At Teach For America (TFA), our mission has always been clear: expand educational opportunity for every child. But fulfilling that mission requires more than passion and effort—it requires understanding whether students are truly learning and thriving in the classrooms we support.

Over the past several years, we’ve strengthened and modernized our approach to measuring academic achievement so it reflects today’s educational landscape and the diverse communities we serve. We are more committed than ever to gathering meaningful data that informs practice, drives improvement, and demonstrates impact.

Why Academic Achievement Matters

Academic achievement data helps us answer essential questions:

• Are students learning?

• Are our teachers making an impact?

• Where do we need to improve?

These insights shape how we support teachers, how we partner with schools, and how we maintain trust with families and communities.

We rely on both state assessments and interim assessments—such as NWEA MAP Growth, i‑Ready, Renaissance Star, and DIBELS—to understand student growth throughout the year. These measures help us stay transparent, accountable, and focused on continuous improvement.

A Journey of Learning and Adapting

TFA’s approach to student data has evolved significantly over the past two decades. Early efforts focused primarily on test score gains. Today, our approach is grounded in a broader understanding of student success—one that includes classroom conditions, student experience, and whole‑child development.

We now monitor multiple metrics to understand the conditions that support academic and personal growth, including a classroom observation tool and student survey. This helps us strengthen our supports and scale practices that work. And we have redefined our approach to measuring our impact on student achievement.

Where We Are now: Three Ways We Measure Impact

TFA uses three primary methods to understand how well we are supporting student learning:

1. Principal Surveys

Each year, we ask principals to share their perspectives on TFA teachers in their schools. Their insights help contextualize assessment data and strengthen our partnerships.

We’ve set an ambitious goal: 80% of TFA‑led classrooms meet or exceed school leaders’ expectations for student learning. In the 2024–25 school year, we reached 79%, a two‑point increase from the previous year and a signal we are moving in the right direction.

2. Collecting and Monitoring Academic Assessments

We are working toward a major milestone: collecting standardized assessment data from at least 50% of TFA‑led classrooms by 2027–28. Achieving this milestone requires data sharing with roughly 175 school or district partners across 38 states. This past school year (2024-25) we collected data representing 24% of classrooms across 19 regions. This data collection reflects strong collaboration with schools and districts—partnerships we deeply value.

Assessment data helps us track proficiency on state tests and monitor growth through interim assessments. We are also using this data to develop a simple and cohesive measure of growth across our communities. We are examining the academic progress students in TFA classrooms make during the school year compared to students across the country who start at a similar place. By looking at trends in the percentage of students growing at least as much as we would expect over the year, regional teams are deepening school partnerships, setting priorities, and strengthening programming.

3. Independent Impact Evaluations

TFA has a long history of supporting rigorous third‑party evaluations. Over the past 20 years, dozens of independent studies have examined the effectiveness of TFA teachers.

A recent meta‑analysis by the American Institutes for Research synthesized 23 studies and found:

• Students taught by TFA teachers perform better in math and science than those taught by similar non‑TFA teachers

• Students perform similarly in reading compared to peers taught by non‑TFA teachers

Another study (Lovison, 2022) found that TFA alumni who continue teaching in NYC improve twice as fast as non‑TFA teachers over their first five years.

Building the Infrastructure to Succeed

Behind every data point is a relationship built on trust. We work closely with schools and districts to establish clear data sharing agreements that outline what data is shared, how it’s used, and how we protect student privacy.

Our safeguards include:

• Annual student data privacy training

• A “least privilege” access model with monitored logs

• Encryption of data in transfer and at rest

We’re also investing in staff training, tools, and dedicated roles to ensure regions have the capacity to manage data effectively and tell their stories with confidence

How Achievement Data Shapes Our Work

Academic achievement data is a powerful tool for learning and improvement. It helps us identify where students are thriving, where additional support is needed, and which practices are most effective.

• Locally, regional teams use data to strengthen school partnerships, set priorities, and tailor supports for teachers.

• Nationally, aggregated insights inform program design, professional development, and long‑term investments that improve student outcomes.

Looking ahead, we aim to integrate academic achievement data with student experience and classroom practice measures to better understand not just whether students are learning, but how learning happens and which conditions support success.We are committed to ensuring students demonstrate significant academic growth that reflects strong teaching, supportive learning conditions, and real momentum in their learning.

What's Next?

As we look toward a future where every child has access to an excellent education, TFA remains committed to using academic achievement data to strengthen our programming, refine teacher supports, and amplify student success.

This work not only improves our own effectiveness—it contributes to the broader education field. Together with our school partners, we’re building a more connected, adaptable system for understanding and improving student outcomes.

Because when we know more, we can do more—for every student, in every classroom we serve.