Who are we?
We are educators who have come to realize that the corporate machine is becoming unstoppable in this country. The private interests of a few are dominating the lives of many. Now, they have set their sights on education.
Public schools can never compete with the money that is backing the marketing and advertising schemes of organizations like Teach for America and Kipp.
The least we can do is try to fight them the old fashioned way-with the truth.
27 responses so far ↓
Robin Bingham // May 29, 2008 at 4:37 am |
is it true that TFA discourages its members from joining in teachers unions or participating in union activities? If so, TFA sounds more and more like an organization of scabs.
debunktfa // May 29, 2008 at 11:49 am |
I don’t know if they are discouraged from joining a union or not.
However, the nature of their organization-sending in teachers for a short period of time certainly lends itself to union busting.
It also ensures that systems don’t have to pay out pensions.
educatorblog // June 18, 2008 at 9:39 am |
Hello – I just found this blog. Do you think that TFA can be reformed into a better program? I usually lean toward being anti-TFA but lately I’ve been thinking about ways to change the program. I would appreciate it if you gave me feedback on my blog post about the subject – http://educatorblog.wordpress.com/2008/06/18/dont-tase-me/
DISMANTLING TEACHING FELLOWS // June 29, 2008 at 8:56 pm |
To all who care for public education:
I beseech you to include The New York City Teaching Fellows and ALL programs with any similarities to TFA in all subsequent debunking discussions.
I have finished my first year as victim, yes, an individual brutalized, by this horrific “teacher certifying” “program.”
I initially believed that Teaching Fellows was different from TFA because the fellows worked towards a masters of education while teaching and simultaneously received more “support” while fulfilling their assigned role as classroom teacher without any true credentials.
I was wrong. Any program that deems an individual “certified” to teach with only a few weeks of summer school student-teaching is antithetical to any hope for effective education existing within public schools.
I will not write much more here because you will hear my arguments again and again. I will not rest until the Teaching Fellows and, hopefully, TFA are dismantled or dramatically reconfigured.
I will say that in my first year of teaching, for which I was shamefully underprepared and under-qualified, I lived my dream of being a teacher in the NYC public school system that educated me.
My second-grade students fulfilled all state-mandated requirements, my students loved participating in various projects I created revolving around recycling paper in class, sewing bags using geometry, and performing as igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic “rock stars” with facts and opinions about the interconnectedness of geology. The parents of my students with whom I spoke on the phone for hours on any given night when a necessitating situation arose, were all thrilled with their children’s education.
However, my principal decided, upon a whim one day in late June, that my “classroom management” was not up to par. My class did not look like a militarized zone in which silence and sitting still were the behaviors striven for. How would I have known to aspire to such behavior without ever teaching in a school like the one I was employed in? When a new student in the class threw a pencil and hit another student, I did what I was told to do, write an incident report about the situation. Apparently, I should have either been a “better manager” and prevented the seven-year old from throwing a pencil without provocation, or I should have not reported the incident because I was asked, on this day, to find another school to hire me.
Having foregone all semblances of normalcy of life for the work required of me to figure out curriculum and classroom management while interacting with a full class of students for the first time in my life, I was asked to leave the school I gave my life to.
Had I been better prepared, perhaps having known ANYTHING about elementary curriculum or what certain public schools now expect in terms of classroom management, perhaps I would still have my position. All my hard work and pedagogical endeavors were obfuscated by the “management” I could have learned had I ever student taught. When my principal decided that I was not right for her school, she did not decide that the Teaching Fellows underprepared individuals (please note: other fellows in my school received U’s on observations although I did not…). Rather, I am the one not worthy.
For necessitating that I complete vast quantities of work that could have been done before entering the profession, for making me and not my under-preparedness seem problematic, for providing similar situations for thousands of others who, with more dedication to self-care than I, will leave the public school system, I am once again stating my determination to dismantle or dramatically reconfigure the “program” that has caused such inordinate harm and suffering within a system that needs no more.
If you care to join me in this work, please respond.
In solidarity,
Dismantling TF and TFA
anon // July 2, 2008 at 3:29 pm |
Great story. So beautiful to see a miserable teacher blame everyone else for his or her insufficiency.
teacherlady450 // July 3, 2008 at 2:21 am |
What a sad story. Unfortunately, it’s pretty common in a system where principals are taught to be monsters and chancellors enjoy sending in short term workers that they can abuse at will and then dispose of.
woodlass // July 9, 2008 at 5:20 pm |
To Dismantling TF at June 29:
I’m sorry I didn’t get to read your report sooner. You sound educated and caring. Anon. at July 2 sounds sarcastic and particularly uncaring, the kind of person I wouldn’t want near my own kids.
