WELCOME TO ONBOARDING
Teach For America - Chicago-Northwest Indiana
Overview
Role Overview
The Role We Play
We build and maintain strong relationships with school leaders within the Chicago and Northwest Indiana communities, in order to help make the hiring process as smooth as possible for you. This means we’ll be the ones sourcing available teaching positions and you won’t have to! As a reminder, Chicago and Indiana school systems are a decentralized hiring landscape, meaning they have full autonomy to hire who they want. That means that TFA does not “place” you in a school – you will interview with school leaders, who have the ultimate decision on who they want to hire. But don’t worry, our goal is that 100% of corps members are hired by the first day of school, and we have met this goal, with very few exceptions, for many years.
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The Role You Play
We want to work with you to make sure that we’re facilitating the best school match possible. Throughout Onboarding, you will:
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Create a resume that highlights your experience relevant to teaching with our support
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Learn more about our regional landscape through other required activities
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Follow all processes and procedures that outlined below
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I apply to teaching positions or reach out to schools on my own?
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Not at this time. We work throughout the year to develop partnerships with schools in our region—there are many aspects of being a partner with Teach For America, which requires that our team develop a relationship with the school’s leader.
When will I be hired?
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It depends—our corps members have been hired at any point from May through September. However, our team has a long history of ensuring that every corps member is hired in time for the first day of school.
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What percentage of corps members teacher in charter schools or traditional schools?
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For the last few years, the corps has roughly been approximately 60% in charter schools, 30% in traditional schools, and 10% in community based early childhood centers. However, those percentages are approximate and may change this year as we implement our CPS opportunity schools pilot.
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How many Interview Weeks will I be a part of?
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It depends on two things: a) When you become interview ready (See this chart for dates) and b) When you are hired. If you are matched with a school during your first interview week, then you will not need to attend any more interview weeks. If you are not matched, then you will continue to attend Interview Weeks or special summer training interview opportunities until you are hired.
The Process
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You become interview ready.
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You participate in Interview Weeks until you are hired. These will occur virtually in early May and late May, and in person during the first part of Summer Training in June.
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At the end of each Interview Week, you will rank the schools that you interviewed with.
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Our Matching Tool Algorithm makes a match between you and a school, using the rankings you provided as well as rankings from our school partners.
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If you are not hired by the end of our final interview week in June, then your interviewing processes will be customized to your specific situation/needs in July/August.