Teach for America, the controversial nonprofit that places recent college graduates in low-income school districts across the country, will eliminate its diversity office this fall as part of a larger reorganization that includes layoffs. The national staff will shrink by 15 percent. 

Teach for America officials say the restructuring will enable the organization to shift its focus from central management to regional operations.

Several people associated with Teach for America worried that the shake-up could undermine progress the organization has made on the diversity front, an area in which traditional teaching colleges still struggle.

Teach for America has been criticized for sending ill-prepared young people into schools that educate some of the nation’s neediest students. The 25-year-old organization has seen applications drop for the second consecutive year.

The Atlantic, March 21