Take heart, there are people who understand what you’ve been through. Don’t in your early career worry too much about dismantling anything. Your job is to turn your full energy into something long term and positive. Stay in teaching, just start up somewhere else and let this experience fade.
mrsprimary // August 4, 2008 at 6:45 am |
anon sounds like a troll…. don’t be taken in!
This story is discouraging. Good for you on wanting to stick with teaching. It is unfortunately an exploitive profession, and you experienced it.
Jill // August 4, 2008 at 7:22 pm |
It seems to me that if you really cared about education, there would be a better use of your time than creating a blog to dismantle education programs.
I’m guessing most of the people on this website are bitter about TFA/Teaching Fellows/etc. because they weren’t accepted, or were part of the programs and couldn’t hack it.
As an experienced urban teacher, I have seen a number of new teachers struggle and “fail” during their first year or two. These are graduates from top undergraduate or master’s teacher programs, state university teacher training programs, and alternative certification programs including local teaching fellows and Teach For America. What makes the differences is whether they come back every day and try to get better, or quit.
The administration and peer mentors also make a difference–and that’s where we as educators need to step up and make improvements, supporting these new teachers rather than relishing their failures as new fodder for a soapbox diatribe.
I would much rather have an enthusiastic alternative certification teacher teaching next to me, or teaching my kids, then a burnt out veteran who hands their students worksheets all day and doesn’t worry about teaching because they’re tenured. Or worse, a revolving door of subsitutes who have ZERO weeks of teacher training and don’t stay long enough to learn the kids names (as I’ve often seen in hard-to-fill positions in urban schools).
Think long and hard about a more productive way to expend your energies than criticizing others. Go read a book with a child, mentor a new teacher, or volunteer with a nonprofit organization that benefits public schools.
Eric // August 12, 2008 at 6:55 pm |
Saw your website and am a bit confused. I was a TFA member and joined the teacher’s union. My students did exceptional. When other teachers went home at 4:30, I was in the classroom well until 9:00 most nights, preparing the room and working on student IEP’s.
I’m not knocking anyone–TFA vs. non TFA teachers…it’s a silly argument. But there’s no “debunking the propaganda…” Both me and my principle felt that I was extremely effective and my students wen from being behind a whole grade level to being ahead half a grade. It’s no secret and TFA is not a cult–it’s about having very high expectations and working tirelessly towards those expectations.
debunktfa // August 20, 2008 at 2:53 pm |
Well, I’m glad that your “principle” felt that you were doing a good job.
Did those high expectations include teaching children about homonyms?
Remember, the principal is your pal!
Juliag // August 23, 2008 at 4:27 pm |
Thank you for taking the time to create this blog. Like you, I feel that Teach for America is a harmful organization fueled by corporate interests. It also seems to create a blatant arrogance, as evidenced by some of the clueless comments above.
Don’t worry, they’ll soon be gone and move on to their “real” jobs.
TFAfan // August 27, 2008 at 9:33 pm |
This blog is hilarious. I’m serious.
It is truly heartening to see that so many (10?) educators found time at the end of the school year and over summer break to bash TFA. Your linking and research skills are amazing.
What an effective use of your time. I’m sure it couldn’t have been better utilized preparing for the upcoming term or continuing your own education.
debunktfa // August 27, 2008 at 10:25 pm |
You are so right!
It must be so funny to someone who views the education of inner city children as a step towards something more important!
Stupid teachers!
Just so you know genius, I’ve just finished a second masters degree.
I paid for it by the way, on a pitiful salary which I’ve earned after 15 years of working with inner city children.
See, I’m not giving up on my students. I don’t view them as a temporary stop along the way to my real career,
This is my real career.
I didn’t sign up to do it temporarily – I’m in it for the long haul.
How about you big guy?
Nick Johansen // September 6, 2008 at 1:14 pm |
This blog only reinforces my feeling that we, teachers, work in nothing short of a “hostile” environment. Which leaves us blaming our fellow teachers and getting nowhere.
It’s really NOT our fault. The “system,” the American “society,” has left us with the job of fixing society’s ills — while few of us have psychology degrees.
