Skip to main content

Guidelines for Opinion Pieces

One Day opinion pieces can be written by virtually anyone, inside or outside the TFA network: alumni, corps members, staff, students, parents, activists, academics, and others. Before suggesting a piece to write, we suggest you familiarize yourself with the topics, style, and approach of our opinion section

Submitting Your Idea

If you are interested in contributing an opinion piece, submit your idea via our Suggestion Box for approval. In a few sentences or bullet points, let us know what you’d like to write about, what approach or point of view you will articulate, and why you see this topic as important for our audience. 

After you submit your idea, a member of the editorial staff will inform you if your idea is accepted and offer details on next steps. 

 

Guidelines for Writing an Opinion Piece

If your idea is accepted, here are guidelines to follow in writing the piece:

  • Opinion pieces should be 800-1000 words, unless instructed otherwise by the editorial staff.  
  • All pieces must explicitly be tied to our students, schools, communities, and/or the work we do to advance educational equity. For instance, a piece about food insecurity should be tied to this issue’s impact on our students and their ability to learn and thrive.  
  • Opinion pieces should draw on a mix of facts, statistics, anecdotes, and experiences to make their case. Wherever possible, cite and/or link to the sources for these.  
  • Keep in mind that our audience is diverse--in the cultures and identities with which they identify, where they live, how old they are, their professional backgrounds, etc. Pieces should be engaging and meaningful to readers across this diverse spectrum.  
  • Like all editorial content, opinion pieces will be edited by TFA’s editorial staff. Writers should expect to address questions, do revisions, and otherwise be involved in the editorial process.  
  • Include a 3-5 sentence bio of yourself that will run with the piece and provide a headshot to go with it.

If you have any questions, email our editorial staff at editors@teachforamerica.org.