Our Mission

OUR MISSION

At Urban Teachers, our mission is to improve educational and life outcomes of children in urban schools by preparing culturally competent, effective career teachers who accelerate student achievement and disrupt systems of racial and socioeconomic inequity.

CORE VALUES

WE SERVE CHILDREN.
Children are the center of our work. We rely on the communities we serve to guide and inform the decisions we make about our curriculum, program, and practice.

WE ARE AN ANTI-RACIST ORGANIZATION.
We are committed to ongoing knowledge seeking, reflection, and action to deliberately oppose racism. We are an inclusive organization that values the diversity of people, backgrounds, and perspectives. We are active allies who pursue justice in the communities in which we live and work.

WE ARE LIFE-LONG LEARNERS.
We are dedicated to continuous improvement, innovation, and excellence. We strive to be on the forefront of what is best for teacher education and students based on research and practice.

WE VALUE EACH OTHER.
We value each other as whole people. We are servant leaders who foster a supportive working environment that is empathetic and caring, and values direct, constructive feedback.

It is our vision that every student in the United States is taught by committed, well-prepared, culturally competent teachers.

OUR HISTORY

Urban Teachers was founded in 2009 to improve new teacher quality. We launched our first cohort with 39 residents in 2010 split between two of the highest-need districts in the nation: Baltimore, MD and Washington, DC. Urban Teachers then expanded to a third site in Dallas, TX in 2016, and, most recently, to a fourth site in Philadelphia, PA in 2022. Since 2010, we’ve welcomed over 1900 aspiring teachers across all four sites.