Teach for America: Keeping a promise of transformational change for Florida students
Almost three years ago, Teach for America’s Florida regions made a bold promise: By 2030, twice as many students in communities where the organization works will reach key educational milestones, like proficiency in third-grade reading, as well as fourth-grade and seventh-grade math, indicating they are on a path to economic mobility and co-creating a future filled with possibility. Teach for America is making good on that promise and is creating transformational change for students in Florida.
As experts in the field of reimagining education, the organization not only endured great challenges over the past couple of years but also found enormous opportunities to innovate and evolve. Teach for America is still taking steps to undergo organizational shifts to become a more focused, agile organization that can continue to make good on its promise of impact, regardless of inevitable future challenges.
Michael Holzman: Florida doesn’t support basic skills education among minority students
Specialized speech & hearing education: Jacksonville nonprofit provides pathway to education for siblings with hearing loss
Letters: Navy's pilot program for recruitment features drag queen, raises many questions
Teach for America Florida is heavily focusing on deepening the impact of its current network by galvanizing the extraordinary talent and leadership of its experienced alumni educators. Investment in more alumni programming is one of the key strategies in positioning educators to have the greatest impact on students.
The second shift the organization is undergoing to fulfill its promise focuses on creating more pathways for entering the teaching profession. Teach for America is partnering with local organizations and universities to combat the teacher shortage by creating accelerator programs and internships that will enlist and prepare college seniors to teach in classrooms post-graduation.
Similarly, Teach for America created the Ignite Fellowship, a virtual tutoring program that enlists college students to support students in classrooms. The program will launch in Jacksonville this fall and is a critical strategy that will expand and deepen the organization’s impact on students in Florida.
I urge our community and business leaders to support and amplify Teach for America’s critical efforts. While education has changed and will continue to change and face new challenges in the coming years, Teach for America remains committed to delivering on its promise to students and clearly, it understands the significance of what that promise holds.
Teach for America works in partnership with 250 urban and rural communities across the country to expand educational opportunities for children. Founded in 1990, Teach for America recruits and develops a diverse corps of outstanding leaders who make an initial two-year commitment to teach in high-need schools and become lifelong leaders in the effort to end educational inequity.
Today, Teach for America is a force of over 67,000 alumni and corps members working in over 9,000 schools nationwide in pursuit of profound systemic change. From classrooms to districts to state houses across America, they are reimagining education to realize the day when every child has an equal opportunity to learn, lead, thrive and co-create a future filled with possibility. Teach for America is a proud member of the AmeriCorps national service network. For more information, visit TeachforAmerica.org and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
Greg Szkotnicki, vice president, GuideWell and Teach for America Jacksonville board chairman
This guest column is the opinion of the author and does not necessarily represent the views of the Times-Union. We welcome a diversity of opinions.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Teach for America to launch virtual tutoring program in Jax this fall
