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Alumni in politics and policy
If you’re interested in political and policy leadership, whether international or domestic, becoming a Teach For America corps member will enhance your ability to make an impact in your career. By committing two years to teach in an urban or rural low-income community, you will take on an intense personal challenge and work relentlessly to ensure that your students succeed. At the same time, the experience will provide an unparalleled firsthand look at how our country’s policies—not only in education, but also in health care, housing, and economics—impact the lives of students and their families. Policy, advocacy, and political leaders play a critical role in deploying resources and setting priorities for governments and communities. Many alumni who have pursued careers in policy tell us that their Teach For America experience informed their convictions about the methods that are necessary to solve societal disparities, while lending them credibility that proves invaluable in influencing our nation’s policies.
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Alumnus perspective | |
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Graduate school partnerships |
Alumni profile: Layla Avila
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In the third grade, I entered the gifted and talented program at my high-need Los Angeles public school, and the teachers in the program changed the course of my life. They paid attention to my life outside the classroom, and focused on preparing me for college. I was able to earn a scholarship to a private boarding school, which had numerous resources my previous school lacked. Without these resources, it would have been more difficult for me to compete for college admission.
In college I studied equity and income distribution, and seeing more clearly the link between educational opportunity and life outcomes solidified my interest in education policy.
I went directly to graduate school after earning my B.A., but soon realized that teaching was the only way to get a real sense of the challenges teachers, schools, and school districts face.
I couldn’t imagine talking about what educators should be doing without having firsthand teaching experience. I also wanted
to make sure I would be an effective teacher, so Teach For America’s training was a big draw.
In the corps, I taught at a school where almost 90 percent of the students spoke Spanish as their first language. I definitely felt that I was serving as a role model for them, and their parents appreciated that I shared their language and background. I’ll never forget my class of second graders, who were in an
English-only environment for the first time, and how their confusion and anxiety were allayed by my stories of facing the same challenge in kindergarten.
Every day as a teacher was invigorating, and my hard work resulted in real outcomes. My students went from speaking only Spanish to reading in English. Teaching provided
a real-world perspective on the systemic changes needed to
close the achievement gap. Many of my current colleagues at The New Teacher Project are also Teach For America alumni, and our firsthand experience gives us credibility as we work with districts across the country to improve teacher quality.
As a school board member, I sometimes hear people make excuses for children in low-income communities, and I take it personally because I think about my former students and my own experience. I know that all students will achieve when held to high expectations, and I have a personal stake in ensuring that our policies in South Whittier reflect this potential. Without the experience of teaching, it would be much more difficult to be effective.
Alumni profile: Andrew Greenhill
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I was always aware of the great differences in educational opportunities for children across Brooklyn, where I grew up, and across the country. A key reason I joined Teach For America was to help bridge those differences.
Teaching English as a second language to middle school students, however, was eye-opening. It gave me even more personal insight into the obstacles that impede greater educational opportunity for all children. I developed a deeper understanding of the specific challenges facing first-generation immigrants and their children. I became much more sensitive to how different societal problems compound and affect one another.
Realizing how interconnected these issues are influenced my decision to pursue a leadership position in local government. From my classroom experience, I knew the value of building relationships and support systems in order to strengthen the community. That helped me to be an effective teacher, and it has continued to help me throughout my career.
Today, I serve people in a way that is very similar to my Teach For America experience. I’m immersed in my community, just as I was when I was teaching. I am accountable for providing public safety, transportation, parks and recreation, clean water, and other environmental services for which the City of Tucson is directly responsible. I approach my job the same way I approached teaching: actively and personally. I try to understand, from the service level, the challenges people face. It’s one thing for a director of an organization to come to the mayor’s office and ask for $100,000 of city money for a program—you can comprehend it at a conceptual level—but I go to the site where they’re delivering the service, look at it from the perspective of those using the service, and see if the investment the city is making is valuable.
Government, education, health care—all the institutions upon which our communities and our nation depend—are only as strong as individual citizens make them. One of the benefits of the Teach For America experience is that you gain a deep, personal understanding of the challenges that many communities in our country face. Whether it’s at the ballot box or as a career choice, the experience of being able to make positive change is powerful and invaluable.
Alumni profile: Pamela Burga
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I grew up in a low-income community, where I received an adequate education through junior high. Then I was sent to high school in a neighboring community that was mostly Caucasian and high-income. There was no question that every student from this high school would go on to college.
In college I realized that the educational inequity I’d experienced was symptomatic of larger issues in society. I felt passionate about education, but I never had a strong desire to teach before hearing about Teach For America.
At first, I saw joining the corps as a chance to understand the impact of policies at the ground level. Then I met my students, and I was that much more committed. My kindergartners left my classroom averaging more than 80 percent mastery in grade-level mathematics and reading skills. After the corps, I joined the Partnership for Better Schools, a committee formed in Los Angeles to support reform-minded school board candidates. That led to my current job, where I advise on policy issues for the Los Angeles Unified School District.
I keep my students close to heart, and consider policy resolutions through the lens of their experiences and needs. I spend a lot of time visiting schools and talking to teachers and principals. Those two years as a corps member built a resilience that continues to help me achieve my personal and professional goals.
Alumni profile: Sekou Biddle
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When I go to a meeting on teacher quality, I’m comforted to know that I’ll see Teach For America alumni. I know that these individuals believe, as I believe, that we’ve got to deliver an education to all children. It’s because of Teach For America that I’m confident we’re going to transform education in D.C.
Alumni profile: Jonas Chartock
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My parents raised me to feel passionately about social justice for all individuals, but it wasn’t until I did an internship in Anacostia, D.C. with Senator Kennedy’s Labor Committee Office, and then studied labor relations in college that I learned about educational inequity. Teach For America fit my interest in working with communities to empower themselves and offered the possibility to have an immediate influence on educational inequity. I was initially concerned about delaying my doctoral degree, but soon realized I could earn a master’s in the corps, and then enter a doctoral program with a clearer sense of purpose.
The social inequity I studied in college became very real upon entering the classroom. Every day I saw connections between education, health care, job opportunities, and socioeconomic mobility, and every day I saw the possibility for change. I developed after-school tutoring, a chess club, and soccer programs at my school, and students jumped at the chance to participate. In my second year, 30 percent of my incoming students had passed their 3rd grade writing exam, and through hard work, tutoring, and a pen-pal program with students in nearby Orange County, 90 percent passed the 4th grade test.
This experience gave me a solid grounding in the potential of our education system, and my colleagues in the policy realm value this perspective. Today, I head an organization that authorizes and evaluates charter schools and reports on their performance and progress. I often come across other Teach For America alumni in my work, and I’m always inspired by their accomplishments. More important than reputation or connections, however, is the reward of the corps experience itself. I can’t think of anything I could have done during that time that would have mattered as much.
Learn more about alumni effecting fundamental change
Alumni videos
Click here to hear from alumni in public policy about how Teach For America has impacted their decisions and perspectives.
Graduate school partnerships
Teach For America and the Kennedy School at Harvard share a simple yet powerful belief: that each of us can make the world a better place. At the Kennedy School, Teach For America alumni can build upon the insight and experience gained in the classroom to prepare to become leaders in solving our country’s most compelling social and public problems.
- David Ellwood
Dean and Scott M. Black Professor of Political Economy John F. Kennedy School of Government Harvard University
Graduate schools partner with Teach For America to offer special benefits for corps members and alumni. These benefits may include two-year deferrals, application fee waivers, scholarships, and a match of the AmeriCorps award. These graduate schools seek out our alumni, recognizing that they have gone through a highly selective program and have engaged in a challenging professional experience. Click here to search our complete database.
