Teach For America • Bay Area currently places corps members in six traditional school districts and a handful of independent charter schools. In the South Bay, corps members teach in San Jose Unified School District, Alum Rock Union School District, Gilroy Unified School District, and Ravenswood City School District In the East Bay, corps members teach in Oakland Unified School District, and West Contra Costa Unified School District. Beginning in the 2008-09 school year, corps members will also teach in the San Francisco Unified School District.
Collectively, these seven partner districts are responsible for the education of more than 200,000 students in 419 schools. Oakland Unified is one of our oldest partner districts and currently, the highest percentage of the Bay Area corps is placed there. Its incredibly diverse 52,000 students speak 22 different languages and dialects. In the South Bay, this diversity is matched with innovation in San Jose Unified, which recently partnered with Chevron and Bank of America to establish the largest solar power and energy-efficient facilities program in K-12 education in the United States. And this year, San Francisco Unified will pioneer the nation’s first family diversity curriculum to build awareness among its students on issues related to LGBT families and households.
Each district also faces deep disparities in student achievement. Last year, only 21 percent of West Contra Costa’s graduates left the district eligible for admission to either of California’s state systems of higher education. While Oakland’s 38 percent is a bit higher, it pales in comparison to the 89 percent of students in the affluent neighboring community of Piedmont who graduate ready for the UC and CSU systems. There are similar statistics in the South Bay where schools in Gilroy prepared only 29 percent of its graduates for entrance to Cal State or UC schools and in East San Jose where just 34 percent of their students were able to complete basic math computations by high school. On average, 35 percent of the students in the districts we serve are learning English as a Second Language, and 64 percent come from families that qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.
While applicants assigned to the Bay Area will have the chance to submit their preferences for particular school districts, it is important to note that corps member placement is driven solely by the needs of our district partners. Forty-nine percent 2007 corps members teach in the East Bay with 36 percent Oakland and 13 percent in West Contra Costa. The remaining 51 percent teach in the South Bay with 18 percent in San Jose, 18 percent in Alum Rock, 9 percent in Gilroy, and 6 percent in Ravenswood.
| School Districts: |
|---|
| East Bay (Oakland, Richmond) |
| Oakland Unified School District |
| West Contra Costa Unified School District |
| South Bay (San Jose, Gilroy, East Palo Alto) |
| Alum Rock Union School District |
| San Jose Unified School District |
| Gilroy Unified School District |
| Ravenswood City School District |
| San Francisco |
| San Francisco Unified School District |
| Ethnic Breakdown-Student Population | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oakland Unified | West Contra Costa Unified | Alum Rock Union | San Jose Unified | Gilroy Unified | Ravenswood City | San Francisco Unified | |
| African-American | 40% | 26% | 2% | 3% | 3% | 16% | 13% |
| Asian-American | 15% | 11% | 10% | 13% | 3% | 1% | 44% |
| Caucasian | 6% | 12% | 3% | 28% | 22% | <1% | 9% |
| Filipino | <1% | 7% | 7% | 2% | 1% | <1% | 6% |
| Latino/Hispanic | 35% | 40% | 77% | 51% | 67% | 72% | 22% |
| Native American | <1% | <1% | <1% | 2% | <1% | -- | <1% |
| Pacific Islander | 1% | 1% | <1% | <1% | <1% | 9% | 1% |
| Other | 2% | 3% | -- | 1% | 4% | <1% | 4% |
| Percent of Students that Qualify as Socio-economically Disadvantaged |
|---|
| South Bay |
| Ravenswood 84% |
| Alum Rock 100% |
| Gilroy 52% |
| San Jose Unified 35% |
| East Bay |
| Oakland 66% |
| West Contra Costa Unified 30% |
| San Francisco |
| San Francisco Unified 57% |
| Placements |
|---|
| 33% elementary |
| 37% middle school |
| 30% secondary |
| 94% teach at a school with another corps member or alumnus |
K-12 grade level placements:
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