In a rural state like South Dakota, finding high-quality teachers for all our districts is a real challenge. Teach For America has been a terrific answer to that challenge. As a result, we have been able to fill over 50 positions this year in some of the most critical need areas in South Dakota. Furthermore, we are seeing excellent achievement results in their classrooms. Honestly, I am not sure what we would have done without Teach For America over the past three years. I’m thrilled that the program is in South Dakota
- Dr. Rick Melmer, South Dakota Secretary of Education
This year, a corps of 50 of the nation’s most promising future leaders are teaching in our state’s lowest-income classrooms as a part of Teach For America • South Dakota. 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 South Dakota. Learn about living and teaching in South Dakota.
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Executive Director |
Recent press coverage
During the 2007-08 school year, 50 corps members are directly impacting the lives of more than 4,000 students in South Dakota. Katey Lee is one example of the tremendous difference our corps members are making.
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Katey Lee (Corps '06) |
Katey Lee teaches first grade at Rosebud Elementary in the Todd County School District on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota. During her first year in the classroom, Katey’s students worked incredibly hard and advanced two grade levels in reading and achieved a class average of greater than 80 percent mastery of South Dakota’s first grade math standards. In addition to leading her students to significant academic achievement in the classroom, Katey used her background as an art major to develop a community beautification project for Unci Maka-Grandmother Earth Week. Her students painted murals at the Rosebud Dam, a popular swimming area just down the street from their school. Though only 6- and 7-years-old, the students took ownership of the project and showed great pride in their work.
South Dakota : Our Impact on Students and Schools Today
| School Year | Corps Members | Students Reached |
|---|---|---|
| 2004-05 | 18 | 1,445 |
| 2005-06 | 34 | 2,890 |
| 2006-07 | 43 | 3,655 |
| 2007-08 | 50 | 4,250 |
| 2009-10 | 60* | 5,100* |
*projected |
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
South Dakota : Corps Member Placement
| Assignment | # of Corps Members | % of Corps |
|---|---|---|
| Mathematics | 4 | 4% |
| Science | 7 | 7% |
| Special Education | 4 | 4% |
| Social Studies | 3 | 3% |
| Art | 1 | 1% |
| English/Language Arts | 8 | 7% |
| Elementary | 23 | 22% |
| Total | 50 | 100% |
*Percentages are rounded and may not add up to 100 percent.
Characteristics of the 2008 Corps
| Corps Profile | Top alma maters by market share* |
|---|---|
| Average GPA: 3.6 | Spelman College: 16% |
| Average SAT: 1320 | Morehouse College, Williams College, Yale University: 11% |
| Held leadership
roles on campus: 95% |
Duke University, Georgetown University, University of Chicago, Wake Forest University, Wesleyan University: 10% |
| People of color: 29% | Amherst College, Harvard University, Haverford University, Notre Dame University, Princeton University, Rice University: 9% |
*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 110 Teach For America • South Dakota alumni pursuing professional careers and impacting educational reform from every sector.
Krish Subrahmanian (South Dakota Corps '04) |
Alexa Miller (South Dakota Corps '04) |
Krish Subrahmanian and Alexa Miller are two of the many alumni continuing to work toward our vision. Krish is currently the border state director for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. He coordinates the volunteer effort and helps build grassroots organizations in a six-state region. In the fall of 2008, he will begin medical school at Stanford University. Alexa serves as the exceptional education department chair and literacy coach at Todd County High School. Students in Alexa’s reading classes last year averaged 2.6 years of growth in reading. She also serves as the cheerleading coach for boys and girls basketball and wrestling and as a student council adviser.
Growing Our Impact: Funding Needs 2007-2010
Each additional recruit is another dedicated teacher for children growing up in low-income communities in South Dakota, and another talented leader with the insight and commitment necessary to sustain the reform efforts underway, which is critical to the ongoing vitality of our region.
| Year | Corps Size | Revenue Needs |
|---|---|---|
| 2007-08 | 50 | $500,000 |
| 2008-09 | 55* | $550,000* |
| 2009-10 | 60* | $600,000* |
* projected |
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We are grateful to have many supporters who generously contribute to our movement in South Dakota. 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.
To support Teach For America • South Dakota with a gift or to request additional information about our impact or finances, please contact:
Teach For America • South Dakota
Ryan Wise, Executive Director
101 S. Polk Avenue
Pierre, SD 57501
p 605- 224-4398, c 605-280-8606
ryan.wise@teachforamerica.org
Catherine Pozniak leads Teach For America•South Dakota with 45 corps members and program staff who collectively reach 2,000 students each year. Her commitment to the South Dakota region has remained since joining the 2004 South Dakota corps as a teacher on the Rosebud Reservation. Catherine continued on in the classroom through a fourth year, each year leading her students to significant academic gains. Additionally, she designed an inclusion program that increased reading and math proficiency among students in fourth grade special education and helped negotiate an increase in the benefits and salaries for the school district's 224 certified staff. In 2006, she joined Teach For America staff as a director of office operations for the Houston institute and returned in 2007 as a school director. Catherine graduated with first class honors from the University of Sydney and earned a Master's in European history from the University of Cambridge.
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