Our Work
Working Toward Excellence and Equity For All
Children growing up in disenfranchised communities lack access to resources and opportunities and attend schools that are not equipped to meet all their needs. This is known as educational inequity.
Teach For America is a diverse network of leaders who confront educational inequity by teaching for at least two years and then working with unwavering commitment from every sector of society to create a nation free from this injustice.
As educators, advocates, entrepreneurs, policymakers, and community members, we fight for the aspirations of students and families.
America’s Opportunity Crisis
1.3 million students drop out of high school in the United States. More than half are students of color, and most are low-income. Students from low-income families drop out of high school at twice the rate of upper-middle and high-income families, according to a 2019 study by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).
Learn more about the challenge.
14% of children growing up in poverty will graduate from college within eight years of high-school graduation.
Our Approach
Teach For America recruits outstanding and diverse leaders to become TFA “corps members.” Corps members commit to teaching for two years in a low-income community, where they’re employed by local schools and confront both the challenges and joys of expanding opportunities for kids.
After two years, they become part of the TFA alumni network. Informed and inspired by their students, many continue teaching; others pursue other leadership roles in schools and school systems or launch careers in other fields that shape educational access and opportunity.
Learn more about our approach.
Take the next step! Check your eligibility to join the TFA Corps, or view live and on-demand events.
“In the corps, I realized that it is not only going to take teachers but a movement of people to make a difference.”
Lifelong Impact
Before joining Teach For America, only one in five corps members planned to become teachers and only 10 percent were education majors. But the corps experience brought them face-to-face with the challenges facing our schools and instilled in them a lifelong commitment to working on behalf of their students. Today, 85% of alumni report they are working in education or careers serving low-income communities.
Together with partners throughout the educational ecosystem, our alumni and corps members are helping achieve measurable student growth in and out of the classroom. They know there is no single solution to ending educational inequity, and they are providing grounded leadership and hard work from all career fields to expand opportunity for all.
Read more about Teach For America’s impact.
A Diverse Coalition, Working in Partnership
Achieving our vision will take a broad and diverse coalition of people who differ in their identities, affiliations, experiences, and political views. It will take people united around a shared purpose and set of values, and the work must be shaped by those among us who are directly impacted by inequity.
At Teach For America, we are committed to realizing the diversity, equity, and inclusiveness we envision for our country.
Today, 5,450 corps members lead in over 50 urban and rural regions across the U.S. They are student body presidents; division I athletes; award-winning poets and scientists; valedictorians and entrepreneurs. They hail from 49 states and the District of Columbia. And they are diverse in every way.
Creating Opportunity Across America
TFA is a locally rooted organization. We work in partnership with over 50 regions around the country. Learn more about where we work and the impact you can have as a corps member, supporter, or partner.