Teach For America - Twin Cities: Sponsor A Teacher

One day, all students in Minnesota will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education. That's our vision at Teach For America - Twin Cities. Help bring us closer to 'One day' by donating on Give to the Max Day!

Meet Mr. Thomas*. As a first-year teacher in a low-income community, Mr. Thomas faced innumerable challenges. Besides the usual demands of daily lesson planning and classroom management, Mr. Thomas faced the additional reality that the majority of his fourth grade students had entered his class significantly below grade level in reading. The odds were not in this novice teacher’s favor.

Fortunately, Mr. Thomas did not let odds dictate his students’ academic trajectory: by working hard to identify students’ needs, collaborating with veteran teachers to implement best practices, and holding his students to high behavioral and academic expectations, Mr. Thomas’ fourth graders experienced incredible growth. In just one school year, his students had achieved an average of 1.9 years’ growth in reading and 2 years’ growth in math on the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) exam. Seventy-six percent of his students passed the statewide MCA 2 reading exam. In his second year teaching, that number rose to 96%.

Mr. Thomas is a 2009 Teach For America corps member and continues to teach at his placement charter school in North Minneapolis. We at Teach For America strive to recruit, train, and continually support phenomenal teacher-leaders like Mr. Thomas in an effort to ensure that all children in the Twin Cities have access to an excellent education.

Our teachers, fueled by the experience of leading low-income students to significant academic and personal growth, become leaders in the broader movement to create life-changing opportunities for kids growing up in poverty.

*Name has been changed for privacy reasons.