Where do you place teachers?
Visit our map to see where we place teachers.
We currently place corps members in 30 regions across the country. Urban sites include Atlanta, Baltimore, the Bay Area, Charlotte, Chicago, Connecticut, D.C. Region, Denver, Greater Philadelphia-Camden, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Memphis, Nashville, Newark, New York City, Phoenix, and St. Louis. Rural sites include Eastern North Carolina, Hawai'i, the Mississippi Delta (in Arkansas and Mississippi), New Mexico, the Rio Grande Valley, and South Dakota. Four of our sites have both urban and rural placements: Greater New Orleans, the Las Vegas Valley, Miami-Dade, and South Louisiana.
Find out more about each region.
Can I choose my teaching site?
Teach For America currently places corps members in 30 urban and rural regions and will expand to additional regions in 2009. You will have the opportunity to provide your preferences for our regions if invited to a final interview, and preferences do not impact admissions decisions. Given that all of our regions are in need of great teachers, we ask applicants to consider our need to balance preferences with regional needs. This year, we anticipate tremendous opportunity to contribute in South Louisiana, the Mississippi Delta, and Greater New Orleans, and ask that applicants be flexible and open to considering teaching in these high-need regions, which helps us in our overall mission and impact. While we work hard to meet corps members’ location, grade level and subject area preferences, we must also balance district needs and state requirements.
Can I choose the grade level and subject I will teach?
Before we assign you to a position, we will ask you to tell us what you prefer to teach. When possible, we will assign you to one of your preferred subjects/grade levels.
Most often we are able to assign applicants to one of the subjects/grade levels that they prefer. Sometimes it is not possible to do so because, in addition to applicants’ preferences, we also consider applicants' ability to meet state and district hiring requirements (largely based on undergraduate coursework credits) and each region’s grade-level and subject needs. In some cases we may assign applicants to a less preferred grade level and subject in order to assign them to one of their most highly preferred regions. If your grade level and subject preferences are more important to you than your regional assignment, you will be able to tell us that when you submit your preferences, which will increase the likelihood that you will receive your preferred subject/grade level assignment.
If accepted, you will receive a tentative subject/grade level assignment along with your regional assignment.
What am I qualified to teach?
It depends. Each of our regions has a separate set of hiring requirements for their teachers. Teach For America determines what you are eligible to teach based on these requirements, which are typically established at the school district or state level. Requirements often include various combinations of undergraduate coursework credits for each teaching position. For example, a district in a given region might require that middle school English teachers have a certain number of upper-level English literature credits and/or a major in English. Requirements for a given position may also include a minimum GPA above Teach For America’s 2.50 minimum.
To determine what you are eligible to teach, we compare your transcript information to the requirements for each position. Without exception, we must assign you to a region and position for which you qualify. Because requirements are complex and subject to change, and because we must thoroughly evaluate your transcript to determine your eligibility, we are not able to tell you in advance what you will qualify to teach.
Will I need to pass certain tests in order to
be hired by a school district?
Yes, (with limited exceptions) our corps members must pass a certification test to be eligible to teach. This will require some preparation, and corps members who don’t pass their test will need to repeat the test in time for the start of the school year. Teach For America is not responsible for finding alternative placements or any placement at all for corps members that do not take and/or pass the required tests for a particular region or assignment.
Learn more about certification and testing in our placement regions.
When will I know my actual teaching
placement?
Due to external factors that can affect and/or delay districts’ hiring processes, timelines vary significantly in each region. Those corps members who were not hired by the beginning of the school year were either on district payroll or were supported financially by Teach For America provided that they met the district’s hiring requirements including passing required tests. You will learn more about your region’s timelines and processes once you are accepted and assigned to a region.
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