National Teachers Corps

The National Teacher Corps was a federally funded Great Society program established as part of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide teachers to poverty stricken areas of the United States. Originally part of Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty, the National Teacher Corps survived until 1981, when it was folded into an educational block grant as part of the Reagan Administration's New Federalism effort to trim the Federal budget.

The idea of a teachers corps was reestablished as the non-profit organization Teach for America, which receives federal support as an AmeriCorps program. Reestablishing a National Teachers Corps has been suggested by the Democratic Leadership Council [ [http://www.ppionline.org/ndol/ndol_ci.cfm?kaid=115&subid=145&contentid=583 DLC: Idea of the Week: A National Teachers Corps ] ] . In his 2006 State of the Union address George W. Bush proposed an effort to train more K-12 math and science teachers as part of the American Competitiveness Initiative.

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It enlisted local colleges, public schools and poverty organizations to provide training to future teachers to train them in the cultural and social traits of low income, socially disadvantaged persons to enable them to more effectively teach in the inner city elementary schools. The interns and their team leaders participated in and developed community involvement activities in the various neighborhoods where their schools were located. They taught full time, worked on a master's degree full time and did community service work to provide enrichment to the children we taught and to enhance the communities they lived in. They modified their curriculum to eliminate deficits and adjustment problems to school caused by social and educational deprivation. The interns and their team leaders created community outreach programs to get the community involved and to bring more community resources into the schools.