The Real World of Teach for America

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.