Teach for America Welcomes Increase in Black Teachers

By Akeya Dickson
Washington Correspondent
NNPA News Service

Teach for America welcomes 700 African Americans in its latest incoming corps class.

As the interest rates on higher education loans ratchet up higher and higher year to  year, loan forgivingness programs have always been an attractive option for debt-laden graduates. We’re not sure if that’s why Teach for America is seeing the highest ever number of applications from African Americans to its program, but the organization will have 700 Black teachers this year – its highest number to date.

The organization announced last week that 13 percent of its 23rd incoming corps of teachers, are African American. The total incoming class includes 5,800 teachers.

The Root reports that “more than 48,000 people applied to the program this  year, including 1 in 4 seniors at Spelman, 11 percent of the graduating class at Clark Atlanta University, 10 percent at Hampton University and at Morehouse College, 8 percent at Howard, 6 percent at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and 4 percent at the University of Florida. At the Ivy League schools, 1 in 7 African American seniors applied.”