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Teach For America Makes the Grade at Challenged Schools, Criticism Aside

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I am not a TFA teacher. I was educated and taught how to be an effective teacher. The rest came from pure talent and genuine caring about the population I work with. I have dedicated my life to working with the children and families that unfortunately fall into that "low income, at risk" status.
At the school in which I work, there is a TFA principal and he has replaced almost all of the "traditional" teachers with his TFA teachers. Working alongside the "traditional" teachers, they have performed no more miracles than the regular teachers. In some cases, they have done quite the opposite. But you would not know this because the principal invests time, money and training into only these teachers. The regular teachers have to seek workshops and request training. Just like children, if you don't encourage them and provide them with updated tools, they won't succeed, well at least to the best of their ability. The same with teachers. The regular teachers that are not wanted, are not nurtured, not motivated and not trained. They become isolated and made to feel inferior. This is the tactic of the principal at my school. This is his way of getting rid of the "undesirables" that do not fall under the spell of TFA. There have been many highly qualified, very effective teachers, invested teachers that fell through the cracks. These are the teachers that make a difference and have been making a difference, even before the "elite" group came in.
I use the word "elite" because that is the mentality of the TFA people when they enter a school that serve people from low income areas. They look down on the teachers that have been there and shun those that don't buy in to their organization. TFA are people that come from different disciplines. It makes me wonder if they entered teaching to actually make a difference or if they just could not survive in the discipline in which they first chose. If I was not successful in one area, I would try something else too. But don't assume that teaching is so easy that anyone can do it. The TFA people have a business mentality at my school - mainly because they have a business background. They are very good at undercutting, politicking and getting rid of people - I have to give them that. That business degree is truly working for them.
Some are not good at building healthy, honest relationships with children and families from low SES. No, some are not good working with and understanding African and Hispanic Americans (let's just put it out there). I have seen it and continue to live through it. And no matter how hard people like myself assist in that area, the mainstream TFA people still do it their way. They continue to leave children feeling as if they are not valued. That does more harm to an AA or HA child than does good/bad grades. That lingers within the psyche causing lasting, negative effects.
I read about TFA and how they train. This is what I gathered: they do 30 hours of observing and independent work (whatever that means and entails) with TFA teachers and an intensive 5 week training and are introduced to the schools in which they will be teaching. My principal does a great job showing TFA people around. And all of a sudden, they have replaced another teacher. Yes, we have caught on to that. Next the TFA recruits (the best of the very best GPA wise) are trained in a summer school program, getting feedback and support. The principal now has solidified that position for them. While working during those 2 years, they are privy to workshops, TFA support and the support of their principal. Not to mention their salaries are more than anyone else's. I would feel elite too with all of that. Actually, me personally, no I would not. I wouldn't because I come from the same background as the children and families I work with. Plus, I usually prefer not to play politics.
Those statistics of how many minorities they have in the TFA organization, I do not believe. My school has almost been replaced by all TFA people and only 2 are AA (and that was because people like myself and others stressed the fact that we needed highly qualified minorities working with the children as well). Out of those two, one relates more with mainstream society and the other works very hard. Not to mention one of them will be leaving at the conclusion of this school year - it might even be before the closing of this school year. This is going to be a pattern. No, there are not many minorities in TFA. And to be honest, there are not enough minorities teaching at all. I feel this is one of the biggest contributors to the lack of academic success for minority students anyway. That is another topic in itself though.
I commend Wendy Koop (1989) for recognizing and stepping forward to do something about the sad state of the educational system. Her efforts seemed genuine. But what I see now is a group of business people, white business people who have found yet another way to ignore and disregard culture, stiffer creativity, and cram mainstream down the throats of the less fortunate. All of this while taking out the real "front line" solders that have been making a difference. Not all teachers, that have been trained the way our government and educational systems required us to be trained, are ineffective teachers. Majority of us are skillful, successful teachers. Just like any other system, including TFA, there are some educated rotten apples in the bunch. Just because a person goes through TFA, doesn't mean they are highly qualified, effective and meant to teach. It doesn't mean they have the communication skills to reach most children. It just means that with millions of dollars behind them, a chance to get rid of student loans, the guarantee of a job and the networking opportunities, anything is possible.
The government has allowed this to happen to our children. They have allowed the lack of good leadership (superintendents) in the schools (principals) which trickle down to the hiring of terrible teachers alongside excellent teachers. Now all the teachers are to blame? (Example - A principal in a predominately black school has been there for 7 years. If people equate EOG scores with success - in which I feel success comes in many forms - she has had 7 years of low test scores. She is still a principal). Plus, tenure has to go. The government has the power to do things differently. There have been many people who have suggested and tried to carry out the very exact same things that Wendy Koop has done. This is not rocket science! Everyone should work together to ensure that those left behind get the best education as other children.
What I have experienced from TFA I do not like. It seems the organization's representatives make judgments on who should and should not teach, want to fill all schools that have TFA leadership with TFA people (and THAT came out of my principal's mouth), suggest that the training and education that most of us received is not of quality and that their methods are superior. This is from people who are not truly educated in the field of education. I don't really don't understand how the state can issue a license to people who have really not been educated to teach. That is another problem in itself and a big slap in the face.
So these are my gripes about TFA. I do not gripe unless I am in the mix, actively trying to make a difference. And so I am. My task is to make a difference in the areas of hiring and retaining the best principals and teachers to teach our children in the public schools - also getting rid of the ineffective ones. My task includes insisting on updated, improved, relevant and ongoing professional development for all teachers. Most importantly, my task includes a plan on how to properly mentor and support teachers. Those things can be achieved without the air of superiority and the separatist attitudes.
If it is truly about teaching our young children, we should not work against each other. We should work together.
Signed,
T
If we are all in this together - not one particular entity should claim to be the "superman"!

