Teach for America

Our Mission

Teach For America exists to address the problem of the opportunity gap; our mission is to build the movement to eliminate educational inequity by enlisting our nation's most promising future leaders in the effort. In the immediate term, we serve as a critical source of talented and committed teachers, called corps members, who compensate for the additional challenges their students face to provide them with the educational opportunities they deserve. Our corps members' positive impact on students' academic achievement provides tangible evidence that it is possible for all students to succeed when they get the right support. At the same time, helping their students succeed intensifies corps members' sense of urgency and gives them a deep grounding in what it will take to ensure that all students in our nation have the opportunity to attain an excellent education. Over the long run, we produce an alumni force with the talent, conviction, insight, and experience to effect the fundamental changes necessary to realize our vision of educational opportunity for all. Our alumni work directly for change at every level of our education system, while also exerting pressure for positive change from outside the system:* continuing to serve as teachers, school principals, and district administrators* taking the pressure off schools by working to remediate the challenges of poverty by working in careers supporting economic development, public health, social services, and law* pioneering innovations in public service as social entrepreneurs* shaping our priorities and policies as advocates, policy advisers, elected officials, and influencers in other sectors.