Thanks to a revitalization effort that began in the 1990s, Oklahoma City has been in the midst of a multi-decade renaissance. With a low cost of living and future endeavors underway such as the creation of an innovation district, a 70-acre downtown park and more, OKC is primed for even more growth into the future. It will become the site for the American Indian Cultural Center and Museum near downtown, a world-class facility that will tell the powerful and significant story of American Indians in Oklahoma. One of the challenges to date is the rebuilding of our public education system that holds the lives and futures of of our future generation in its care.

Over the past decade, Oklahoma City has realized progress towards educational equity and excellence for students attending public schools and showed signs of our resolve to operate with the Oklahoma standard to improve the lives of students from cradle to career in that:

• We are ensuring every child has a strong start and is ready to learn by providing access to high-quality early learning with universal pre-K for four year olds.
• We are creating the school models and systems along the K-12 experience to sustain the gains from our nationally recognized early childhood programming.
• More kids have the chance to go to college or start a meaningful career than did 10 years ago as they end their K-12 journey in Oklahoma through more access to the ACT college entrance exam and enrollment in a quality career and technical education system.

Teach For America's contribution to this emerging renaissance story in education can be seen through the impact our leaders are having at all layers of the systems that shape a student's experience in public schools. Consider the story of Jordan Naylor. An Oklahoma native, she graduated from University of Oklahoma and joined Teach For America in 2013. She taught kindergarten at Southern Hills and achieved 90 percent mastery of math goals/objectives, an average of 2.2 years of reading growth with 100 percent of students scoring at level or above level on math and reading benchmarks.

Jordan’s strength in parent engagement included spending time in family outing or community events, going to dinner with families, sending bilingual folders at the beginning of the year for families, and keeping constant communication with families. Her parent interviews and artifacts were highlighted in parent engagement sessions for others to learn from. She expanded her leadership as an ECE content specialist and led professional development for other educators.

Over the next four years, we will accelerate progress towards systems change in our community by:

1. Developing classroom, school, and system leaders that expand opportunity for children in transformative and culturally responsive ways
2. Sustaining an outstanding and diverse  teacher force for urban and rural communities we serve by staying on the cutting edge of inspiring the next generation of leaders
3. Collaborating with our communities to strengthen schools through sustained and networked communities acting as a force for change
4. Solidifying all elements to enable us to be an enduring local organization supported by a strong board, committed supporters, and a thriving staff

Media Inquiries

Please contact us at press.center@teachforamerica.org.

Alumni Affairs

Yvita Fox
Director, Leadership Development
Yvita.Fox@teachforamerica.org