Alumni impact over time

The continued leadership of our alumni is critical to ensuring the realization of our vision of educational equity and excellence. Given our significant growth in corps size in recent years-more than half of our alumni (57 percent) joined the corps in the past five years-we are just beginning to see their impact.

Alumni in education over time

Even as we have grown our impact in all sectors, the percentage of alumni working and studying in education has remained largely consistent. This is even more powerful when it is contrasted with the fact that only one in 10 incoming corps members reports that teaching is one of his or her top career options.

School year Alumni percentage 2003/04 62% 2004/05 63% 2005/06 63% 2006/07 67% 2007/08 66%	Alumni in school leadership over timei
	(tracking began in Fiscal Year 2005)

Alumni by sector

Approximately two-thirds (66 percent) of Teach For America alumni are currently working or studying full-time in the field of education. Those who work outside of education bring their unique experience and perspective to a great variety of sectors-including law, business, medicine, and policy-to increase opportunities in low-income communities.

Alumni in education

Among the 66 percent of alumni working or studying full-time in education, approximately two-thirds are working in K-12 schools. 91 percent of alumni working in schools are impacting low-income communities.

Alumni in school and teaching leadership

This year, 293 principals and 23 superintendent/district/charter leaders are impacting more than 320,000 students across the country.

4 alumni serve as traditional school district superintendents/chancellors:

• Cami Anderson (L.A. Corps '93), Superintendent of District 79, Alternative Schools and Programs, New York City Department of Education
• Bret Champion (Houston Corps ’91), Superintendent of Leander Independent School District (Texas)
• Brian Osborne (N.Y.C. Corps '91), Superintendent of South Orange/Maplewood School District (New Jersey)
• Michelle Rhee (Baltimore Corps '92), Chancellor of the District of Columbia Public Schools

5 leaders of public charter school networks:

• Christopher Barbic (Houston ’92), Head of Schools, YES College Preparatory Schools (Houston)
• Furman Brown (Los Angeles ’90), Founder/Executive Director, Generation Schools (New York City)
• Mike Feinberg (Houston ’92), Co-Founder and Superintendent, KIPP Schools (National)
• David Levin (Houston ’92), Co-Founder and Superintendent, KIPP Schools (National)
• Thomas Torkelson (Rio Grande Valley ’97), Founder and Director, IDEA Public Schools (Rio Grande Valley)

Hundreds of alumni have been honored as teachers of the year at the national, state, district, and school levels. In the 2007-2008 school year, just a few of them include:

• Shannon Brady (South Dakota ’06), 2008 South Dakota Middle School Teacher of the Year
• Carrie Holmes (Baltimore ’03) and Mekia Love (Mississippi Delta ’01), 2007 American Stars of Teaching (a national award given by the U.S. Department of Education)
• Laura Hoover (Phoenix ’00), 2007 Agnes Meyer Outstanding Teacher Award (by The Washington Post)
• Robert Kelty (New Mexico ’01), 2008 Arizona Teacher of the Year
• Ann Quarles (Eastern North Carolina ’01), 2008 Wake County Teacher of the Year (North Carolina)
• Scott Wolf (Bay Area ’04), 2007/2008 Silicon Valley Teacher of the Year

Alumni in political, policy, and advocacy leadership

In recent years, Teach For America alumni have been successful in assuming leadership roles within the political arena. A growing number of alumni are pursuing politics as an avenue for change.

