Today in our country, nine-year-olds growing up in low-income communities are already three grade levels behind their peers in high-income communities. Half of them won’t graduate from high school. Those who do graduate will, on average, read and do math at the level of eighth graders in high-income communities.
This is our nation’s most pressing problem.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. While the problem is daunting, we see evidence every day in classrooms across the country that when students in low-income communities are given the educational opportunities they deserve, they excel.
It is this—the clear potential of students—that makes the disparities in educational outcomes so unconscionable and fuels our sense of urgency and responsibility to do everything we can to ensure educational opportunity for all.
Teach For America is the national corps of outstanding recent college graduates of all academic majors who commit two years to teach in urban and rural public schools and become lifelong leaders in ensuring educational equity and excellence for all children. Our mission is to build the movement to eliminate educational inequity by enlisting our nation’s most promising future leaders in the effort. We seek individuals – from all backgrounds and career interests – who have what it takes to excel as teachers and to ultimately exert broader societal influence in our nation. We look for candidates who have a proven leadership record (whether in school, work, or extracurricular activities) or who demonstrate leadership qualities such as the ability to influence and motivate others and the ability to persevere through difficult challenges.
You can make an immediate impact on the lives of children in under-served communities and join a network of leaders to enact long-term change. Please come to the Teach For America Information Session on Thursday, Sept. 21 in PAC 001 at 7:30 p.m. to learn more and eat free Thai food.
Every child has potential, and it is a teacher’s job to find it.
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