I am a recent graduate of the University of Virginia, and currently I am a Teach for America corps member. I teach 8th grade science in rural Louisiana, and this experience has made me passionate about education reform. Most of my students are between 13 and 16, yet the average reading level is around 5th grade. Not surprisingly, the majority of my students are poor and Black. I truly believe that ending the achievement gap should be the civil rights issue of our generation.