Research & Insights
Learn about how we we use research and insights to help measure our positive impact on students, corps members, alumni, and communities.
About Our Research and Insights
At Teach For America, we operate with curiosity and embrace new ideas in order to learn and improve continuously. We work with corps members, alumni, and staff to gather data across all levels of our organization. We conduct internal research and evaluation with these data, as well as partner with highly regarded external researchers to lead rigorous, high-quality research. Our research interests include our organization’s impact, innovation in the broader education field, and interventions that contribute to the pursuit of educational equity and antiracism.
We take pride in being one of the most researched nonprofits in the country, and we continue to support independent research and reviews that help us gain a better understanding of our impact on students and strengthen our work and results. Learn more about research on our impact and how we are turning insights into action.
Our Impact on Students
Our Impact on Students
Teach For America corps members’ students perform as well as other teachers’ students on standardized tests of math and reading. This is true when compared to both novice and experienced non-Teach For America teachers. In some cases, TFA teachers’ students perform even better than non-TFA teachers’ students, and that is especially the case for TFA educators teaching math, science, and social sciences, as well as for TFA alumni teachers across subject areas. Research findings on TFA teachers’ instructional impact—which span multiple regions, subject areas, and grade levels—have remained consistent throughout the organization’s history, suggesting that the results are not due to chance, error, or the particular statistical method.
Recent Studies
A rigorous meta-analysis that synthesizes TFA’s impact on student achievement across 23 studies spanning 24 years found that on average, students of TFA teachers perform better in math and science than students of similar non-TFA teachers. It also found that on average, students of TFA teachers perform similarly in reading to those of similar non-TFA teachers.
(Citjowicz et al, 2024, American Institute for Research)
Across 5 regions in Texas, students of TFA-affiliated teachers (corps members and alumni) were as likely or more likely to pass the STAAR assessment than students of non-TFA-affiliated teachers. Students of TFA teachers receive the overall greatest benefit in the high school-tested subjects. TFA alumni teachers, in particular, are consistently more effective than non-TFA teachers with similar years of experience.
(Wright et al., 2023, Southern Methodist University Center on Research & Evaluation)
TFA teachers in Indianapolis were, on average, more effective at increasing student achievement than non-TFA teachers, and this effect is especially strong in schools with 5 or more TFA teachers. There is also a net positive effect of hiring TFA educators on student achievement, even when accounting for negative effects from higher TFA teacher turnover—resulting in the need to hire more novice teachers who are initially less effective—as well as positive effects due to TFA Indianapolis teachers’ differential impacts on student achievement.
(Master et al., 2023, RAND Corporation)
TFA teachers in Miami-Dade County Public Schools have been effective at raising the test scores of their students in math and ELA (relative to other teachers in the schools in which they are placed). Students taught by TFA math teachers go on to have better math grades the following year. Students in TFA classrooms are also less likely to miss school due to absences and suspensions.
(Backes & Hansen, 2023, CALDER Center at the American Institutes for Research)
TFA teachers who choose to keep teaching as TFA alumni in New York City improve at double the rate of non-TFA teachers over the first five years of their careers. After accounting for differences in turnover rates for TFA and non-TFA teachers, it is estimated that a long-run strategy of TFA hiring increases steady-state student achievement by 0.05 standard deviations (approximately 23 days of additional learning per year).
(Lovison, 2022, Annenberg Institute at Brown University)
In this randomized controlled trial evaluation, Teach For America corps members teaching in elementary grades were as effective as other teachers in the same schools. Students of corps members in pre-K through second grade outperformed their peers in reading by the equivalent of an additional 1.3 months of learning. Teach For America teachers included in this study averaged less than two years of experience whereas the comparison teachers had nearly fourteen years of experience on average.
(Clark et al., 2017, Mathematica Policy Research)
Our Impact on Corps Members and Alumni
Our Impact on Corps Members and Alumni
Being a corps member changes you. Through their service, corps members experience an increased understanding of systemic injustice and a decrease in prejudice. Teach For America participants are more likely to be involved in social change, policy, and advocacy as alumni. Teach For America participants are more likely to pursue careers in education or careers impacting the field of education. As of 2024, approximately 58 percent of our TFA alumni base is working in the education field.
