Teach For America staff members are a diverse group of highly capable and committed individuals who bring a wide range of professional experiences. Our staff includes experienced professionals from both nonprofit and for-profit organizations, advanced degree holders as well as recent graduates, and experienced teaching professionals as well as individuals from other sectors. Approximately 50 percent of our staff are Teach For America alumni.

Core Values

Commitment
to diversity

Environment

Benefits

Teach For America's mission
Learn about our history
Read about our organization

Core values

Our core values form the foundation of how we work at Teach For America.

Relentless pursuit of results - We assume personal responsibility for achieving ambitious, measurable results in pursuit of our vision. We persevere in the face of challenges, seek resources to ensure the best outcomes, and work towards our goals with a sense of purpose and urgency.
Sense of possibility- We approach our work with optimism, think boldly, and greet new ideas openly.
Disciplined thought - We think critically and strategically in search of the best answers and approaches, reflect on past experiences and data to draw lessons for the future, and make choices that are deeply rooted in our mission.
Respect and humility- We value all who are engaged in this challenging work. We keep in mind the limitations of our own experiences and actively seek out diverse perspectives.
Integrity- We ensure alignment between our actions and our beliefs, engage in honest self-scrutiny, and do what's right for the broader good.

Our commitment to diversity

To build an effective effort to help eliminate educational inequality, Teach For America strives to enlist the energy and commitment of individuals who have the characteristics and skills necessary to advance our cause. These leaders will be diverse in ethnicity, race, and socioeconomic background. Their places on the political spectrum and their religious beliefs will be similarly varied, and we seek individuals of all genders and sexual orientations and regardless of physical disabilities. Maximizing the diversity of our organization is important in engaging all those who can contribute to our effort and also in ensuring our access to and participation in the circles of influence in our tremendously diverse society. Moreover, we seek to be diverse because we aspire to serve as a model of the fairness and equality of opportunity we envision for our nation.

At the same time that we value each individual who commits to our cause, we also place a particular focus on attracting and fostering the leadership of individuals who share the racial and/or socioeconomic backgrounds of the students underserved by public schools, many of whom are African-American and Latino/Hispanic children living in low income communities. We emphasize racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic diversity to enhance our impact.

Impact on students. Based on our experiences, we know students benefit from all talented, committed teachers. When such teachers are themselves from historically under-represented racial backgrounds or low-income families, they can have a profound additional impact because they can be particularly persuasive with students regarding the potential for success in education and in life.

Long-term impact. Alumni who share the racial and/or socioeconomic backgrounds of our students can also be particularly influential in the long-term push for societal change, because of their rich perspective and credibility, and because their leadership in and of itself demonstrates the value of that change.

Collective strength. While it is the responsibility of each person within Teach For America to make decisions with sensitivity to the needs and desires of our students and communities, we have seen that individuals who are themselves from under-represented racial backgrounds or low-income family backgrounds can often ground the discussions and advance the thinking of our corps, alumni groups, and organization in important ways.

Our work environment

Teach For America offers a dynamic and fast-paced work environment. All of our teams share many of the same characteristics: high degrees of responsibility, unwavering focus on quantitative measures, and commitment to continuous improvement. The entrepreneurial atmosphere and results orientation give team members both latitude and structure to achieve our ambitious goals.

Read about our organization

Our benefits

Teach For America offers a compensation and benefits package that is highly competitive with other nonprofit organizations. This comprehensive package includes health and dental benefits, a 403(b) retirement plan and employer matching program, generous vacation time, a flexible spending account, and maternity/paternity leave. The opportunity for flexible working arrangements further underscores Teach For America's commitment to our staff members.