Louisiana’s legacy of a troubled education system is well-documented.  Most people are familiar with how leaders, including many from Teach For America, are working to turn around schools in New Orleans. But fewer are aware that just to the north, students in Baton Rouge and our rural communities face the same massive obstacles to an excellent education.

Even in our communities, the burgeoning success stories in New Orleans are often met with skepticism: Can New Orleans really be improving? Can our kids actually do better? Therefore our call in South Louisiana is not just to improve outcomes for individual students, classrooms and schools – it is to fundamentally change a culture of low expectations that is both self-perpetuating and ultimately destructive for the students whose futures are at risk.

In that context, we have an incredible opportunity in South Louisiana to both overcome the barriers that do exist, by creating examples of success, and also prove that those success stories can be replicated in all different types of communities.

Our corps members and alumni, now 300 strong and reaching more than 12,000 students, are creating those proof points every day. Over the past few years, we have made strides in improving educational outcomes for students living in poverty. Inspired by those successes, we are picking up speed in the effort to ensure that all kids in our region have the opportunity to attain an excellent education.