Our Program • Our History

The Peace Corps Fellows Program was originally established to attract qualified and dedicated Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs) into the field of teaching in the United States. In the New York City public schools, the areas of math and science were in critical need of teachers, and this need spurred the creation of the Peace Corps Fellows Program in 1985.

The program has since expanded to include teachers in bilingual education, English education, special education, and TESOL (teaching English to speakers of other languages). These subject areas continue to suffer from critical teacher shortages in New York City.

On March 16, 2005, the Peace Corps Fellows Program celebrated it's 20th Anniversary at Teachers College. Since our our program was founded, more than 600 returned Peace Corps Volunteers have taught in New York City through our program, and more than 250 of them continue to teach in city schools today. During their first two years of teaching, Peace Corps Fellows beat all the odds: 98% of them stay on the job for the first two years, far better than the 60% attrition rates among most new teachers in city schools.

Further, many alumni have become school administrators, and are working to improve New York City public schools on a larger scale.  We estimate that in our 20-year history, at least 120,000 children's lives have been touched by the Peace Corps Fellows Program.  Reed Dickson, former director of the program, notes, "While over fifty years have passed since the Brown vs. Board of Ed case, severe disparities remain in American education--which are felt most acutely in our urban public schools.  Since our inception, our Fellows have addressed this continued crisis in equity, one classroom at a time."

The Peace Corps Fellows Program at Teachers College was the first program in the nation that specifically targeted Returned Peace Corps Volunteers to serve as public school teachers, and has since acted as a model for a number of similar programs at institutions across the country.  You can find out about these national networks at Fellows/USA.