Dive Brief:

• Teach for America-South Dakota wants to increase the number of Native American teachers among its ranks.
• When the organization came to South Dakota in 2004, only 5% of its 17 teachers identified as Native Americans — a portion that has increased to 18% of its 78 current teachers.
• The Native Alliance Initiative was created by TFA in 2010 in order to attract more native teachers and to push culturally responsive teaching.  

Dive Insight:

Teach for America's desire to increase the number of Native American teachers in South Dakota is important, as students are often inspired by educators they can identify with. This often starts with who they look like. This push for teachers that resonate with the student body echoes a goal set by TFA in Denver to fill its teacher ranks with more undocumented immigrants due to the district's large undocumented and ESL population.