In this video, Education Next’s Mike Petrilli talks with two alumni of Teach for America, Veronica Nolan and Stephanie Saroki, about how TFA has managed to launch so many leaders of education organizations.

Veronica Nolan is executive director of the Urban Alliance, an organization which helps young people from under-resourced areas in the District of Columbia prepare for successful careers through internship and mentoring opportunities in professional settings.

Stephanie Saroki is co-founder of Seton Education Partners, a non-profit working to help struggling urban Catholic schools find alternatives to school closure.

Veronica and Stephanie describe their experiences as Teach for America corps members, explain what inspired them to lead entrepreneurial education organizations after teaching, and consider what it is about TFA that has made its alumni so successful as change agents in education.

This video accompanies a new study that attempts to determine which organizations are most effective in spawning leaders of entrepreneurial ventures in education. That study, “Creating a Corps of Change Agents: What explains the success of Teach for America?” by Monica Higgins, Jennie Weiner, Wendy Robison, and Frederick Hess, will appear in the Spring 2011 issue of Education Next, and is now available online.