T of NC 1:12PM April 22, 2011

FYI Michigan is the largest contributor of new corps members to TFA and nearly the rest of the top ten are large public schools, not Ivy's. Also, new corps members have to interview like everyone else to get teaching positions. Is it wrong that TFA attracts highly motivated and accomplished students to the teaching profession?

Sean McGrath of PA 2:29PM March 26, 2010

My only issue with TFA is that it is taking jobs. I am a young twenty something teacher that went to college and got a degree in education. I am lucky to have a job. With budget cuts and various other money issues in my school district new hires for the next year will be low. What will happen to all my friends that are graduating with a degree in Education? They might have a hard time getting a job. Should they have studied something else and went to TFA instead? Oh wait only the IVY kids get to do that.

rachel Young of OK 12:02AM March 22, 2010

I am an undergraduate student in Math Education and considering Teach For America. I lived for two years (2006-2008) in south-side Chicago, one of the areas where TFA places teachers (I had never heard of them at the time). I was a Mormon missionary, and taught about Jesus. I learned Spanish and mingled with a multi-cultural city, in some of its poorest areas. I played soccer in the streets with the kids who TFA is trying to give a better chance. I know many people have strong opinions about this, but I hope that those who express "concern" for these kids, aren't just speaking from personal bias or trying to spread a personal agenda. I recognize that there are already myriad teachers in these school districts doing amazing work, and they should be honored for that long term service and commitment. I also feel that TFA is an effective way to put good teachers in a position to change these kids' lives. Many would-be effective teachers are in other fields because they are more lucrative - I certainly considered engineering and law before education. Most students bright enough to qualify for TMA have the qualifications to be great teachers. Some have argued that the two year duration of the program has a negative effect; I argue the opposite. Creating a two year opportunity gives talented, selfless, and successful college graduates the chance to participate and then continue on with their respective careers, whereas if the program were 4 years or more, only those who already planned to teach would participate (who are trained elsewhere, making TFA obsolete). Don't underestimate the intentions and the potential of TFA participants; these underprivileged kids are getting a good deal out of it. I've been on the block where the gangs are fighting, and I highly doubt TFA is hurting their educational experience through unqualified teachers. To suggest as much would be ludicrous.

Brandon Singleton of UT 1:41AM February 05, 2010

Guaranteed TFA will have their hand out for the "Race to the Top" money being handed out to anyone who will do what Arnie Duncan wants them to do.Great teachable moment btw. TFA spouts a lot of anecdotal success but never points to any hard data to back up their claims. TFA's brass talks a lot about data and using it as an accountabiity tool and as a way to pay teachers. Unfortunately TFA teachers will be long gone since they are not in it for the long haul.For some it is a great resume padder for future jobs and access to grad school.
Blaming existing teachers while selling TFA teachers(who cannot be held accountable) seems a bit dishonest. Clever business plan but not much help to those who need it.
TFA is quick to blame teachers unions but offers up no criticism of administration and school boards who are responsible for the education decisions of the district - not the unions. How does being a member of a union automatically translate into being the problem. Strange logic indeed unless your target sell is to administrators and school boards then of course blame the workers.
Challenge to TFA - produce verifiable numbers to show classroom success, as well as, your own income statements. Call me cynical but TFA had little press before that 4.5 billion dollars to all those who comply with Arne Duncan was announced. Which PR firm represents TFA?
Tired of pretenders.

frank of CA 4:33PM January 18, 2010

As I hear it, the New York - Teach for America program is a mess this year. The recruiters misrepresented the program to top students recruits. Nobody has been informed of the personal expence they will encure. Their housing situation is deplorable, and they don't even know if they will be placed this year. The current administrative organizer is either incompetent or incapable of doing her Job. These are college graduates at the top of their classes from good colleges that were lead to beleive this is an organized program... The organizers will do well to pay attention to their recruits and fix it now. In this new push for service in this country they should be held to the standars they want from their recruits and for the praise they want to get.

