An educational gain or an educational failure? Teach for America is an organization that places newly graduated college students into underprivileged and failing schools.
Though this sounds like a great opportunity and a solution to the educational problem at hand, there are a lot of factors that prove otherwise. When accepted into this program, these new teachers receive only a small amount of training few a few weeks.
These so-called Teachers are then placed into school districts where they have no experience or knowledge. They are placed in areas that are struggling and in some cases rough. They have the best intentions and think they can control their students and believe that they can command these kids right away and change everything.
After I did some digging, reading, and watching past interviews of Teach for America’s staff, I felt that the training left a lot to be desired. The students showed no respect for their new professors and proceeded to not follow instructions and fight the commands given.
At first the teachers brush it off and proceed with the lesson plan but after a while the constant fighting with the students takes its toll on the minds and the thoughts of the Teach for America educators.
The teachers break down and become lost. This is leading to the lack of proper preparation for higher levels of education that these students may or may not achieve.
This program is basically a glorified temp agency that throws newly developed educators into under developed school districts. Inexperienced is the best word that comes to mind when thinking of the professors that are being distributed.
Teach for America is only a temporary solution for an ongoing problem for desperate schools, which needs dedicated and experienced educators. Having experienced teachers will help their mission of providing education to underprivileged communities.
Teach for America is becoming a revolving door of graduates and also a revolving door of broken promises and let downs amongst communities. The graduates that apply for Teach for America are expected to sign up for at least two years, but 80% of the Teach for America teachers pursue other careers in different fields after their first year.
This is due to their ideas of what they could do, not living up to their expectations because of a lack of proper training. This is leading to the abandonment of students everywhere Teach for America has educators.
Having someone of authority abandon their position after a year has an impact on students, showing them that when things do not always go according to plan that just giving up is ok. This is not right and should not be the example given by Teach for America staff. Giving up and not teaching the promised years is just irresponsible.
Teach for America should recruit graduates who truly want to dedicate their time and energy to making a difference in helping these schools, and most importantly these students.
A way that could help save Teach for America is to start requiring and enforcing long-term commitments in addition to making sure these teachers are correctly certified.
These new graduates treat this program as a resume builder and it should not be as such. Most of these applicants only use Teach for America for this reason in order to make themselves appear more efficient and desirable for other companies.
Most applicant do not even peruse a career in education after their time spent with Teach for America and their mission.
I read a lot of critiques of Teach For America, but this one takes the cake in terms of unsubstantiated claims and recklessly incorrect statistics. As a former corps member, I can accept educated arguments about some of the negative side-effects of the program. While I don’t agree with all of them, Teach For America is certainly not perfect. But claiming that 80% of teachers leave the classroom after their first year is absurd and blatantly wrong. Some teachers may break down and become lost, as you say, but it is far from the norm. Take a look at notable alumni on the TFA wikipedia page if you don’t believe TFA alumni are positively impacting education.
I hope Del Monte is a little bit more careful next time about throwing around misleading and factually wrong statistics and claims.
Teach For America is leading the charge in much-needed education reform, and is getting better at both selecting dedicated individuals and training its teachers. It is a young organization, and is working through its shortcomings to become more effective. For all of the critics (like Del Monte), there are dozens of principals and students who see how hard TFA teachers work every day to help close the achievement gap.
For students or others who are interested in applying to Teach For America or learning more about the program, there’s a new blog and soon-to-be-released book at http://www.destinationteachforamerica.com. This is a great source for anyone looking to learn about the process.