From TFA to Rocketship: Building a Career and Helping Others Grow

One school visit. One mentor. One conversation with a former TFA roommate. At several pivotal moments in Becky Owens’ career, relationships formed through Teach For America have opened the door to what came next.

Becky, now Associate Director of Learning and Development at Rocketship Public Schools, joined TFA New York City in 2004, teaching at P.S. 42, a traditional public elementary school in the South Bronx. The school was among New York City’s lowest-performing schools when she arrived and became one of its most improved during her time there.

It was challenging work, but Becky was surrounded by educators who believed deeply in what was possible for students.
“TFA gave me an incredible community of passionate, like-minded educators,” she says.

That community changed the trajectory of her career. A TFA-organized school visit to Achievement First showed Becky a new bar for what excellent teaching could look like. She asked the teacher she observed—a fellow TFA alum—to mentor her and eventually joined the school herself.

Years later, another TFA connection introduced her to a small, growing charter network in California called Rocketship Public Schools. After visiting Rocketship’s first school, Becky knew she wanted to help build something special. She moved across the country and joined Rocketship when the network had just two schools. Since then, Becky’s career has taken her from teacher leader to coach to regional leadership and, today, the national Learning and Development team. Along the way, she has helped create programs that open new pathways for Rocketship educators—including teacher residencies, bachelor’s degree partnerships, teacher leadership programs, and development opportunities for school leaders.

Today, she gets to see educators who participated in those programs become principals—and hourly staff earn bachelor’s degrees and lead classrooms of their own.
For Becky, that’s Rocketship’s mission in action: meaningful work, great people, and the opportunity to make a lasting impact.

Her advice to today’s TFA corps members? Lean into the community. Attend the extra training. Go to the happy hour. Meet the people around you. You never know which connection might change the course of your career.

Published on Tháng chín 15, 2026