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Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Local News | Teach for America seeks foothold in Seattle area | Seattle Times Newspaper

Local News | Teach for America seeks foothold in Seattle area | Seattle Times Newspaper

Teach for America seeks foothold in Seattle area

Teach for America is working to bring its corps of young college graduates here to teach in Seattle-area schools next fall.

Seattle Times education reporter

Teach for America, the high-profile organization that steers recent college graduates into teaching, hopes to place 50 of its recruits into Puget Sound schools next fall — the organization's first foray into Washington state since the mid-1990s.

The Federal Way School District has agreed to hire four to 10 Teach for America corps members — typically non-education majors who go into the classroom after five weeks of summer training. Seattle Public Schools is considering placing 20 to 25 more.

If Teach for America succeeds in getting a total of 50 placements in the next few months and raises a little more money, it will open operations here in September, and the Seattle area would become its 40th site across the nation.

The organization, which has grown tremendously since its beginnings 20 years ago, is in the middle of a