Dear Colleagues, Friends and Supporters,
I moved back to Louisiana from New York primarily because what I saw in the South Bronx convinced me that my previous understanding of what was possible in Louisiana had been wrong. In the Bronx 90% of my students, all of whom were born into and lived in poverty, graduated in 4 years with nearly all of them attending college. Statistics said that only 30% of them should graduate and less than 10% should attend college. The difference at Mott Hall Bronx High School was: (1) the quality of the school leader, (2) the quality of the teachers, and (3) the expectations placed on our students. In Louisiana, where more than 70,000 students have dropped out of school in the last 4 years and where less than 10% of kids who grow up in poverty will graduate with a college degree – the quality of the teacher, the quality of the leader and the expectations we set for students are things we can change and should change. Knowing this I packed up a career in New York and moved back to Louisiana to try make these changes a reality for our state and for our students.
Over the past two and a half years I’ve increasingly seen this vision come to be. Under the leadership of a Teach For America alum and heavily staffed by Teach For America corps members and alumni a school in East Feliciana Parish closed the gap between their students performance and the students of Zachary schools (the highest performing district in Louisiana) by more than half in one year’s time. In other words, in two years the students in East Feliciana are likely to be outperforming the best scoring students in Louisiana. I’ve seen my colleagues in South Texas work to create schools where 100% of their students—all of whom live in poverty and many of whom live in homes with dirt floors—graduate from high school, 100% attend college and 100% stay in college. All of this makes me realize again that education can be excellent in this state if we chose to make it happen.
Realizing the incredible need in Louisiana for great teachers and great leadership we have nearly tripled the number of new teachers (corps members) teaching in the Baton Rouge area. These new corps members state-wide represent, by far, the largest base of top-flight talent moving to Louisiana and their presence is leading the way in creating radical changes in the lives of the children in our public school system. We are beginning to change the expectations of what our community thinks is possible in education.
In keeping with this growth at Teach For America must raise the funds to continue this work. Sadly our ability to fund our work at scale is what could slow or stop such positive change. As a result, this is where I’m asking for your support. Today, September 30th marks the end of Teach For America’s fiscal year and as I write we have about $25,000 left to raise to claim a sizable challenge grant and hit a key funding mark this year. If we fall short, we’ll have little choice but to shrink the size of our work and in doing so cut much of the momentum I mentioned above. I’m sure you give to many other things but I can honestly say, I’ve never seen anything achieve the same sort of positive impact and change as the effect of a great teacher in a classroom that needs it, and I have never felt more hopeful or more urgent about making this change a reality.
To this end, I’ve personally committed to Sponsor A Teacher with Teach For America this year (a gift of $5,000)—even on my non-profit salary I believe that there is nothing more important we can do for our community. Given this, I’m asking wholeheartedly for your support for Teach For America—South Louisiana at whatever level you might be able to give. Whether $100, $500, $1,000 or $5,000—your support matters greatly.
To donate click here and select “South Louisiana” as the program. If you can’t give now but can pledge to do so in the future please reply to this e-mail with and let me know when and how much you would like to give. Attached you will find more information about our progress this year. Thank you deeply for your support and consideration!
Michael Tipton
Executive Director
Teach For America—South Louisiana
