Learning Matters

While our country is on the eve of electing a new leader, our nation?s education system is in crisis. What should our next President do to fix it? We posed that question to educators, students, parents and policy makers and created our ?Education Advice to the Next American President? podcast series.

Nearly ten months after Haiti's devastating earthquake that killed thousands and left 1.5 million homeless, not much has improved. But people are working to change that.

When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005, it dealt a massive blow to an already struggling school system. This series follows Paul Vallas through his first year as Superintendent as he charges forward to make inroads against obstacles that have long plagued New Orleans’ schools.

What is it actually like for young Teach for America corps members, thrust into a classroom after eight weeks of training? What motivates them to teach, and what will keep them in schools after their two-year commitment ends? And is, as a recent study asks, Teach for America accomplishing its goal of creating lifetime civil servants? This series explores those questions. Over the course of two years, Learning Matters producers followed 7 Teach for America recruits as they fulfilled their assignments in New Orleans.

What is it actually like for young Teach for America corps members, thrust into a classroom after eight weeks of training?