Teach for America Week

In chapter 4 of Forces for Good, Crutchfield and Grant briefly describe Teach for America Week, an annual program in which prominent leaders volunteer about an hour of their time to teach children in low-income schools. I was impressed by Teach for America's idea, because it seems like (as long as it works the way it is intended to work) all involved parties benefit from participating in the program. The leaders (many of whom are celebrities, politicians, inventors, or prominent businesspeople) are connected with a nonprofit cause that has a great reputation (and, ideally, gain knowledge and insight about the issues facing these children, preparing them to work on their behalf). The children get to learn from a successful leader who is dedicated to helping them reach their educational potential. And the organization gains a powerful ally in fulfilling its mission and bringing attention to these schools that need more funding and attention.

I looked up more information about the program on the Teach for America website and found a list of some of the leaders who have participated in the program over the last 14 years. Impressive!

The site did not include reports of how well the program is doing in reaching its goals, but to me it seems to be an important way to draw attention to the issues that Teach for America wants to address. Do you agree?