Support the San Francisco YouthWorker to Teacher Pathway as they screen American Teacher at the Roxie Theatre on November 21st, 2011.

The SF YouthWorker to Teacher Pathway supports young people from low-income neighborhoods with a passion for teaching and working with youth. Program fellows attend City College of San Francisco and transfer to San Francisco State University for their BA degree and teaching credential. Through academic assistance, afterschool employment, and a supportive cohort model, the program aims to produce "home-grown" teachers.

"The highly promising Pathway initiative creates seamless connections across education sectors and with community organizations to address some of the state’s greatest needs. Individuals with diverse backgrounds from low-income communities are prepared for teaching careers in community college and then CSU study, assisting in after-school programs the entire time."

Charles B. Reed, Chancellor, California State University, June 2011

About American Teacher:

Our educational system must change. Currently, 30 percent of American students drop out of school by age eighteen. Fewer than 30 percent of all eighth-grade students are proficient in grade-level reading and math. Most significantly, students from urban, financially disadvantaged backgrounds are at a greater risk for decreased cognitive development and ability, lower school attendance, and higher rates of grade failure and early drop-out. And though it is well documented that the most important school-based factor in students' academic achievement and future success is the quality of their teachers, 46 percent of public school teachers leave the profession within the first five years of being in the classroom. A good teacher has the power to change the course of a life—yet because teachers in the United States have historically had an average annual salary lower than their peers with similar educational backgrounds, 62 percent of our nation's teachers must have second jobs outside of the classroom-like tutoring, mowing lawns, selling stereos, or bartending—to be able to afford to teach.

Weaving interviews of policy experts and startling facts with the lives and careers of four teachers, American Teacher tells the collective story by and about those closest to the issues in our educational system—the 3.2 million teachers who spend every day in classrooms across the country.