November 12, 2024—Teach For America (TFA) announced that it has become a member of the Research Partnership for Professional Learning (RPPL). As part of the one-of-a-kind collaborative, TFA will be one of seven provider organizations and researchers who work with school systems and participate in research aligned to RPPL’s larger learning agenda. RPPL is focused on identifying, sharing, and enacting professional learning that improves teachers’ instructional practices and students’ classroom experiences, well-being, and academic growth. For the last three years before becoming a full member, Teach For America participated in RPPL as an affiliate.

TFA is a nonprofit that works to ensure all students receive an excellent education by recruiting outstanding, diverse leaders to teach, tutor, and lead schools and systems. The organization has recruited, trained, and supported educators since 1990 and has a deep commitment to research and learning about the impact of educator professional learning on students’ academic, social, and emotional outcomes. RPPL is both a research partnership and convener focused on educator professional learning. With over 100 organizations in its network, RPPL is uniting professional learning organizations, researchers, school system leaders, funders, and those impacted by educator professional learning to design and execute research that improves professional learning  at scale. 

“We are thrilled to welcome TFA as a RPPL core member,” said Dr. Stacey Alicea, Executive Director of RPPL. “Their team’s contributions are already helping us build the types of internal capacity needed to effectively bridge our programs and research, enhancing the quality of work across our network and amplifying our impact in the broader field.”

RPPL and its members believe that ensuring students have access to a quality education starts with guaranteeing every teacher has access to quality professional learning, in which the United States invests around $37 billion yearly. 

“TFA brings an important voice to the RPPL table and offers the chance to build all of our understanding about the kinds of supports that matter most for novice teachers,” added Dr. Nate Schwartz, RPPL Senior Researcher and Director of Applied Research at the Annenberg Institute at Brown University.

Both Teach For America and RPPL share a commitment to academic excellence, and endeavor to make excellent educational opportunities a reality for every student, including those who have historically been underserved in the education system.  

“As an organization, we are constantly uncovering insights on how the learning and development supports our teachers receive can drive toward improved instructional practice more broadly,” said Dr. Nathalie Henderson, Executive Vice President of Corps Member & Alumni Leadership Development. “Our national network also offers the opportunity to learn about professional learning support across diverse contexts, including traditional public and charter schools, as well as schools in both urban and rural areas. We’re deeply excited to share our learnings with the RPPL network, while also knowing that we too benefit greatly from joining RPPL: the additional research and analytic capacity, as well as expertise from these schools of education, will provide us with additional data to improve our program model, enabling us to have an ever-stronger impact on students. It is powerful to work alongside so many incredible partners to improve educator professional learning.” 

In addition to joining RPPL as a member, TFA recently received a two-year research grant, alongside the University of Virginia and the Annenberg Institute at Brown University, from the organization, which will allow TFA to research whether new TFA math teachers, known as corps members, should receive coaching on classroom management or on their instructional practices first in order to strengthen their impact in their classrooms. Through this grant, TFA will also research how the way coaching feedback is given to corps members affects their impact on students’ outcomes; this study will use a randomized control trial design, considered the gold standard in research methodology.

About Teach For America

Teach For America works in partnership with communities across the country to expand educational opportunities for children. Founded in 1990, Teach For America finds, develops, and supports excellent and diverse leaders to transform education and expand opportunity for all children. Today, Teach For America is a force of 70,000 alumni, corps members, and Ignite fellows working in pursuit of profound systemic change so that one day every child has an equal opportunity to learn, lead, thrive, and co-create a future filled with possibility. Teach For America is a proud member of the AmeriCorps national service network. For more information, visit www.teachforamerica.org and follow us on Facebook and X.

Contact

Rachel Tennenbaum
(408) 250-2877
rachel.tennenbaum@teachforamerica.org
Teach For America

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