Chicago Public Schools is
committed to recruiting the best and the brightest to teach our students. We are thrilled that Teach For America corps
members are teaching in our high needs areas. Teach For America teachers bring a diversity of skills and a commitment to
quality education that is of great benefit to our students.
- Arne Duncan, CEO, Chicago Public Schools
This year, a corps of 230 of the nation’s most promising future leaders are teaching in our city’s lowest-income classrooms as a part of Teach For America • Chicago. They are working to ensure their students have the educational opportunities they deserve. Our alumni are a leadership force, working from within education and every professional sector to effect broader change. Together they are helping us make educational equity a reality in Chicago. Learn about living and teaching in Chicago.
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Corps Impact | |
Alumni Impact | |
Financial Sustainability | |
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Contact Us | |
Executive Director |
Recent press releases
Recent press coverage
During the 2007-08 school year, 230 corps members are directly impacting the lives of more than 20,000 students in Chicago. Melissa Connelly is one example of the tremendous difference our corps members are making.
Melissa Connelly (Chicago Corps '06)
Melissa Connelly teaches fifth grade at Bronzeville Lighthouse Charter School in Chicago. On the first day of school last year, Melissa met with and diagnosed each of her students, who were performing, on average, between a second and third grade level in both reading and math. Operating with a sense of possibility and urgency, Melissa inspired her students to exceed expectations and achieve unprecedented academic success. Over the course of the school year, she led her students to achieve an average of a year and a half of growth in reading, and more than two years of growth in math—the greatest single-year average growth in math for any classroom of students in the Lighthouse Charter network last year, nationwide.
Chicago: Our Impact on Students and Schools Today
| School Year | Corps Members | Students Reached |
|---|---|---|
| 2006-07 | 150 | 12,750 |
| 2007-08 | 230 | 19,550 |
| 2010-11 | 400* | 34,000* |
*projected |
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Principal Satisfaction
*"Teach For America 2007 National Principal Survey,” Policy Studies Associates, July 2007.
Impact on Student Achievement
According to a highly regarded study by Mathematica Policy Research, corps members outpaced fully certified and veteran
teachers in their schools in moving their students ahead academically. Read national results.
Student Profile
Chicago: Corps Member Placement
| Assignment | % of Corps |
|---|---|
| Elementary | 46% |
| Secondary | 45% |
| Pre-K | 9% |
| Teach at a school with another corps member or alumnus | 94% |
Characteristics of the 2007 Corps
| Corps Profile | Top alma maters by market share* |
|---|---|
| Average GPA: 3.6 | Duke University, Spelman College, University of Chicago: 10% |
| Average SAT: 1321 | University of Notre Dame, Rhodes College: 9% |
| Held leadership roles on campus: 95% | Princeton University: 7% |
| People of color: 28% | Georgetown University, Stanford: 6% |
*Percentage of senior classes who applied to Teach For America
Fostering Alumni Leadership for Systemic Change
As the number of corps members grows, so does our alumni base. By 2010, we will have over 300 alumni teachers, 45 alumni principals, and alumni pursuing professional careers and impacting educational reform from every sector.
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Jim O'Connor (Mississippi Delta Corps '95) |
Jim O’Connor is the principal and founder of Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) Ascend Charter School, which serves students from Chicago’s North Lawndale, West Garfield Park, and Austin neighborhoods. KIPP Ascend currently serves 320 students in 5th through 8th grade. The school is guided by its mission to equip students with the knowledge, skills, and character traits required to succeed in top-quality high schools, universities, and the competitive world beyond. Jim’s students achieved outstanding results on the Illinois State Achievement Exam in 2007 with 97 percent of eighth grade students performing at or above grade level on the exam.
Growing Our Impact: Funding Needs, 2007-2011
Each additional corps member is another dedicated teacher
for children growing up in low-income communities in Chicago,
and another talented leader with the insight and commitment
necessary to sustain the reform efforts underway in our
region.
| Year | Corps Size | Revenue Needs |
|---|---|---|
| 2007-08 | 230 | $3.1 million* |
| 2008-09 | 300 | $4.5 million* |
| 2009-10 | 340 | $6.0 million* |
| 2010-11 | 400 | $8.0 million* |
* projected |
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We are grateful to have many supporters who generously contribute to our movement in Chicago. The foundations, corporations, and individuals listed below have made it possible for Teach For America to continue to recruit, select, train, and support teachers who are working to eliminate educational inequity in our city.
| Advisory Board |
|---|
| Paul Finnegan (Chair) Co-President Madison Dearborn Partners, LLC |
| Charles Besser Chief Executive Officer Intersport, Inc. |
| Daniel Blumenthal Managing Partner Blue River Partners, LLP |
| C. Christopher Coetzee Managing Director Robert W. Baird & Co. |
| Matthew S. Darnall Managing Director Goldman Sachs & Co. |
| Charles Edelstein Managing Director Credit Suisse |
| Phupinder Gill President & CEO Chicago Mercantile Exchange |
| Peter Lehman Principal Granite Creek Partners, LLC |
| Janet Knupp President Chicago Public Education Fund |
| C. H. Randolph Lyon Vice Chairman Robert W. Baird & Co. |
| Jay L. Owen, Jr. Vice President J.P. Morgan Private Bank |
| Levoyd Robinson Managing Principal Chicago Fundamental Investment Partners |
| Paula Sneed Senior Vice President, retired Kraft Foods Inc. |
To support Teach For America • Chicago with a gift or to request additional information about our impact or finances, please contact:
Teach For America • Chicago
Josh Anderson, Executive Director
Elliott Hood, Manager of Individual Giving
Andria Ryall, Manager of Corporate and Foundation Relations
820 North Orleans Street
Suite 320
Chicago, IL 60610
p: 312 254 1000 f: 312 254 1014
josh.anderson@teachforamerica.org
elliott.hood@teachforamerica.org
andria.ryall@teachforamerica.org
Josh Anderson was appointed executive director of Teach For America - Chicago in February 2007. Josh joined Teach For America's staff as the director of the Midwest Recruitment Team in 2006, during which time he produced record number of applications at both Northwestern and the University of Chicago. He previously worked as a Teach For America corps member in New York City, where he taught middle school English and Social Studies in the Hunts Point community of the southeast Bronx and served as School Team Leader for a 15-member Teach For America cohort at his school. A North Side native and a son of educators, Josh attended the Francis W. Parker School. He traveled east for college and graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University in 2004 with a bachelor's degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Josh was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa and was a 2005 Rhodes Scholar finalist.
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