A record 9 students from the PLC helped CU move into the top 20 list of Teach for America

July 23, 2010

A record 9 students from the Presidents Leadership Class (PLC) are among the 31 recent University of Colorado, Boulder graduates who helped CU move into the top 20 list of colleges and universities providing students for Teach for America. This is CU Boulder's highest-ever ranking and coincides with a significant increase in interest for the Teach for America program.

Teach for America (TFA) is a national corps of top college graduates who commit to teach for two years in urban and rural public schools across the country. In the 2009-10 academic year, TFA received a record 46,000 applications from graduating seniors, graduate students and professionals. The PLC students in the TFA program have accepted assignment from Mississippi to North Carolina.

Meagan Morton, Teach for America Recruitment Director in Colorado, acknowledged TFA's interest in recruiting PLC students. "In many ways it's not surprising that our total number is nearly one-third PLC students. They have proven to be outstanding additions to TFA and we're thrilled about this partnership."

Teach for America was started in 1990 by Wendy Kopp, who as a Princeton University undergrad wrote a thesis on that how college graduates could be convinced to choose teaching over more lucrative opportunities if a prominent teach corps existed. TFA's network has grown to over 28,000 individuals... including 9 new members from PLC.  

View the entire list here.