One answer: end compulsive student attendance. I love little Johnny, but it’s not my fault that his father is a drunk and has left the family. Send him home and let society deal with his problems: I’ve got other kids to teach.
Ben // October 2, 2008 at 3:14 pm |
Dismantling Teaching Fellows, I read your story, and I’ll be the first to say you got a raw deal. I understand your anger and frustration. But shouldn’t those emotions be directed toward a petty, pedagogically misguided principal who fired you “upon a whim” instead of supporting and developing your skills, or toward a system that encourages “militarized” classrooms because of its institutionalized low expectations for poor urban children and their teachers?
It seems like Teaching Fellows, while definitely not perfect, actually did a decent job preparing you for the classroom in a limited amount of time:
“My second-grade students fulfilled all state-mandated requirements, my students loved participating in various projects I created revolving around recycling paper in class, sewing bags using geometry, and performing as igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic “rock stars” with facts and opinions about the interconnectedness of geology. The parents of my students with whom I spoke on the phone for hours on any given night when a necessitating situation arose, were all thrilled with their children’s education.”
Sounds to me like you were doing fine. Don’t blame Fellows because you had bad luck with a principal. Most principals would welcome such a teacher in their school.
I also don’t understand this paragraph:
“I initially believed that Teaching Fellows was different from TFA because the fellows worked towards a masters of education while teaching and simultaneously received more “support” while fulfilling their assigned role as classroom teacher without any true credentials.”
But TFA corps members also work towards a masters and receive ongoing support — in fact, they get more support than Fellows, at least in D.C. (I have heard that TFA varies regionally and that the support in NYC, where the corps is much larger, is not nearly as strong as in D.C.)
Dan Seifert // October 17, 2008 at 2:55 am |
A couple of quick points:
1) TFA does not at all discourage its corps members from joining the union. In my region (South Dakota) my program director actually pointed out some of the benefits of membership to us (though we were never actually encouraged, either – it was left up to each individual corps member). The “scab” argument seems a bit much.
2) As for TFA being a “temp agency,” and all of us moving on to our “real” career after teaching, consider this: 95% of corps members are coming from a non-education background (meaning it’s likely they were not planning on a career in the classroom). 40% stay in the classroom for at least a third year in their original placement site. 60% report that they are still directly involved in education (as teachers, administrators, employees at education-focused nonprofits, etc). So, only 5% of us came in seriously considering education as a career, and then roughly half of us stay in the field after graduation. If you were to look on the TFAnet job board (our online career services website) you would see that only about 1/10 of jobs posted are outside education (consulting, finance, etc). Most corps members are most heavily recruited by schools or education-focused organizations.
Finally, I think the most valuable contribution TFA is making is the recruitment of talented individuals to the field of education who never would have otherwise considered it. The sad truth is that teaching is a grossly underpaid profession compared to jobs with similar responsibilities, and the vast majority of talent follows compensation. Because of TFA, Teaching Fellows, and other similar organizations, there is now a caliber of talent in the field that hasn’t been there before – and they’re demanding the better conditions that teachers deserve. Perhaps the best example of this is The Equity Project – a charter school opening in 2009 in New York City that will pay every teacher a base salary of $125,000. If the entire school hits its goals (which are assessed using a balanced scorecard rather than just test scores) each teacher then gets a $25,000 bonus. This is all being done with the same amount of public money given to any public charter school – it’s not just possible because of wealthy individuals or corporations. In other words, it’s scalable. (see: http://www.tepcharter.org)
Overall, when I look at TFA and it’s impact I am incredibly hopeful because we’re seeing a level of energy, relentlessness, and urgency that has been sorely missing in public education. Most of all, I’m hopeful that if TFA can continue its current pace of growth, we will soon reach the point where the organization is no longer necessary.
Laurence Topliffe // December 6, 2008 at 3:39 pm |
Everyone who wants to see an improvement in education needs to look at http://www.stressfreeschools.org.
Josh Kaplowitz // December 6, 2008 at 10:34 pm |
I really have to wonder if the authors of this blog have been in inner city schools and seen how hard it is to get good teachers in there. I was TFAer who had a horrendous experience and did not receive much support from TFA (see http://www.city-journal.org/html/13_1_how_i_joined.html), so I certainly think the organization has serious flaws. But labeling TFA as “the problem” (as this blog seems to do) is as nonsensical blaming the financial bailout for the current economic crisis. Inner city schools are chaotic institutions chock full of bad adminsitrators and worse teachers, where a kid has a very slim chance of getting an adequate education. The kids who come to TFA from college are uniformly bright and motivated. Some like me fall flat on their faces; some perform adequately and leave after a few years; some do amazing things and become career educators. But none of them are taking jobs away from anyone who would do any better for these kids. And the ones who succeed often go on to become important reformers– witness Michelle Rhee and the founders of the KIPP schools.