Currently, 15 Teach For America alumni currently serve as elected officials

• Josh Anderson (New York City Corps '04), Lincoln Elementary Local School Council (Chicago)
• Layla Avila (Los Angeles Corps '97), South Whittier School District Board of Trustees (California)
• Sekou Biddle (New York City Corps '93), D.C. State Board of Education
• Denise Boban (Phoenix Corps '05), Nettlehorst Elementary Local School Council (Chicago)
• Dani Duran (Los Angeles Corps '04), Downtown Neighborhood Council (Los Angeles)
• Tina Hone (Bay Area Corps '93), Fairfax County School Board (Virginia)
• Greg Janes (South Louisiana Corps '94) Ravenswood Elementary Local School Council (Chicago)
• Natasha Kamrani (Houston Corps '91), Houston Independent School District Board of Education
• Mike Kristovic (Mississippi Delta Corps '03), Henry Clay Elementary Local School Council (Chicago)
• Nicholas Krump (Metro D.C. Corps '97), Phoenix Elementary School District Governing Board
• Jen Miller-Arsenault (Rio Grande Valley Corps '92), Rumney Memorial School Board (Vermont)
• Kunjan Narechania (Eastern North Carolina Corps '00), Sabin Magnet Elementary Local School Council (Chicago)
• Efe Osagie (Houston Corps '04), Willingboro School Board (New Jersey)
• Drew Elliot Smith (Bay Area Corps '99), North Plainfield School Board of Education (New Jersey)
• Edd Taylor (Bay Area Corps '92), Pierce Elementary Local School Council (Chicago)

More than 500 alumni work on Capitol Hill or in policy and/or advocacy. A few of them include:

• Jason Unger (Los Angeles ’98), Senior Policy Advisor, U.S. Senator Harry Reid, (D – Nevada)
• Dominique Duval-Diop (South Louisiana ’93), Senior Associate, PolicyLink
• Heather Peske (South Louisiana ’92), Senior Associate, The Education Trust
• Abigail Smith (Eastern North Carolina ’92), Special Assistant to the Deputy Mayor for Education, Washington D.C.
• Josh Winter (New York City ’93), Assistant Vice President, New York City Economic Development Corporation

Alumni social entrepreneurs

Many alumni are using their unique perspectives and leadership to create some of today’s most successful social ventures.

21 alumni have founded and continue to lead some of our country’s most innovative social enterprises, including:

• Amy Averett (Eastern North Carolina ’91), Austin Voices, an organization that works to strengthen schools by connecting youth with policy-makers
• Kristin Ehrgood (Baltimore ’92), SAPIENTIS, an organization that develops programs to stimulate change in the public education system of Puerto Rico
• Anthony Jewett (New York City ’03), Bardoli Global Inc., an organization that works to empower historically underserved student leaders of color to embark on life-changing international exchange and study abroad programs
• Alec Ross (Baltimore ’94), One Economy, an organization that brings broadband service and IT tools to low-income communities
• Axel Shalson (Los Angeles ‘95), Red Schoolhouse Software, a web-based education software company that enables schools to easily analyze assessment data and student demographic information
  

6 out of 23 members of the Aspen Institute and NewSchools Venture Fund’s second class of Entrepreneurial Leaders for Public Education are alumni. They join 3 other alumni who were in the inaugural class.

• Cami Anderson (Los Angeles ‘93), Superintendent for District 79, New York City Department of Education
• Tim Daly (Baltimore ’99), President, The New Teacher Project
• Natasha Kamrani (Houston ‘91), School Board Member, Houston Independent School District
• Diane Robinson (Los Angeles ’94), Director of Recruitment and Selection, KIPP Schools
• Hae-Sin Thomas (Bay Area ’93), Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, UrbanEd Solutions
• Sarah Usdin (South Louisiana ’92), Founder and President, New Schools for New Orleans

Alumni accolades

Alumni have received hundreds of prestigious awards over the years. This year alone, some of the most notable awards include:

• 3 Coro Fellows in Public Affairs, 3 Fulbright Scholars, 3 Presidential Management Fellows, and 2 Broad Residents in Urban Education
• Scott Thompson (New York City ’06) was awarded one of 32 American Rhodes Scholarships for 2008; this is the fourth consecutive year that a Teach For America corps member or alumnus has won a Rhodes Scholarship.

Graduate schools with highest number of alumni enrolled