What We’re Talking About
Welcome to TFA’s Connection Blog. A space to bring you the latest news, resources, and events happening among the Teach For America Community. Here is what we’re talking about in March:
As Teach For America prepares to celebrate 35 years of impact, the last three and a half decades have yielded over 70,000 TFA teachers, tutors, and alumni who have made lifelong commitments to making educational excellence a reality for every child.
We know the needs of our students and educators are as great as they have ever been. Teach For America is committed to creating opportunities for all children, starting with access to an excellent education. A prosperous economy, a strong democracy, and a healthy society are not possible without a public education system that equips every student with the skills, learning, and experiences they need to thrive in an increasingly challenging and complex world.
Teach For America has nearly 35 years of partnerships with more than 300 communities. We know firsthand the impact that education and the educational systems where we work have on the lives of students, and our ongoing responsibility to kids and communities serves as a constant reminder of the importance of working in a cross-sector, bipartisan coalition, and of bringing people together around a shared belief that every child has a right to an excellent education that puts them on a pathway to economic mobility and a life filled with possibility.
There is no single solution or path to ensuring an excellent education for every child, but extraordinary leadership is required to bring a sense of possibility, innovation, and entrepreneurship to the effort. We need the leaders of this country to know this issue and work to solve it throughout their lives. No one is better positioned than today’s young people to develop solutions and drive changes that will make educational excellence and equity a reality.
Spotlights
Teach For America and Harvard Graduate School of Education Partner to Expand Leadership Opportunities for Educators
Teach For America is partnering with Professional Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) to provide TFA alumni and corps members with access to high-quality leadership development programs. Through this collaboration, TFA educators can receive a 10% discount on select HGSE online certificate programs, equipping them with the skills to drive impact in classrooms, schools, and education systems nationwide. Learn more about this opportunity to grow as a leader and advance your career.
Announcing the 35th Anniversary Summit
For 35 years, Teach For America has been deeply committed to students and the communities we serve. As we mark this milestone, let’s come together as a community to celebrate, learn, and shape what’s next for TFA. See you on October 2nd, 2026 in Las Vegas!
SXSW EDU: Looking Back, Moving Forward: A Conversation on Leadership
SXSW EDU featured TFA CEO Elisa Villanueva Beard in a keynote conversation with TFA National Board Member and Aspen Institute President and CEO Dan Porterfield, Looking Back, Moving Forward: A Conversation on Leadership. As TFA approaches its 35th Anniversary, Elisa prepares to step down this spring after 27 years of transformative leadership, Elisa and Dan reflected on the lessons, challenges, and impact of Elisa’s nearly three decades of leadership in the education ecosystem and explored the challenges and opportunities facing the K-12 education system, strategies for reimagining the teaching role to ensure its future, fostering student engagement, and creating pathways that truly prepare young people for college, careers, and life beyond school.
TFA in the News
- Newsweek: TFA Earns 5-Star Rating on Newsweek’s 2025 List of America’s Greatest Workplaces for Women
- Crain’s Chicago Business: TFA’s Next CEO, Aneesh Sohoni Featured in Crain’s People on the Move
- Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service: TFA Milwaukee Expands Teacher Pathway Program to Address Educator Shortage
- WRKF-FM: TFA Greater Baton Rouge Executive Director, Laura Vinsant, Addresses Education Challenges and High Dosage Tutoring Initiatives
- Mirror Indy: TFA Alum and IPS Harshman Middle School Geometry Teacher, Ella Hereth, Wins Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching
- The Katy News: TFA Hosts Third Texas Education Symposium, Addressing School Funding, Math Gaps, and Teacher Pipeline
- CNBC: TFA Founder and Teach For All CEO, Wendy Kopp, Featured as “CNBC Changemaker”
- Vegas PBS: TFA Nevada Executive Director, Tim Hughes, Joins Panel Conversation on Improving Literary in Nevada
*Note: In pursuit of our vision of One Day and our 2030 impact goal, Teach For America has built a broad coalition, and we work alongside over 300 communities across 37 states, the District of Columbia, and sovereign nations. To meet the needs of the children we serve and our participants, we partner with several other organizations and entities to establish a repertoire of resources and supports. While we review these resources, we recognize the content of links may shift, change, or be not fully aligned with our complete view, values, or vision. The inclusion of any link is intended to direct users to potentially useful information. Teach For America encourages users to exercise their own judgment when accessing linked websites.
Data & Research
2024 NAEP Bright Spots and the Role of TFA
2024 student achievement data across states, as measured by NAEP, tells a story that is too familiar and that we cannot accept as the status quo: Our education system has not evolved fast enough to meet the needs of this generation of students or set them up with the learning, experiences, and skills they need to learn, lead, and thrive in the 21st century. The kids who were hit the hardest during COVID—the students we at Teach For America serve—are recovering the slowest. Across the country, the gap between the highest and lowest-achieving students is growing. That is the sobering truth we are contending with. However, Teach For America is seeing bright spots in many of the communities in which we work. The exceptional leaders we recruit, support, and develop to take on the challenges at every level of the education system—from the classroom to the district office to the state capitol and beyond—are essential to many of the bright spots showing up in the 2024 NAEP results.
What’s Happening Around March
Stay Connected
Whether you just joined the Corps or completed your service decades ago, there are many ways to find your fellow Corps members and friends and connect. We provide both an alumni directory for looking up your old friends and a career networking platform – TFA Connect – for when you want to expand your career network, and several networking events each year. You can even join the national TFA Alumni group on LinkedIn! Wherever you go, the TFA alumni network is accessible and ready to support you.