TFA would freely admit that they are a band aid for the inner city school problem, albeit one that creates future leaders. I think we’d all like a world where TFA was not necessary. And sure, TFA ought to revamp its training and support its teachers. But in the meantime, I’d rather have college graduates wanting to serve a higher purpose through TFA than going straight into i-banking or consulting.
If this web site wants to be taken seriously, it ought to add something to its “mission” about wanting to improve education for inner city and rural kids rather than just “debunking TFA.” Because ultimately, that’s what the goal is. If you have better ideas, let’s hear them. Because the inner city public school system as it currently stands is broken.
debunktfa // December 7, 2008 at 11:17 am |
We have worked for many years in the inner city, which is why we feel the way that we do.
Truthfully, how else would we know about TFA?
They are not recruiting teachers to work in middle class, suburban schools, are they?
We know only too well how difficult it is – not necessarily to recruit quality teachers in our schools, but to retain them.
This turnover has been exacerbated since the creation of programs like TFA which encourage temporary teachers.
Inner city children deserve more than a band aid.
TFA NYC // December 8, 2008 at 4:27 am |
Responding to the original post, TFA does not discourage corps members from joining the union. In fact, in my second year of teaching (as a TFA corps member in NYC) I was elected to the post of union representative for our school (of more than 60 union members). I did sense some tension at times between the union (UFT) and alternative certification programs, but not because of the programs themselves.
The UFT district rep would often comment about how difficult it was to pull TFAers and NYC Teaching Fellows out of the school to attend UFT events. Many union events were scheduled around 5 in the evening and he found that most of us were still in our classrooms or working with students after school. But he was more than happy to have young, energetic teachers in a district that had difficulty filling positions.
debunktfa // December 8, 2008 at 8:20 pm |
Happy to have “Young, energetic”. Would that be as opposed to old and lethargic?
TFAPHX // January 6, 2009 at 1:13 am |
I think there are quite a few misunderstandings about TFA going on in this website.
First off, TFA’s mission is NOT to end the teacher shortage. The mission is to eventually close the achievement gap between urban/Title 1 schools. The achievement gap is not solely caused by a teacher shortage. While teacher shortages are a much bigger problem in Title 1 schools, there are many issues concerning educational policy, segregation, and, especially for my students, illegal immigration. The lack of funding for education is also a big issue. By recruiting from diverse backgrounds, movements in education are moved beyond the classroom. I bet you can ask any teacher and they will agree that the quality of the principal and superintendent can make a world of difference in their teaching experience.
Did you know that the turn-over rate for a first-year teacher in an inner city school is actually higher than the turn-over rate for a TFA teacher? (91% of first year TFA’ers return, versus 83% of first year traditionally certified teachers in urban schools). In no way am I arguing that TFA is better, but it is important to note the inherently high turnover rate among first year teachers in urban districts in general before condemning TFA teachers.
Finally, I think this blog is really turning a blind eye to the heart of TFA- if you actually sit down and talk to staff in TFA, you can tell they are absolutely committed to ending the achievement gap. There is no doubt that people that go on to become executive directors and other “corporate” evils actually believe in what they are doing.
My school is staffed by 1/3 TFA teachers. Yes, there are 3-4 that rotate out every 2 years, but my principal started out as a TFA Corps member. Our 8th grade team is 4/5 TFA teachers, and the 8th graders are the TOP performing in the district by every measure. On our last benchmark, the 8th grades were at 71% for math while the 2nd closest school was at 55%.
This would not be such a big deal if only four years ago our school had the WORST scores. We were at roughly 11% for math and 9% for reading in pass rate (I don’t remember exactly). Then, my principal came along, changed A LOT of things, enforced mandatory homework and a school-wide disciplinary system and…
The rest reads like a fairy-tale. We went from over 150 occurances of violence/ vandalism/ major classroom disruptions to under 15 two years later. In fact, last year, our school made the biggest gains in THE ENTIRE STATE OF ARIZONA in math. Oh, and that 11% math pass rate from 3 years ago? We’re at 61% now. Sure, it’s not on level, but if “significant gains” is generally measured as 10-15%, I’d say 600% growth is pretty darn good. And reading? From 9% to 49%. Maybe we’re not there yet, but pretty solid gains.
