This document describes "Teach for America," a program which recruits outstanding college students who may not otherwise have considered teaching, provides them with an intensive training program, and places them for 2 years of teaching in inner-city and rural school districts with persistent teacher shortages. The report addresses: (1) the organization (history, advisers and directors, and staff); (2) the need (the shortage of teachers in specific areas, the shortage of teachers who are of color, and an impending general teacher shortage); (3) the rationale (capitalizing on student idealism and indecision, and countering the major factors discouraging students from entering teaching); (4) program overview; (5) recruitment and selection (recruitment at 100 top colleges and universities, and selection criteria); (6) training (faculty, site, curriculum, and key ideas); (7) placement (locations, certification, salaries); (8) support (within the school and external); (9) evaluation (of both program and participants); (10) the context of the program (including broader efforts to recruit teachers and broader efforts to professionalize teaching and restructure schools); (11) program contributors; and (12) reprints of mass media articles about the program. (DB)