Teach For America Greater New Orleans

Teach For America finds, develops, and supports a diverse network of leaders, working together to end educational inequity. Our alumni, corps members, and staff work in schools and in every sector and field that helps shape educational opportunity. The TFA community is bound by a set of Core Values and a shared commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusiveness we envision for our country.

Teach For America's vision is that One Day, all children will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education, regardless of the color of their skin, their household income, or their zip code.

We have set an ambitious goal to double the number of third-graders in communities we serve who will be proficient readers, indicating they are on a path to economic mobility and a future filled with possibility by the year 2030. Achieving this goal will mean that every student has highly trained, equity-minded educators helping them toward academic progress and access opportunities. Our guiding principle for getting to 2030 is to develop the Best Teachers that get the Best Results with students.

Therefore, we must evolve from focusing primarily on our corps member program into becoming a full strategic talent partner pursing bold change for students through our school and community partnerships. We are also committed to helping new teachers transition into the classroom. Donations this GiveNOLA Day will help build our Corps Member Aid Fund, providing every incoming corps member directly $5,000 to help with costs to launch their careers.

Since 1990, we have helped fill the city's teacher pipeline and developed leaders who advance their students' academic and personal growth. Today our alumni and corps members impact over 16,000 students in GNO. Our community includes over 300 teachers, school leaders, and school system leaders, as well as several founders and leaders of nonprofit and social entrepreneurial ventures. There are 1,100 alumni living in the region and 69% work in education or education?adjacent fields. In addition, 30 TFA alumni have founded or turned around schools that are amongst the city's highest?performing and fastest?growing, and 61% of New Orleans schools that have moved from failing to passing did so under the leadership of TFA alumni.

Testimonials

What teachers and principals are saying about current corps members in their schools:

"Perri [G.W. Carver High School] grows herself rapidly so she can grow kids and lead them to belief fueling outcomes. Her first-year LEAP scores pace-set for classrooms across the network, and changed what kids believed about themselves, and what we believed was possible for a teacher in their first year."

"Lindsey [Livingston Collegiate Academy] has the warm presence and confidence of a 5th year teacher in the classroom…she is exactly the co-worker you want and the type of person that should be in front of kids."

"Matthew [KIPP Believe Primary], you are awesome! The instruction, guided practice and feedback you give to your students is effective! Your readers are moving bands, and it's because of your reading expertise and thoughtful execution."

Our alums on their experience:

"When I realized some of my former teachers had been corps members, I wasn't surprised because they were some of my favorite teachers and had left a lasting impression on me... I didn't join TFA for the prestige. I joined because I wanted to teach. I am so grateful to TFA for helping to make that happen."
- Gary Briggs, Director, Systems Impact, New Teacher Center (TFA GNO '11)

"Growing up in New Orleans, I have seen the education system at its worst. I was one of the students not on my correct reading level at the age of 14. Entering high school I was only able to read at a 7th grade reading level. I had a wonderful teacher who was a member of Teach For America and she believed in me. She always worked with me and challenged me to read more. I began to love English again after taking her strategic reading course. Becoming a teacher will allow me to spread my love of reading and inspire others as well.
- Morgan Glover, 2021 Corps Member, (Sixth Grade English Teacher, KIPP Central City Academy)

"TFA allowed me to transition into the field of education and pursue my certification. I taught as a founding first-grade teacher at an elementary charter school. Teaching opened my eyes to the impact that strong attention to data can have on an educator's ability to impact student achievement. It also exposed me to the founding process of a charter school. After several years of high-performing classroom data, I joined TFA staff to coach incoming CMs. Both experiences provided leadership development and experience that...prepared me to open Élan Academy in New Orleans. During Élan's second year and our first year of testing, our scholars outperformed both the state and the district in all subjects; math, ELA, science, and social studies."
- Melanie Askew, Founder, Elan Academy (TFA Memphis '12)