When Teach For America opened in Kansas City in 2008, the prevailing notion was that the problems in education were unsolvable. Many in the community lacked faith that substantive change was possible. Today, partially because of the efforts of Teach For America corps members and alumni, Kansas City has embraced the potential of reform. As we see classrooms and schools that are turning around, community and civic leaders feel a newfound sense of optimism about our collective power to overcome the challenges that have plagued our schools for decades.
We value our school partnerships and strive for a diverse mix of traditional public and charter schools, from early childhood through high school, across the Kansas City metro area. Our largest partner has consistently been the Kansas City Public School District. Since our founding in 2008, however, our placements in charter schools have increased year over year, in line with the growing charter school movement in the city.
We enter into a service-level agreement with each school partner before placing corps members at schools. Teach For America Kansas City facilitates the hiring process and works with the corps members and schools to ensure the placement is a good fit. However, hiring decisions rest with the schools, which evaluate Teach For America candidates on the same basis as any other applicant.
Prior to and during the academic years, Teach For America Kansas City agrees to provide a variety of professional development services to the teachers placed in each partner school. The schools agree to provide certain education records to enable Teach For America Kansas City to best provide these services to our teachers.
111
Corps members
388
Alumni that live in the area
“I know people who work in almost every school in Kansas City. I know the major organizations that are supporting education outside the walls of the school. Things like Shark Tank: Teacher Edition aren’t happening in big cities. Kansas City provides the perfect storm of really innovative things happening for education and ultimately our kids benefit hugely from the fact that our teachers are tapped into the community.”
Annual Report
Download our 2016 annual report.
Media Inquiries
Please contact us at press.center@teachforamerica.org.
Alumni Affairs
Zach Rose-Heim, Director, Network Impact and Julie Gronquist-Blodgett, Senior Managing Director, Chief Program Officer