This is the inside story of the more than 8,000 recent college graduates who have joined Teach for America and committed two years of service to teaching in the nation's most troubled public schools. In the tradition of books by Studs Terkel, Ness combines interviews and essays from TFA members and alumni as well as principals, superintendents, parents, and noted education experts.

Molly Ness is a Teach for America alumna and a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of The Johns Hopkins University. While teaching at Roosevelt Middle School in Oakland, California, she was the recipient of the Jean Wilson Scholarship to the 2000 California Conference for Educational Leadership. She lives in Charlottesville.

Prologue1. Making the Commitment2. Summer Institute3. First Impressions4. Raw Realities5. Beyond Classroom Walls6. It's About the Impossible7. Two Years and Counting8. Life After Teach For America9. Voices From Outside the Corps10. Reflections11. One Day12. The Road Ahead