University of Wisconsin-Madison ranks fifth among large schools nationwide in contributing graduates to volunteer for Teach For America, according to the Teach For America annual report.
Teach For America's mission is ""to eliminate educational inequity by enlisting our nation's most promising future leaders in the effort."" In 2010, 56 of the ""nation's most promising leaders"" are UW-Madison graduates.
According to Teach For America, admission was more selective this year than in previous years. A record 46,000 people applied for the program with a 12-percent acceptance rate.
The 4,500 accepted volunteers have ""demonstrated outstanding achievement, perseverance, and leadership"" and have an average GPA of 3.6, according to the Teach For America website.
The graduates will teach in urban and rural public schools for two years, where according to Teach For America, they will ""work to ensure that more students growing up in our country's lowest-income communities are given the educational opportunities they deserve.""
UW-Madison vice provost for teaching and learning Aaron Brower believes the ranking reflects very positively on the UW-Madison student body.
""Teach For America is a great example of the excitement students have for serving others and becoming extraordinary citizens and community members,"" said Brower in a statement. ""At such a critical time for our educational system, UW-Madison has shown its commitment by once again ranking among the top five producers.""
UW-Madison 2010 graduate and 2010 Teach For America corps member Kurt Gosselin agrees.
""It is a very positive reflection on the prestige and opportunities that UW supplies. It is a testament to the quality of students at UW and to the education that instills a sense of public service,"" said Gosselin.
Gosselin said being ranked among schools such as the University of California-Berkeley and various Ivy League schools shows that UW-Madison is in an elite strata of colleges in the nation, and that UW-Madison needs to demonstrate this when trying to recruit students.
Gosselin also believes that the community and state legislature should recognize UW-Madison as an elite school when making decisions such as setting a rigorous standard for admission and providing competitive professor salaries.
""It is really important that the student and faculty community continues to recognize [UW-Madison's prestige] and consider it with what it does to allocate resources and setting the tuition to make the quality of education available at the university,"" said Gosselin. ""It also requires the state legislature to make the university a priority when looking at budgets.""
