Would the Obama administration be anti-TFA?

Dc Blogger writes:

If you think that parsing Obama’s portfolio policy is difficult, what to make of the conflicting signals over Teach For America? On the one hand, Barack Obama has praised Michelle Rhee, the poster-child for Teach For America’s impact on American education. Several of his advisors are drawn from the group’s alumni and friends. And as I mentioned last week, as far as I can tell, almost 100 percent of the TFAers I know are pulling for Obama to win.

So why on earth is the campaign allowing Linda Darling-Hammond to play surrogate for the Senator and say nasty things about TFA in high-profile events? See for yourself; check out Vaishali Honawar’s Teacher Beat post about Tuesday night’s Education Week debate and scroll down to the YouTube clip about TFA. You’ll hear Lisa Graham Keegan of the McCain campaign promoting the program and LDH attacking it, arguing that it’s not the way to “build the profession.”

Let’s hope that Darling-Hammond’s view prevails.

Re: Those who can’t, teach

Markus Kolic writes:

Garrett is quite right to accuse the “Equity Project” and its Crimson promoters of a sneering elitism and a misapprehension of the nature of teaching. (This also applies, incidentally, to Teach for America, a reprehensible organization which embodies everything I hate about the Ivy League.)

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Garrett Dash Nelson writes:

There’s lots of talk about how Teach for America is a pretty poor answer to the problem of educational equality in the United States. The way this argument goes, TFA serves as a prestigious placeholder that functions as a credential equivalent to consulting or financial jobs, only with a socially responsible veneer. While this is material for a much longer discussion, this snippet from today’s Crimson demonstrates the kind of company that TFA shares in at least some people’s occupational outlooks.

“I’m applying for jobs right now and there’s a lot more competition and there are fewer jobs so things are more stressful,” Kyle E. D. Wiggins ’09 said. “I’m looking for jobs in finance, consulting, and private equity, but because of the financial crisis I’m looking at Teach for America and thinking about going abroad.”

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Should Teach For America ask Corps Members for a 3-year commitment?

Kelly Vaughan at Gotham Schools writes:

Teach For America (TFA) alum and Reluctant Disciplinarian author Gary Rubinstein on why TFA should ask Corps Members (CMs) to commit for three years rather than two:

I say this because I know that after two years of teaching, most CMs have become really excellent teachers. (I’m in my 11th year now, and I don’t think I’m that much better than I was in my third year. I taught for 4 years total in Houston.) Right now there are approximately 3,000 CMs in their first year, 3,000 CMs in their second year in their placement sites. … If TFA made the commitment three years, you’d have 3,000 first years, 3,000 second years, and 3,000 third years. This would be 9,000 teachers with 67% of them being ‘very effective.’ … To me, that’s making a good step toward ‘One day all children will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education.’

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“With programs like TfA we are putting a band-aid over a huge flesh wound in the American educational system. “

From EdNotes online:

I posted an article from The Feministe by “Anna” called “Why I Hate Teach for America” on Aug. 24, 2008. This comment came across this morning.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post “Why I Hate Teach for America”:

I am a traditionally trained teacher. I have a dual degree in elementary and special education. I’m currently working on my M.Ed in Literacy. It pains me to think of the disservice we are doing our students with TfA. I’ve seen people with no background become literacy coaches in 3 years, teaching new recruits how to teach! It’s an absolute joke.

We are putting the wrong people in the neediest situations and often watching them fail. With programs like TfA we are putting a band-aid over a huge flesh wound in the American educational system. I believe that alternative programs can be a part of the certification process but TfA is missing the boat, big time.

I teach special education in an inner-ring suburb of a large metropolitan area. I think of what our students are missing by having teachers, with less than 8 weeks of training, standing in front of them, especially in the elementary grades. Research proves that these primary years are the most important in shaping our academic success and our nation is willingly letting people with no experience or background teach literacy and math.

Unfortunately, this is the way it will be unless this great nation of ours realizes that we need to turn things around, supporting our students at home and our teachers in the classroom. Our profession has lost its nobility. Students are disrespectful and are supported in their poor choices by parents. We need to reward teachers who pursue higher education degrees and continue to teach with higher salaries and an ounce of appreciation for the often thankless things we do and the countless hours spent helping students beyond our contracted day.

Teach for America perpetuates the problem by supporting the idea that teaching is a stepping stone to bigger and better. In my mind, teaching is the bigger and better. Teach for America boasts that high expectations are required for student achievement. I agree, and I have higher expectations for programs like TfA and the people who have chosen this path. Step up to the plate TfA and require your recruits to enter the field and continue with their training to TEACH!

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Teach for America inspires students but not effective in long run

Krystie Yandoli at The Daily Orange writes

The two-year time commitment for Teach for America is appealing to students with other plans for their future but want to find a way to contribute to a mission of social change. Good intentions aside, impoverished children should not be taught by people do not have long-term plans to continue teaching.

The students deserve to be taught by teachers who are in it for the long haul. The two-year mark leaves teachers with an impression that they are fulfilling their duties within this time period and do not need to continue with their efforts.

Despite recent recruiting efforts, some students are still skeptical.

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