June 2008

Looking for Leadership in All the Right Places

A Teach for America corps member in a New York City public school. Photo by Jean-Christian Bourcart.

One of the cornerstones of a school's success is the quality of its leadership, but with impending principal retirements, hundreds of new schools, and high turnover, effective leaders for the City's public schools are in high demand.

Teach For America is now in its 18th year of recruiting outstanding college graduates to commit two years to teaching in public schools. More than 1,000 of these bright and energetic corps members are currently teaching in New York City schools, boosting student achievement, getting grants, and leading after-school programs. Today, 110 former corps members are principals or fill other leadership roles, but that’s not enough. In fact, Chancellor Joel Klein has asked Teach For America to ramp up its efforts to get more young teachers on the leadership track.

With a 2008 $50,000 grant, Teach For America recruited alumni of the program, invited them to events, alerted them to training programs, and helped them with applications, interview preparation, and getting scholarships—keeping a growing number of qualified candidates plugged into the latest job opportunities as future leaders of our public schools.