ASU ranks 14th for new Teach For America corps members

Arizona State University ranks 14th in the nation among large universities for its number of graduating seniors joining Teach For America this year. This week, Teach For America released its sixth annual ranking of colleges and universities that contributed the greatest number of graduates to its 2013 teaching corps.

ASU moved up three spots in this year’s ranking, climbing from 17th in 2012 to 14th in 2013. ASU is included in the “large schools” category among universities having 10,000 or more undergraduates. Teach for America's 5,900 incoming corps members represent more than 800 colleges and universities across the country.

This year, ASU nabbed the 14th spot with 42 incoming corps members – compared to 41 in 2012. The public university, with four campuses in the Phoenix metro area, first appeared on the top contributors list in 2008. In Teach for America’s 23-year history, 248 ASU alumni have taught in public schools as corps members.

Seventy-four percent of Teach for America’s 2013 corps members are outstanding recent college graduates from all majors who commit to teach in high-need, rural and urban schools for two years. Teach for America has partnered with the university since late 2006, when ASU President Michael M. Crow helped launch a shared commitment to developing and supporting future education leaders. In turn, philanthropist T. Denny Sanford helped to create the Sanford Inspire Program at ASU, which is redefining teacher preparation by integrating best practices of Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College and Teach for America.

“ASU’s partnership with Teach for America is groundbreaking in that it is so comprehensive, including recruitment, corps member support and development, alumni leadership and the institute we host each summer,” said ASU and Teach for America alumnus Nikki Gusz, Teachers College special assistant to the dean. “We also support cutting-edge innovations nationally like the Sanford Inspire Program and a class on changemaking in education for undergraduates.

“It’s gratifying to see that our team approach continues to prepare more and more ASU students to join the profession of teaching to inspire and positively impact all students across the country.”

ASU’s Teach for America partnership received the ASU President’s Medal for Social Embeddedness in 2008. The partnership is institution-wide with its coordination headquartered in Teachers College, Gusz said. More information about the ASU-Teach for America partnership is available at http://education.asu.edu/about/partnerships-projects/teach-for-america.

As part of its Teach for America partnership, Teachers College offers teacher support and development by offering graduate coursework relevant to subjects that corps members teach, including extended clinical supervision during their first two years of teaching. With this program, Teach For America corps members can earn master’s degrees in elementary education, secondary education or special education.

The first graduate cohort was admitted in fall 2007 and graduated in 2009. Since then, 648 Teach for America students have received a master's of education. Of those students, 29 attended ASU for their undergraduate degree, as well.

Teach for America’s annual Phoenix summer institute at ASU is a rigorous five-week preparation program for approximately 700 corps members from eight regions. It is one of 11 such intensive teacher training institutes conducted every summer, nationwide.