If you’re interested in policy, whether international or domestic relations, begin your career with Teach For America. By committing two years to teach in an urban or rural community, you will take on an intense personal challenge, working relentlessly to ensure that your students succeed. At the same time, the experience will provide an unparalleled firsthand look at how our country’s policies—not only in education, but also in healthcare, housing, and economics—impact the lives of students and their families. Many alumni who now work in policy state unequivocally that their two years in the corps informed their convictions about the methods that are necessary to solve societal disparities, while also lending them credibility that proves invaluable in influencing our nation’s policymakers.
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I was always aware of the differences in educational opportunities for children across Brooklyn, where I grew up, and across the country. From my earliest experience, it was clear that there were significant differences in educational opportunity. A key reason I joined Teach For America was to help bridge those discrepancies.
Teaching English as a second language to middle school students in Houston, however, was eye-opening and gave me even more personal insight into the obstacles that impede greater educational opportunity for all children. I developed a better understanding of the specific challenges facing first-generation immigrants and their children. I became much more sensitive to how different societal problems compound and affect one another.
Realizing how interconnected these issues are influenced my decision to pursue a leadership position in local government. From my classroom experience, I knew the value of building relationships and support systems in order to strengthen the community. That helped me to be an effective teacher, and it has continued to help me throughout my career.
Today I serve people in a way that is very similar to my Teach For America experience. I'm immersed in my community, just as I was when I was teaching. I am accountable for providing public safety, transportation, parks and recreation, clean water, and other environmental services for which the City of Tucson is directly responsible. I approach my job the same way I approached teaching: actively and personally. I try to understand, from the service level, the challenges people face. It's one thing for a director of an organization to come to the mayor's office and ask for $100,000 of city money for a program-you can comprehend it at a conceptual level-but I go to the site where they're delivering the service, talk to the people who are using the service, understand from their perspective how it works, and see if the investment the city is making is valuable.
I want to pursue public policy objectives by understanding on the street level how they work. Government, education, healthcare-all the institutions upon which our communities and our nation depend-are only as strong as individual citizens make them. One of the benefits of the Teach For America experience is that you gain a profound, personal understanding of the challenges that many communities in our country face. Whether it's at the ballot box or as a career choice, the experience of being able to make positive change is powerful and invaluable.
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When I was a teenager, my family moved from rural Louisiana to Virginia, and many of the teachers at my new school had studied at the University of Virginia, which was right down the street. I knew almost immediately that I was getting the kind of education I wouldn't have gotten at my old school, and I felt that disparity was outrageous.
Eventually, that feeling led me to Teach For America, and I returned to Baton Rouge to teach sixth grade science. On my first day, I gave my students a fourth grade diagnostic test, thinking it would be easy for them. Three of my kids started crying because they couldn't even begin to answer the questions. Until that day, I hadn't truly understood how profound the achievement gap was-despite my own experience. But over time I saw that my being in that classroom made a difference. Plus, I was gaining so much experience, and the kind of experience you get from Teach For America is not available everywhere. Every single day, you're making important decisions, learning from your mistakes, and figuring out how to duplicate great successes.
I loved having an immediate impact on 150 kids, but I knew there were so many other kids who needed so much more. That's why I made the jump to federal policy. Someone in my current job typically would have a master's degree in public policy or education, but when I was interviewing, there were no questions about Senator Clinton's education agenda or voting record-it was all about my teaching experience. I know how national policy plays out on the classroom level, and that gives me an authority that's absolutely essential to my effectiveness. Once people find out I was a teacher, the conversation gets a lot easier.
Working on public policy allows me to broaden my impact to include children all around the country, but everything relates back to that sixth grade classroom in Baton Rouge. I'm constantly asking myself, "What have I done today that my kids can point to and know that that was me advocating for them?" Ultimately, by working for Senator Clinton, I'm working for my kids.
Click here to hear from alumni in public policy about how Teach For America has impacted their decisions and perspectives.
Teach For America and the Kennedy School at Harvard share a simple yet powerful belief: that each of us can make the world a better place. At the Kennedy School, Teach For America alumni can build upon the insight and experience gained in the classroom to prepare to become leaders in solving our country's most compelling social and public problems.
- David Ellwood
Dean, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
Public policy and public administration graduate schools partner with Teach For America to offer special benefits for corps members and alumni, including a two-year deferral and scholarships. They recognize and value that alumni have gone through a highly selective process and have engaged in a challenging professional experience. Click here to search our complete database.
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