Recent Studies
Participation in TFA causes heightened awareness of structural inequality in education over belief in individualistic explanations for poor student outcomes. TFA participation also makes teachers more enthusiastic about policies and programs that expand resources and services for students, and leads to greater optimism and faith in the potential of schools to provide all students with an excellent education.
(Conn, Lovison, & Mo, 2022, Public Opinion Quarterly)
By exposing women to issues of systemic inequity in education and integrating them into networks that foster continued civic participation, participating in TFA causes women to be more politically ambitious. Compared to similar female applicants who were not accepted into the program, TFA alumni are, on average, 10 percentage points more likely to be interested in running for political office and 6 percentage points more likely to participate in political campaigns.
(Mo, Conn, & Anderson-Nilsson, 2019, Politics, Grounds, and Identities)
Teach For America corps members experienced an increase in perceptions of systemic injustice against the disadvantaged, decreases in both class-based and racial resentment, increased beliefs that situational or environmental factors are the root cause of outcomes, a decrease in prejudice (measured by implicit racial biases tests), and an increase in identification with disadvantaged minorities.
(Mo & Conn, 2018, American Political Science Review)
Individuals who have gone through Teach For America are more likely to work in education compared to those who applied and were close to being admitted but did not complete Teach For America. It also found that Teach For America alumni were more racially tolerant and more optimistic about life prospects of low-income children.
(Dobbie & Fryer, 2015, The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy)
Our Impact on Communities
Our Impact on Communities
Communities across the country are making meaningful progress in educational outcomes, and Teach for America alumni and corps members are playing an essential role, working alongside many others. TFA alumni are more likely to vote than their non-participant counterparts, and they also continue to be active in the community around educational issues long after their initial two-year commitment. Research on TFA’s alumni networks shows that key roles associated with ecosystem change in communities were elected officials, advocacy/nonprofit leaders, state and local education executives, and principals.
Recent Studies
Serving as a teacher in the Teach For America national service program has a large effect on civic participation—substantially increasing voter turnout rates among applicants admitted to the program. This effect is noticeably larger than that of previous efforts to increase youth voter turnout.
(Mo, Holbein & Elder, 2022, PNAS)
Through social network analysis of TFA alumni in eight cities, researchers found that connections and relationships are critical for creating systems change but high connectivity is not enough. Organizing to create systems change requires a combination of alumni working in advocacy and alumni in formal positions of influence, such as local public district executives and elected officials. They found that key roles associated with ecosystem change in communities were elected officials, advocacy/nonprofit leaders, state and local education executives, and principals.
(Acharya & Morris, 2022, Common Good Labs)
Through interviews and social network analyses, researchers found that 35 educational leaders were considered central to policy development in shaping a new local educational policy that shifts school oversight responsibility from the state back to the local school board—eight of whom were TFA alumni. The researchers concluded that the TFA alumni continued to remain active in New Orleans long after their teaching commitments were completed, and TFA alumni continued to drive educational improvements through policy change.
(Kalina & Clifford, 2019, American Institutes for Research)
Our Impact on Diversifying the Field of Teacher Education
Our Impact on Diversifying the Field of Teacher Education
Research shows that when students of color have teachers of color their attendance improves, disciplinary infractions decline, and academic achievement and college enrollment rise. A diverse teaching force also strengthens a sense of self-efficacy and improves racial attitudes among all students (Olson 2023). We are committed to growing the number of our corps members who identify as Black, Indigenous, or people of color, and developing leaders who share the background of the students that we serve.
Recent Data
Over half of corps members teaching in the 2023-24 school year identify as people of color, markedly higher than the 20 percent of teachers nationally who identify as people of color.
Additionally, 45% are the first in their family to graduate from college.
Currently (as of 2023), approximately 582 Teach For America alumni across the country identify as people of color leading schools as school principals and 370 serving as school system leaders.
Partner With Us
Partner With Us
If you would like to partner with us to conduct research, please fill out our preliminary research inquiry form. If you have questions about research on Teach For America, please contact us.
