Twenty-eight years ago, when Teach For America Founder Wendy Kopp was identifying the areas of our country most significantly impacted by educational inequity, South Louisiana was chosen as a founding region. As a state, Louisiana’s education system was, and still often is, ranked lowest when compared to other states. In response, Teach For America South Louisiana has brought more than 1,000 leaders to serve in classrooms across the region. A number of those leaders continue to play critical roles in changing the narrative for Louisiana’s students.
The past 10 years have shown us that Teach For America leaders are key contributors to the progress Louisiana continues to make in its efforts to shift education for the better. The number of students attending failing or near-failing schools has been reduced by 128,000 across the state, while Louisiana also posted the third highest average ACT composite score of the southern states testing 100 percent of their students. While this progress is meaningful, the work required to affect long-term change will require us to grow the number of leaders joining these efforts. Teach For America leaders are working in partnership with community to affect long-term change as classroom leaders, school leaders, nonprofit leaders, policy makers, and education advocates.
We know that families and students desire an education system that helps children gain access to opportunities through college and career. In response, Teach For America South Louisiana is committed to:
Providing Teach For America leaders the development and experiences necessary to lead schools that prioritize equitable practices and rigorous instruction.
Leveraging the knowledge and experiences from schools, leaders, and systems across Teach For America’s vast network to bring proven best practices to our region.
Growing our network to understand what role classroom leaders, school leaders, nonprofit leaders, policy makers, and education advocates play in leading change across schools and systems.
Thank you for your commitment to the children of South Louisiana. Your generous support fuels efforts to find, develop, and support a diverse community of leaders to create necessary change for our community.
