Home | Donate Now | Preguntas Frecuentes | Tell a Friend |

Las Vegas Valley

Teach For America • Las Vegas Valley is playing a critical role in improving schools and communities. This year, a corps of 90 of the nation’s top recent college graduates is working in underserved schools across the Las Vegas Valley to ensure that students facing the challenges of poverty are given the educational opportunities they deserve. Our alumni are leaders in the classroom, in education more broadly, and across all sectors. Together, they are making educational equity a reality in the Las Vegas Valley. Learn about living and teaching in the Las Vegas Valley.

Corps Impact

Alumni Impact

Financial Sustainability

Regional Supporters

Contact Us

Executive Director

Corps Impact

During the 2008-09 school year, 90 corps members are directly impacting the lives of more than 5,000 students in the Las Vegas Valley. Cassidy Reis is one example of the tremendous difference our corps members are making.

Cassidy Reis (Las Vegas Valley Corps '07) Undergraduate Institution: University of Arizona Major: Spanish Literature and Art History

At the beginning of the year, Cassidy Reis’ third grade students reading, on average, at a second grade level and struggled with their fluency. Despite these obstacles, Cassidy was determined to see her students excel academically. She developed a rigorous curriculum rooted in high expectations and focused on the skills her students needed to be able to read at grade level. By year’s end, Cassidy’s class was reading on a fourth grade level, the result an impressive average growth of two grade levels in reading comprehension. Like Cassidy, all of our Las Vegas Valley corps members work relentlessly to ensure their students receive the educational opportunities they deserve.

Principal Satisfaction

• 90 percent of recently-surveyed principals (in schools with Teach For America corps members) reported that they would hire another Teach For America teacher.
• 100 percent of Clark County principals surveyed regard Teach For America teachers as effective as, if not more effective than, other beginning teachers in terms of overall performance and impact on student achievement.*
  

*"Teach For America 2007 National Principal Survey,” Policy Studies Associates, July 2007.

Impact on Student Achievement

A growing body of research shows that corps members have a positive impact on their students' achievement. Read more about our impact.

Student Profile

• Students served who are eligible for free/reduced lunch: 64%
• Students served who are African-American and/or Latino: 73%

Las Vegas Valley: Corps Member Placement

Assignment	% of Corps*
Pre-K, Kindergarten	10%
Elementary School, Lower (1-2)	17%
Elementary School, Upper (3-5)	48%
Secondary Math	2%
Secondary English	17%
Secondary Science	6%
Special Education	9%

*Percentages are rounded and do not add up to 100 percent; corps members who teach bilingual, ESL, or special education are also accounted for in the grade-level/subject placement percentages

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

back to top

Alumni Impact

Fostering Alumni Leadership for Systemic Change
As the number of corps members grows, so does our alumni base. By 2010, we will have nearly 300 Teach For America • Las Vegas Valley alumni pursuing professional careers and impacting educational reform from every sector.

• Nationally, more than 60 percent of corps members continue to work in education,
  including more than 360 who are school leaders.
• 93 percent of all alumni report they are supporting Teach For America’s mission
  through their career, volunteer activity or graduate study.

Jenny Tan (Corps '00) Undergraduate Institution: University of California-Berkely Major: Cognitive Studies

Jason Unger (Corps '98) Undergraduate Institution: University of California-Los Angeles Major: Political Science

Jenny Tan and Jason Unger are two alumni continuing to work toward our vision in the Las Vegas Valley. After teaching third grade, Jenny earned two master’s degrees in elementary education and education administration. She now serves as the elementary principal at Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy. After his two-year commitment, Jason also went back to school to earn two master’s degrees from Harvard University in education policy and public policy. Jason now shapes education policy in Nevada as the senior policy advisor to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Jenny and Jason exemplify the impact our alumni continue to have in the Las Vegas Valley.

back to top

An Efficient Program: Cost Breakdown

Growing Our Impact: Funding Needs, 2008-2011

Each additional recruit is another dedicated teacher for children growing up in low-income communities in the Las Vegas Valley, 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
2008-09	94	$1.9 million
2009-10	100*	$2.4 million*
2010-11	200*	$5 million*
*projected

back to top

Regional Supporters

We are grateful to have many supporters who generously contribute to our movement in the Las Vegas Valley. 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.

Regional Advisory Board
Quentin Abramo President Faciliteq Architectural Interiors, Inc.
Gary N. Jacobs Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary MGM Mirage
Jennifer M. Mesa President, JMM Consulting
Sandy Miller Community Leader Former First Lady of Nevada

back to top

Contact

To support Teach For America • Las Vegas Valley with a gift or to request additional information about our impact or finances, please contact:

Teach For America • Las Vegas Valley
Allison Serafin, Executive Director

Matthew Wilson, Development Manager
1785 East Sahara Avenue
Suite 460
Las Vegas, Nevada 89104
p 702-696-9059, f 702-696-0907
allison.serafin@teachforamerica.org

matthew.wilson@teachforamerica.org

back to top

Executive Director

Allison Serafin oversees Teach For America – Las Vegas Valley. A 2001 Houston corps member, she most recently worked on Teach For America’s Recruitment team, leading the effort to recruit young professionals in the Houston area. In that role, she managed an initiative that resulted in more than 150 recent graduates and professionals applying to the 2008 corps. Her efforts also helped the team achieve 34 percent growth in such applicants nationally. Serafin previously served as a recruitment director, and also worked on the Marketing team as director of online media and video production. She joined Teach For America staff in 2003 as a program director in the Greater Philadelphia-Camden region, before returning to the classroom for the 2004-05 school year. At YES College Preparatory School in Houston, she led 100 percent of her seventh grade arts and humanities students to pass the Texas reading and writing exams. She also spent three summers on staff at Teach For America’s Houston institute, most recently as a school director. Serafin earned a B.S. from Texas Christian University and a master’s degree in social work from the University of Texas at Arlington.

back to top