Rochester to host Teach for America statewide summit

Rochester-area educational leaders will gather this weekend to attend the Teach For America New York 2026 Statewide Summit.

The two-day event, “Empire State of Mind: Harnessing New York’s Power to Fuel Progress,” will feature keynote speeches from Rochester City School District Superintendent Eric Jay Rosser, and New York State Regent Adrian Hale. There will also be networking opportunities, lightning talks, and breakout sessions focused on special education, policy, teacher retention, partnerships, leadership, student career-pathways, and more.

“It really is going to bring together a variety of individuals who really care a lot about education, as well as really want to think creatively about what it takes to prepare young people for the workforce of the future and what it will take to collectively lift our state,” says Tia Morris,  executive director of Teach For America New York and New Jersey, and a TFA alumna.

TFA New York is expanding, Morris adds, and Rochester was selected as a connective nexus point for the state. Some 150 TFA alumni live in the area, which “was one of the reasons it really caught our eyes.”

The organization was started in 1990 by Wendy Kopp, a Princeton University graduate whose thesis argued that getting talent from top-level colleges into teaching could help America’s least-resourced schools. Even if they were only involved in schools temporarily, this approach could refocus young people on fixing a broken educational system, instead of chasing high-status professions.

The program’s largest component is the TFA Corps, which places college students in full-time, paid teaching positions at under-resourced K-12 schools. Corps teachers, many who come from majors outside of education, receive a crash course in teaching and instruction primarily over the summer months before they are hired by a participating school, typically on a two-year contract. TFA teachers also receive ongoing coaching, development, and support during their two-year commitment.

TFA has grown to be a major nonprofit; Form 990 tax documents show it had net assets of $596 million in 2025. That year, the organization reported revenues of $308 million, with most coming from contributions, grants, or contracts, and an endowment of $392 million.

Its reach is similarly large, stretching across the country to 36 states as well as Washington, D.C., with “placement communities” ranging from major cities to entire portions of states. In the 2024-2025 school year, TFA had 4,100 corps members teaching nearly 300,000 students as well as 2,100 Ignite fellows teaching 5,000 students.

“Teach for America has been really at the forefront of advancing educational opportunities for the last 35 years. I’m really proud of the work that we’ve done. In New York City alone, we’ve brought in over 6,000 new teachers,” says Morris.

“When we look at where education is going in this country for the last 15 years, the education sector has been declining if you look at enrollment to teaching colleges,” she adds. “Teach for America is actually bucking that trend. We’ve seen 60 percent growth over the last four years. We’ve really gotten pretty good at not only recruiting talent, (and) these are individuals who never thought they might go into education, but getting them to commit to it.”

Expansion plans

In New York, TFA currently places teachers only in New York City schools, although Buffalo is identified as an Alumni Innovation Region that “cultivates alumni leadership, learning and impact.”

The event in Rochester could signal the start of expansion in the state, however. TFA’s possible involvement in Rochester is yet to be determined, but Morris says it could include services beyond teacher placements.

“We think that anything that we do needs to be in partnership with the community. So, we really want to see how we might be best of value,” she says. “The hope is to develop a deep partnership here in Rochester and to really bring resources to help continue to expand educational opportunities.

“When I look at some of the challenges here in Rochester, unfortunately, it has some of the lowest levels of student achievement in the state, (and) also some of the highest levels of poverty. I don’t take that lightly.”

Morris says she has already met with Rochester educational leaders including Rosser, READY executive director Shanai Lee, and Innova Girls Academy charter school founder and TFA alumna Lindsay Swanson.

“Access and opportunity don’t happen by accident, they require leadership,” says Morris. “I think it’s very important that we’re thinking about how we leverage great leadership in this city, and across the state, in truly shaping the future we want for our kids. 

“We’re hoping that we can be part of that conversation, which is why we’re hosting the summit (in Rochester),” she adds. “We’re hoping that we can be part of that conversation beyond just the summit.”

Beyond teachers

TFA’s teaching corps is only one of its offerings. Morris points to its Ignite fellowship, a 14-week paid virtual tutoring program, as well as teacher professional development, EdTech, and artificial intelligence-based solutions as other services it could bring to the area.

In particular, she sees potential alignment with TFA’s technology-embracing approach and Rochester’s history of innovation.

“We know that AI is everywhere. As I’m speaking to more and more leaders, I’m seeing school leaders trying innovative things,” Morris says. “Historically, cities like Rochester have been hubs of innovation. I think that if we can tap into that DNA, we could actually chart a new course.

“When we look at the shifts that are happening, occupationally, there’s going to be as many as 1.1 million (jobs), some studies show, in terms of the proportion of jobs that are driven by AI and automation, and that require new technical skills,” she notes. “So, if we know that that’s where the workforce is going in our state, then it’s incumbent upon us to ensure that young people are the ones (who) are doing the creating, who are doing the programming, who are actually leading in that space.”

With these developments, TFA believes there is also a need to teach students how to use technology responsibly and proactively. Morris says AI should be viewed as a tool that can be leveraged to help outline ideas or study instead of cheating, for instance.

“When the calculator first came around, I’m sure everyone thought that that was cheating. And now it’s become mainstream,” she says.

TFA’s interest in new technology makes sense; Silicon Valley veterans have played key roles in both its organizational and alumni ranks. The New York board leadership features a collection of executives from the tech, finance, private equity, and nonprofit worlds. Associated companies such as Overdeck Family Foundation and Gingerbread Capital have recently made investments in the AI technology space.

Overall, TFA’s stance is a combination of “tech-optimism” mixed with a desire to remain on the cutting edge of development.

“In general, I think that this is an inflection point for our state where we’re going to need to really decide how it is we’re going to move in education,” Morris says. “Are we going to set the tone or are we going to be left behind?”

Charter connection

Although TFA has publicly expressed a neutral stance toward educational models, its support of charter schools has drawn scrutiny.

A 2019 report by ProPublica showed that top donor money came from school-choice advocates such as the Walton Foundation and the Bloomberg family. The nonprofit news organization, which found favoritism toward charter schools in teacher placements and alumni support, described TFA as “an arm of the charter school movement.”  The majority of Teach For America corps members have been placed in traditional public schools nationwide for at least the past 12 school years, TFA says.

Current AmeriCorps service locations show that just over half of volunteers who received grants in the New York City TFA program (207 out of 409) were placed in charters. By comparison, 16 percent of New York City students are attending a charter school in the 2025-2026 school year, according to NYC Charter School Center.

In the early 2000s, Morris helped found charter schools as part of the Knowledge is Power Program network founded by TFA alumni in Camden, N.J. She advanced from founding teacher to chief community officer and KIPP board of directors member in the following decades.

During that period, she also worked as chief family and community engagement officer in both Camden and Newark public schools.

Morris says she aligns with TFA’s “agnostic” stance when it comes to school types, but does support empowering “parental agency” in school choice. (Roughly 30 percent of Rochester city students are now enrolled in charter schools.) 

“For us, it’s less about the governance model and more about how are (TFA teachers) serving young people?” she says. “When we’re selecting our partners for (TFA) New York, we’re looking at a variety of metrics. Do they help support new teachers? Are they serving students who need it the most? Because we want to make sure we are in the schools with the kids that need us the most, but also have the foundation in terms of leadership and things happening so that teachers can grow.”

The Teach For America New York 2026 Statewide Summit will be held Friday and Saturday at the Strathallan Hotel & Spa. More information about the event can be found online.

Jacob Schermerhorn is a Rochester Beacon contributing writer and data journalist.

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