All about: Teach For America
People who do not graduate high school generally perform at a much lower level than those who do. Teach for America is an organisation which is committed to provide quality education for children and teenagers at risk areas. This is done by use members of the organisation as teachers.
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What is Teach for America?
Description of the organisation
Teach for America is an organisation that has been around long enough to celebrate their
20 year anniversary in 2011. Over the years, this organisation has been helping children and teenagers to get through high school.
Reasons to enable people to graduate
People who do not graduate high school are at a high risk of getting involved with drugs and criminal activity.
Girls who are in risk schools often find themselves pregnant at a young age.
Life inequalities
Other challenges that people without a high education may face, are getting into college or getting jobs that pay more than minimum wage. These people will generally not perform as well as they could be in many areas of life.
Aims and objectives
Teach for America aims to combat this by placing members of their organisation into classrooms as teachers. Generally, volunteers will work for Teach for America for two years. The organisation places students in areas that have at risk students.
Criticism directed towards such an organisation
It is important to note that this program has received some criticism. The mathematica policy research program compared the results of students studying with Teach for America volunteers to the results of students studying with regular teachers. In both, many students achieved similar results.
How to get involved?
Benefits of the organisation
People who are interested in joining this program will be pleased to learn that there are many benefits to this role.
Volunteers are paid, have health insurance as well as retirement benefits. People who are in this program also get student loan grants and interest payments. There is also financial support for those who are getting started in the form of accommodation costs.
Criteria for applying
Those who wish to apply must have a bachelor's degree from an accredited college.
Students should also have a cumulative GPA of at least 2.5. People who are not legal residents of the United States of America are not eligible to apply. Those who are interested in applying for a position should go to the Teach for America website.