Groundwork for Change
How Teach For America Alumni Shaped Education in Three Cities
About This Series
For 35 years, Teach For America (TFA) has built its model around a long-term idea: that teachers who begin their careers in classrooms serving low-income communities will go on to lead change across the education sector and beyond. Since 1990, roughly 72,000 people have gone through the program and many now occupy leadership positions in communities across the country.
Bellwether’s “Groundwork for Change” series provides a comprehensive examination of whether and how TFA alumni shaped education reform in three cities that became national bright spots for reform over the past two decades: Denver, Colorado; Camden, New Jersey; and New York City, New York.
Across these three cities, alumni brought shared experiences, aligned values, and a common orientation toward change that made them a consequential force as they helped shape, implement, and sustain reform. While the changes seen in each city were certainly driven by a wide range of dedicated leaders and contextual factors, evidence suggests that without the contributions of TFA alumni, the design, pace, depth, and impact of those reforms would likely look different today.
Read the Groundwork for Change overview and explore the case studies.
Explore the Overview and Case Studies
Each city tells a different version of a very similar story. In Denver and New York City, thousands of TFA alumni moved across sectors, founding schools, running district offices, advocating, and shaping policy. In Camden, a small, concentrated group remade the city’s central district office and launched schools that played a pivotal role in its turnaround.
Across all three cities, alumni:
- Established a vision and architecture for reform.
- Executed a vision for change as district lieutenants.
- Founded, led, and staffed high-quality school options.
- Led advocacy and public will-building efforts around change.
Individually, the case studies examine each city’s history of education reform and TFA alumni’s role in that systems change. Together, they illustrate alumni’s meaningful contributions to classrooms, schools, and districts in Denver, Camden, New York City, and beyond.
Read the Groundwork for Change overview.
See how this change unfolded, city by city.
Acknowledgments, About the Authors, About Bellwether
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the many experts who gave their time and shared their knowledge with us to inform our work, including Parker Baxter, Heather Harding, and Beth Schueler, who provided thoughtful advice and feedback on earlier drafts of this work. Thank you also to the Walton Family Foundation for its financial support of this project.
We would also like to thank our Bellwether colleagues Daniela Torre Gibney, Biko McMillan, Teresa Mooney, Priyanka Patel, and Andrew J. Rotherham for their input. Thank you to Amy Ribock, Kate Stein, Andy Jacob, McKenzie Maxson, Esta Sherr, Temim Fruchter, Julie Nguyen, and Amber Walker for shepherding and disseminating this work, and to Super Copy Editors.
The contributions of these individuals and entities significantly enhanced our work; however, any errors in fact or analysis remain the responsibility of the authors.
About the Authors
DAVID CASALASPI
David Casalaspi is an associate partner at Bellwether. He can be reached at david.casalaspi@bellwether.org.
SOPHIE ZAMARRIPA
Sophie Zamarripa is an associate partner at Bellwether. She can be reached at sophie.zamarripa@bellwether.org.
MELISSA STEEL KING
Melissa Steel King is a senior partner at Bellwether and leads the organization’s work on measurement and continuous improvement. She can be reached at melissa.king@bellwether.org.
JASON WEEBY
Jason Weeby is the founder and principal consultant at Periscope Advising. He can be reached at jason@periscopeadvising.com.
Bellwether is a national nonprofit that works to transform education to ensure young people — especially those furthest from opportunity — achieve outcomes that lead to fulfilling lives and flourishing communities. Founded in 2010, we help mission-driven partners accelerate their impact, inform and influence policy and program design, and bring leaders together to drive change on education’s most pressing challenges. For more, visit bellwether.org.
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