Teach & Inspire

Recruiting teachers is not an easy task as any principal can tell you. But there are a lot of people out there that want to teach. In April 2007, the Tarrance Group conducted a survey of Florida residents and found that 28% wanted to teach at some point in their lives.

This month we started the Teach & Inspire scholarship program. It does confirm that there are many out there who want to teach. We had information sessions in Mississippi and Florida in January and had over 2,500 people attend those sessions. Of those, over 440 applied to be in the program. We have now sent out acceptance notices to 197.

To read the essays of these potential teachers is truly inspiring. They have come to a point in their lives where they know that they want to teach and they just need someone to help them get there.

“I want the children in my community to know that it is not about where you come from, it is about where you end up.”--Sundra Jefferson, Teach & Inspire participant

“Educators are here to help those that are falling by the wayside rise and achieve. Not only do I feel obligated to help these school districts, but I feel that it is my constitutional obligation as well.”--Christy Isom, Teach & Inspire participant

Through a Transition to Teaching grant, we will help place these great people with this incredible desire to teach into high needs schools teaching math, science, English and special education.

Amazing what can happen when politics get pushed aside in favor of real actions.