My corps experience had a profound impact on me, and it’s the reason I’m doing this work today. The problem in Chicago is as stark as anywhere. From an economic and moral standpoint, the educational reality for our students is totally unacceptable. We are systematically failing to educate the vast majority of children in our city, particularly the children who rely most on our school system to give them the support and development they need to become empowered and productive members of society. We have an irrational patchwork of systems, policies, and practices that is woefully misaligned to the goal of increasing student achievement. This runs counter to our promise of equal opportunity and threatens the long term competiveness of our city. 

Our vision in Chicago is to be the catalyst for system-wide change by providing a corps of phenomenal teachers and then leaders at all levels of the system. Today, there are 350 corps members, more than 400 alumni teachers, 37 alumni principals, and 49 alumni assistant principals working to make this happen. By 2015, we aim to create seismic change in an Inspire Zone of seven contiguous Chicago communities – a zone that is bigger than the Washington, D.C. Public Schools. Through a focused influx of corps members and alumni, we will reach critical mass in the Near West Side, East / West Garfield Park, North / South Lawndale, Archer Heights, Brighton Park, Gage Park, and Englewood.  At the same time, we will leverage partners to create a bold, aggressive, and comprehensive reform effort.  Our ultimate goal is to grow the number of schools that are transforming students’ lives.