By Bill Beggs Jr.
Since 2002, a small army of educators has been on the move in St. Louis. Corps members from Teach For America (TFA), 165 strong, are working tirelessly to expand educational opportunities for more than 13,000 students growing up in the region’s most underserved communities.
They are not teachers per se, for the most part—that is, they may not have set out to be. Many are scientists, mathematicians; others are studying medicine or law. These young men and women graduated from many of the top universities in the country and could have easily started their careers in corporate positions, says Maxine Clark, CEO of Build-A-Bear Workshop. Clark serves on TFA’s national board and is regional board chair for St. Louis.
“They decided to devote two years of their lives to our country’s neediest students by helping them stay in school, and go to
college,” Clark says. “Not only are they effective leaders, but they are also driven, dedicated, patient—making them ideal job candidates that will thrive in almost any professional environment.”
Corps members work in 50 schools, including charter schools and other public schools in
St. Louis, Normandy and Wellston.
Nationally, some 12,000 TFA alumni are pursuing long-term change from within the education sector and beyond. In St. Louis, some 35 percent of corps members who completed their two-year commitments last spring remain committed to the organization’s goal of ending educational inequity: they are still teaching here.
“Teach For America has impacted many thousands of students in the region’s high-need schools,” Clark says. “The organization’s ambitious national growth plan calls for a corps of 8,000 to be teaching in at least 33 regions by 2010.”
TFA significantly raised the bar here in October, when Scott Baier was named
executive director of Teach For America-
St. Louis. Managing a regional staff of 13 and an annual budget of $4.1 million, Baier will oversee program management, growth
strategy, school and district relations, and fundraising. Baier, a 1997 TFA corps member, taught middle school English in Los Angeles. Most recently, Baier developed and implemented a range of academic partnerships between the University of Pennsylvania and a community high school in West Philadelphia.
With the hiring of Kelvin Adams, Ph.D., as superintendent of the St. Louis Public Schools, Baier is excited about the future of TFA and the District.
“I see a world of opportunity for our corps members and alumni to build on existing efforts to improve public education in the City,” Baier says.
TFA aims to place 200 corps members annually in St. Louis by 2010. They will join some 150 TFA alumni in the region working from within education and other professional sectors to level the playing field for children and families in low-income communities. Since TFA expanded to St. Louis in 2002, more than 375 corps members have influenced more than 40,000 students in the region’s low-income communities.
Here’s a look at just a few of the remarkable individuals behind the numbers:
• Adrian Larbi-Cherif, a second-year corps member, teaches high school physics at Cleveland NJROTC High School. From day one, Larbi-Cherif told his skeptical students they all could excel in his rigorous physics course with dedication and hard work. At the end of the 2007-2008 school year, his students had progressed from indecipherable answers on their initial tests to scoring an average of 20 percentage points higher than the previous school year. As the only physics teacher at his school, his classes made his school the second-highest performing City public school in physics, just behind the gifted and talented high school, Metro. Because of Larbi-Cherif’s leadership, his principal has added him to Cleveland NJROTC’s leadership committee and requested he start an AP Physics program at their school.
In addition to Larbi-Cherif, several other second-year corps members have been asked to start or head the AP program in their schools.
• Alexis Webb, a 2002 corps member, is currently pursuing her doctorate in neuroscience from Washington University. In addition to her many hours in the lab, Alexis is a leader of the University’s Young Scientist Program. As an integral organizer of the educational outreach series, she has touched the lives of more than 700 students. Her involvement ranges from hands-on “brain awareness” workshops at Saint Louis Science Center, to designing progressive high-school lessons with St. Louis Public Schools science teachers.
• Fellow alum Deva Rashed-Boone is diligently laying the groundwork as a Building Excellent Schools Fellow to lead a new 5-12 college preparatory school, St. Louis Collegiate, scheduled to open in 2010.
• Meanwhile, Natalie Means is serving her second year as an assistant principal after completing her training through the SLPS New Leaders Program. Means is slated to step up to a principal position and open a new school with SLPS for the 2009-2010 school year.
Such success stories keep Clark energized.
“My commitment to education, both in
St. Louis and nationally, prompted me to join Teach For America and assist with their vast efforts to put our country’s neediest children on the path to educational success.”
There’s no time to lose in the City and other communities where achievement has been abysmal, Clark emphasizes. TFA is not a panacea, but is an important component of the concerted region-wide efforts to improve the fortunes of the kids who need it most.
“Having a high-quality school system is vital to the long-term economic vitality of the region as these children represent our future—politically and in the business
community,” Clark says. “Without a strong City school system and a solid educational background, many of our children will not have the opportunity to reach their full potential. I want to do all that I can to give children the educational tools they need to grow and thrive.”
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