district.
• Alumni are principals and school leaders, drastically transforming local schools by implementing rigorous cultural expectations and norms.

Life

South Louisiana is a land of tradition and celebration imbedded in a burgeoning cityscape. Each town celebrates elements of its past and present with intense pride. High school football teams are not merely a pastime but define parts of a town’s identity. The multigenerational crowds seem more like family reunions than spectators at sporting events. Nearly every week brings a new and captivating festival, whether October’s Forest Festival in Greensburg, the springtime strawberry Festival in Ponchatula, the Highland Games of Jackson, the Blueberry Festival in Clinton, or the Oyster Festival in Amite - the self-appointed oyster-shucking capital of the world. As fierce as the pride is in South Louisiana communities, it never acts as a barrier to newcomers. In fact, South Louisianans are so proud of their towns and culture that they are eager to bring you in and share their recipes, their church pews, and their latest crop of sweet potatoes. Enter a South Louisiana community, and you are not merely a neighbor, but an immediate member of the family. Just days after moving in, expect phone calls, notes, or care packages. In the blistering heat or blustery storms, expect check-ins from community members around town.

Urban Life

• South Louisiana unfolds from the urban capitol city of Baton Rouge.
• Fifty-seven percent of South Louisiana corps members teach in an urban setting. Of the three rural placements, two are only 45 minutes away from Baton Rouge.
• This city center ranks 67th in size among more than 300 U.S. metropolitan areas and pulses to the rhythm of urban life: music, food, art, and nightlife; exhibitions, street fairs, parades, concerts, and street performances take place throughout the city, often for free.
• Despite being a city with a population estimated at 750,000 people, Baton Rouge is a city of neighborhoods.No matter where corps members choose to live, they are a part of a neighborhood culture unique among all the others.

Rural Life

Although South Louisiana is built around Baton Rouge, this region is not complete without the farming communities of St. Helena and East Feliciana that flank on the east, and French and Cajun culture of Pointe Coupee that lies to the west. South Louisiana’s life and history is completely unique to the world.

• Most rural corps members share spacious 3-4 bedroom houses in the communities where they teach.
• Corps members in Pointe Coupee Parish enjoy the immense community support living in houses along the scenic False River in the city of New Roads.
• The town of Clinton is a popular choice for many who teach in St. Helena and East Feliciana parishes.
• East Feliciana parish also provides a plethora of housing options given its proximity to surrounding cities and towns. (Some corps members teaching in this parish even commute the 45 minutes from Baton Rouge.) Corps members also live in the small city of Zachary (25 minutes between Clinton/Jackson and Baton Rouge) and beautiful St. Francisville..

Corps Culture

The close-knit community is the foundation upon which South Louisiana builds its successes. The corps culture is personal scaffolding that cherishes hard work and the relentless pursuit of results – yet still follows a philosophy of work-life balance. Corps members in South Louisiana form fierce friendships. The contagious porch-culture affects even the non-natives who join the region. Corps members quickly learn to cook for 25 rather than two, carpool effectively (for weekend gathering and school), and never say “no" to football or frisbee on the Capitol Lawn. Additionally, South Louisiana’s corps members come together for canoeing on the bayou, Mardi Gras, tubing, ”Live after Five” Friday night downtown concerts, and just about anything else that one can do with a friend.

Corps members are clustered at school sites, with an average of three corps members per school. Over 99 percent of corps members teach in a school with at least one other corps member, and many teach alongside Teach For America alumni as well.