August 29, 2010
Interview with the local Teach For America executive director.
Get to Know St. Louis
St. Louis is famous for its small town feel. Natives tend to maintain close ties with their high school friends, and it doesn’t take long for newcomers to find familiar faces wherever they go. The education community is equally intimate, which affords Teach For America - St. Louis the opportunity to work alongside several outstanding organizations that reach the same students and families we serve. KIPP St. Louis, College Bound, College Summit, Shearwater Education Foundation, Beyond Housing, and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Missouri are our colleagues and partners in this work—our alumni are counted among their staff, we consult with them on our biggest challenges and opportunities, and most importantly, we share a passion for the children and communities of our city. We are honored to benefit from their dedication, passion, and expertise. Please take a moment to learn more about these organizations by visiting their websites.
College Bound's mission is to provide promising high school students from under-resourced backgrounds with the academic enrichment, social supports, and life skills needed to apply, matriculate, and succeed in four year colleges.
College Summit raises college enrollment rates by advancing a systemic college-going culture in communities within the St. Louis metropolitan area that strive for greater access to higher education.
KIPP, the Knowledge Is Power Program, is a national network of free, open-enrollment, college-preparatory public schools with a track record of preparing students in underserved communities for success in college and in life. KIPP Inspire Academy opened in the summer of 2009 in St. Louis.
Big Brothers Big Sisters’ mission is to build trusting and enduring relationships that encourage and support young people. Their mission is shared by their big brothers and sisters, donors, partners, teachers, principals, bowlers, friends, employees, board members and parents. Each of these groups play such a powerful role engaging and connecting around the Littles to change their lives.
Shearwater Education Foundation is an education non-profit located in Saint Louis that aims to lead policy change and program design efforts that positively impact the education of disconnected youth, which includes supporting the growth and development of Shearwater High School. Shearwater High School is a Missouri-approved, Saint Louis University-sponsored public charter school with Missouri Options status and a performance-based educational model.
Beyond Housing’s mission is to strengthen neighborhoods one family at a time by providing affordable housing and homeownership services; providing support services to families, children and seniors; being a catalyst for community-wide rebuilding efforts; empowering residents to be leaders of their own neighborhood revitalization efforts; and promoting individual and community asset building.
INSPIRE STL stands for Investing Student Potential in Revolutionary Education. Founded by four 2009 Teach For America – St. Louis alumni, INSPIRE’s mission is to ensure that students in St. Louis realize a steady crescendo of their potential through access to a dynamic education. Their goals are to support middle school students through the high school application process, to empower the community to create better options for parents, and to sustain their momentum through their academic journey.
Region Timeline
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The 14th Missouri Assembly General declares, “No person shall keep or teach any school for the instruction of negroes or mulattoes, in reading or writing, in this State.” The same year, John Berry Meachum establishes the Meachum School on a steamboat on the Mississippi River for the education of black children.
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The Dred Scott decision in St. Louis rules that African American slaves are not protected by the Constitution or considered citizens of the United States.
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St. Louis is the fourth largest city in the United States. Racial segregation persists through restrictive housing covenants. As the African American population rises in the city, white flight to the country becomes prevalent.
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Charles E. Sumner High School, the first high school for black students west of the Mississippi River, opens in St. Louis.
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The St. Louis Public Schools plan to integrate high schools following the Brown v. Board of Education decision, but because the plan is based on geography and neighborhoods, it does little to address the school segregation which will persist through the 1970s.
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With a group of fellow African American parents, Minnie Liddell files a desegregation suit against the St. Louis Public Schools with the goal of ensuring equal educational opportunities for all students in the area.
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The desegregation case is settled in 1983 with the establishment of a voluntary transfer program for African American students to suburban school districts. Racially balanced magnet schools open in the city and schools serving predominantly African American students receive programs to improve facilities and the quality of education. In 1999, the decision is revisited and the court decides to phase out these programs over the next 10 years.
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Between 2003 and 2007, the St. Louis Public Schools will have seven acting superintendents and over 20 city schools will be closed.
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Missouri’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) takes over the St. Louis Public Schools. The district loses accreditation and a special administrative board is put in place. Dr. Kelvin Adams is hired as superintendent in 2008.
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DESE takes over the Riverview Gardens School District in North St. Louis County. The district loses accreditation and a special administrative board is put in place.
Overheard
Not only is St. Louis an excellent place to live, but I feel truly needed here. I am extremely passionate about this community and the children here. The long history of educational inequity in this city haunts me, and I am so proud to be a part of changing that.
St. Louis Corps 2010
