ASU's Teach For America Partnership

Press

ASU Insight, August 21, 2009

ASU News, August 5, 2009

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If you are interested in applying to Teach For America, please contact Apollonia Trujillo Gallegos, the ASU Recruitment Manager, at apollonia.gallegos@teachforamerica.org.

For additional information on ASU's Teach For America partnership, please contact Andrea Pursley, Executive Director of the Sanford Education Project, at andrea.stouder@asu.edu.

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Programs

• For current students
  InMAC
• For alumni
  Masters Online School Leadership
• For doctoral students
  Leadership and Innovation

Teach For America is a national corps of outstanding recent college graduates from all majors who commit to teach in urban and rural public schools for two years. In late 2006, ASU President Michael Crow and Teach For America Phoenix came together to create a four-pronged partnership that includes the areas of: Teach For America recruitment, teacher support and development, alumni leadership, and the Phoenix Institute.

ASU's Teach For America partnership received the ASU President's Medal for Social Embeddedness in 2008. In 2009, coordination of the partnership transitioned to Teachers College where it continues to thrive.

Teach For America Recruitment

ASU and Teach For America are working to increase the number of local college graduates serving in the Phoenix teaching corps. Corps members strive to meet the needs of local children, while developing the leadership skills necessary to tackle education issues in Arizona. ASU and Teach For America are engaged in several recruitment activities including sending letters annually to ASU seniors encouraging them to apply to the corps. Additionally, a strategy group made up of key stakeholders from both ASU and Teach For America meets monthly to discuss recruitment to Teach For America and other avenues for partnership.

Teacher Support and Development

Phoenix Teach For America corps members have the opportunity to apply for and enroll in ASU's Teachers College to work towards a masters degree with teaching certification in early childhood education, elementary education, secondary education, or special education. The program is tailored specifically to the unique teaching experience of corps members.

Alumni Leadership

Teach For America and ASU strive to retain Teach For America alumni in Arizona and attract alumni from other parts of the country who will take on leadership roles as advocates for children. As part of this effort, ASU's Teachers College, the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, and the W. P. Carey School of Business all offer educational incentives created specifically for Teach For America alumni.

ASU has committed to offer five Teach For America alumni fellowships annually for students pursuing graduate degrees in educational leadership from the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College. The Fellowship is in its sixth year with fifteen graduates and ten current students. It has been renewed through 2015 and will produce fifty Teach For America alumni who are ready to lead Arizona schools. Learn more about the ASU and Teach for America Alumni Education Leadership Fellowships.

Phoenix Institute

The Teach For America Phoenix Institute is a rigorous five-week summer preparation program where new corps members develop the skills necessary to become successful teachers in urban and rural schools across the country. Phoenix is one of only a few cities in the nation selected to house a Teach For America summer institute. The approximately 700 corps members who attend the Phoenix Institute go on to become first-year teachers in several cities across the southwest United States. The Phoenix Institute is held at the ASU Tempe campus.