Zelda F of NY 4:58PM September 04, 2009

From the perspective of a professor at a selective liberal arts college that had (in our department at least: political science) been suggesting TFA to some of our graduates. I have heard nothing from our best students (some who gave up slots at the best law schools and grad schools in the country to do TFA --under the false impression that it was something akin to the Peace Corp-- of what can only be called a lunatic asylum in Houston's five week "boot camp" their--TFA's-- terms to the students who are "trained" by a bunch of 25 year old graduates of TFA, to become teachers in the hardest possible environment. Given our feedback (all the students have been successful in TFA by the by: not one is teacher--6 students) I no longer suggest TFA as a move for our students in general.
It is true that TFA can place you in the private sector- -- and that is tempting given our current national economic status -- BUT for me, there is something fundamentally unethical (immoral perhaps is a better term) about taking very good students and letting them "practice" to teach on "at risk students and school systems." This is not a race issue per se (although some critics of TFA frame it this way, I would not), BUT IS DAMNED WELL A CLASS ISSUE!
TFA has it backwards (theoretically and organizationally), the best teachers even, dare I say it the best college professors [sabbaticals for example] with the *most experience,* should be used/recruited to teach at risk students. Alternatively, TFA should be a four year program: two years in the best schools where students learn to teach and not practice quantitative outcome assessment on the backs of the poor at the Houston "boot camp." After completion of this first two years, THEN AND ONLY THEN should TFA teachers be placed in at risk school districts to complete their four year commitment.
Finally, TFA actively tells students NOT to continue teaching but to move to administrative positions ---just what we need in education: NOT. Why do so many students leave teaching after TFA? One reason is the above mentioned private sector contacts TFA has and, two, the move to grad school is easier (perhaps justifiably)--- but mainly the tenure system in the public school which is at odds with the TFA program. For the most part public schools grant tenure in the fourth year: if two years are spent engaging in "on the job training" on human beings (kids!) that leaves only one more year before getting tenure. Most of the TFA graduates are not trained well enough to get tenure, they are out at year 3. Oh yea, the schools are getting subsidized to hire these TFA folks that also ends at year 3.
TFA is business with an agenda: the pushing of a corporate model as the best way to frame a national public school program. The debate on this open, but TFA is not a good example of this model--for it uses the poor as guinea pigs for well meaning (some of the best) young adults to practice on, as they try and learn how to teach.
ADG

ADG of MI 11:35AM June 26, 2009

Teach For America activists say poor schools and bad teachers cause the achievement gap not bad habits or inequality. Discounting the notion of individual responsibility, they want us to give TFA alumni top jobs in our urban schools, and to transfer kids from neighborhood schools to the charters they operate, so they can eliminate job security for teachers and eradicate any influence we have over school-district policies. The idea that teachers are opponents rather than advocates of education is a new one in our country. It derives from the time when Ms. Wendy Kopp first started TFA and decided, from her Princeton perch and without a day in the classroom, that inexperienced teachers were inherently better than experienced ones. Wendy's friends in Washington D.C., Houston, New York and elsewhere are launching an anti-American Ivy League class war on the very same teachers who serve our nation's toughest schools.

Jesse Alred of TX 9:32PM April 18, 2009

I agree that the New Teacher Project is a strong organization and one certainly worth supporting, but you missed something significant.
5 out of the 9 senior leadership members of the New Teacher Project (which oversees NYC Teaching Fellows and other Teaching Fellow programs) are Teach For America alumni.
Timothy Daly, President, New Teacher Project - TFA Baltimore
Karolyn Belcher, VP of Human Capital - TFA New Orleans
Layla Avila, VP of Teaching Fellow Programs - TFA LA
Sarah Heine, VP of Training and Certification - TFA New Orleans
Karla Oakley, VP Teacher Quality - TFA Mississippi Delta
And, for good measure, Wendy Kopp, founder of Teach For America, is on the New Teacher Project's board of directors.
This is the exact point the editorial is making. To date, most do not understand the full impact TFA is actually making. As the alumni force grows and ages, we will see the true legacy of Teach For America.

John of CA 7:12PM February 11, 2009

What other profession would truly build your craft knowledge and then not only let you go, but encourage you to go? Can you name one???
The retention numbers Rotherham cites are reported by TFA. When independent researchers have looked at sites like Baltimore and Houston, they find retention rates around 10%, even as low as 2%
There's no question we have a lot to learn from TFA about recruiting top talent. But Wendy Kopp has said to school districts, "It's our job to get them there, it's your job to keep them." OK, but if you as an organization pass the retention issue off to someone else, don't position yourself as a prime solution to the human capital problem.
The New Teacher Project and NYC Teaching Fellows strike me as much more viable ways to improve teacher quality than TFA, because they respect teaching as a profession.

Lamar Mundane of MA 2:28PM February 11, 2009