Instructional Coach
Collegiate Academies
Region: Greater Baton Rouge, '13
Donovan shares how his relationships with colleagues and students energizes his teaching and coaching.
Chief Executive Officer
Accelerate
Region: Houston, '92
Kevin Huffman is the Chief Executive Officer of Accelerate, a nonprofit initiative that seeks to embed high-impact tutoring programs in public schools now and for the long term.
Chief Of Staff for Office of School Board Member Luisa Santos
Miami-Dade County Public Schools
Region: Miami-Dade, '12
Spurred to action by the needs of her ESOL students Katherine Leiva continues to be an advocate for equality as Chief Of Staff for Miami-Dade County Public Schools Board Member Luisa Santos.
Chief Operating Officer
Chiefs for Change
Region: New York, '04
Julia Rafal-Baer, Ph.D joined Teach For America in 2004, where she began her career as a special education teacher in the Bronx. Julia went on to become Assistant Commissioner of the New York State Education Department where she was responsible for the strategy, management, and implementation of teacher and leader initiatives under the state’s Race to the Top grant, Teacher Incentive Fund grant, and other state-wide initiatives. Today, Julia lives in Rhode Island and serves as Chief Operating Officer of Chiefs for Change, a nonprofit network of bipartisan state and city education leaders.
Principal
Hermosa Valley School
Region: Los Angeles, '08
Jessica Bledsoe’s career switch to teaching began with chance words from her college mentor who saw the teacher in her. In 2008, she joined Teach For America in Los Angeles, and after one year of teaching, Jessica knew her career change to teaching would be permanent, lasting long after her two-year TFA commitment.
Senior Consultant of Education
Public Consulting Group
Region: New Jersey, '11
Taylor Martin has taken his knowledge of being a teacher and creates custom, culturally responsive curriculum and implementation solutions for schools across the country as a senior consultant at Public Consulting Group.
School Board Trustee
Donna ISD
Region: Rio Grande Valley, '04
In 2016, Alicia was elected to the board of trustees for Donna Independent School District, her original Teach For America placement district. In this role Alicia helped support the process of hiring a new superintendent and has improved the district to achieve a B rating in the state accountability system. Alicia also serves on Teach For America national staff.
Instructional Coach
Acero Brighton Park Elementary School
Region: Greater Chicago–Northwest Indiana, '13
Teach For America Chicago-Northwest Indiana alum Anthony Zarate was named a finalist for the 2016 Illinois State Board of Education's annual Teach of the Year Award.
Educator, Consultant, Writer
Region: Houston, '12
Zikia's teaching experience honed her skills as a communicator and creative problem-solver. She channels those talents in her career as an educator, consultant, and writer.
Writer and Audio Editor
The Informed SLP, LLC
Region: Dallas-Fort Worth, '11
Christine's teaching experience motivated her to pursue a master's degree in speech-language pathology for bilingual students.