Teach for America Applications Drop for Second Year in a Row

New teachers listen to veteran teaches during a break out session at Marion County Schools New Teach Orientation in Ocala, Fla. on Aug. 6, 2015.

As the organization welcomes one of its most diverse class of teachers yet

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The number of Teach for America applicants declined for the second year in a row, the education nonprofit revealed on Tuesday as it welcomed what it calls one of the most diverse teaching corps in the organization’s near 25-year history.

More than 44,000 people applied for the 2015-2016 school year, a drop from last year’s roughly 50,000 applications and a significant decline from the the previous year’s 57,000 applications, which capped several years of growth.

More than 40% of the new, smaller corp of 4,100 people—the organization maintains a 15% acceptance rate—identify as black, Latino or multi-racial or multi-ethnic; a third of them are the first in their families to graduate from a college or university.

Launched by Wendy Kopp in 1990, Teach for America places accomplished college graduates in low-income schools across the country to combat inequality in the education system. But some critics say the program neither adequately prepare its teachers, who receive a few weeks of training for the two-year commitment, nor makes lasting change with the frequent turnover of its teaching corps.