What is truly amazing, is to tell this to our students and see them internalize their sense of achievement.
Again, in no way am I saying that TFA teachers are any better…I’ve definitely seen some floundering peers and some who have left the program BUT— that is a much, much smaller percent than those who stay afterschool until 9 pm and work well into the weekend.
IF everyone in TFA is doing what they are supposed to (from teachers to programming support), then TFA really holds high standards and accountability for its teachers. I have been more than frustrated juggling the demands of being a first year teacher AND responding to TFA AND getting my Master’s certification (in almost every region for TFA, this is a requirement). However, to say TFA runs like a corporate machine may be accurate, in the fact that it works when implemented correctly.
TFA NEVER EVER EVER EVER tells you to settle with the fact that “a teacher is better than no teacher.” EVER. At least not in my experience. If anything, TFA constantly reminds us of our duty in committing to the program. I do NOT ever take a missionary stance upon my children. Yes, I feel bad when immigration takes another student from my district or when a student loses a family member to INS. In fact, the only people that take a missionary stance are the ones that walk into the program with a missionary stance. You can’t change that. We are never told to sit there and feel bad about our kids and that we are their only saviour. Rather, TFA emphasizes that we need to focus on things that we as teachers can change (teacher actions). A sense of volition and possibility is infused, rather than some dominant paternalistic relationship between teacher and student.
My school and staff are living proof of improving student success and , and I am proud to be a TFA Corps Member at a school where TFA has made a profound change.
Oh, and in our district, the top 3 scores for 7th grade science (they were all tied/ within 1 percent of eachother) were all from 1st year TFA teachers. Guess we aren’t so evil and worthless after all.
TFAPHX // January 6, 2009 at 1:18 am |
One more thing- I joined the Union and while TFA did not encourage it, there was no discouragement either. It just wasn’t mentioned.
I would have to say that it is the responsibility of the union representative at the school to get teachers to want to join, rather than TFA (mine did a very good job of recruiting).
TFA Alum // February 17, 2009 at 2:30 am |
In re the above, would you prefer shifting the paired opposites to “ambitious, relentless” versus “jaded, apathetic”?
If you’re not going to respond seriously to the legitimate points made above by the TFA supporters (several of which include statistics that you haven’t bothered to contend) then this is the level of debate this blog will invite.
And if that’s the case, I can relax knowing this blog’s success will be about as limited as its vision. Have you even considered the consequences if you were somehow to succeed? If you were able to cast enough aspersions on TFA that you were actually able to reduce or even eliminate the impact of the program, do you know what would result? Fewer talented people would enter the field of education. Those individuals might never see education as the number one issue they should care about, and even more disastrously the void they leave would be filled by the mediocre.
Take a moment to think honestly about why you are so vehemently opposed to TFA and its peers. Do you really see irrefutable evidence that the program is not helping, or perhaps even harming, kids in need? Do you really think that on balance TFA and its alumni are causing more harm than good?
Or is it that you are simply scared of the competition?
mike howells // February 18, 2009 at 2:22 am |
How does Teach For America factor into the post-Katrina “redevelopment” of public education here, New Orleans? The starting point for understanding the role that TFA teachers play in post-Katrina New Orleans begins with the recognition that a law passed by the state legislature in November 2005 liquidated all collective bargaining agreements between teachers and the Orleans School Board in effect at the time of the storm. For its part, the Bush Administration responded to the opportunity post-Katrina chaos created for privatization by limiting federal assistance to local schools to only Charter schools. Together these measures effectively smashed the United Teachers of New Orleans, UTNO. So, how does TFA fit into the picture?
TFA has responded to the post-Katrina transormation, some would say wholesale privatization, of post-Katrina “public education” in New Orleans, by radically increasing the total number of its volunteers working in local schools.
Unlike the pre-Katrina teachers who were driven out of the New Orleans school system, the TFA fresh meat are to a person, non-union. Unlike most pre-Katrina teachers in New Orleans, most post-Katrina TFA teachers have the shallowest of ties to the local community. And then there is the social class thing. The PTA teachers received their training at America’s elite universities. The social experience gap that exists between the upper middle class kid who went to Brandeis University and the working class kid who attends McDonough 15 High School has to, as a rule, be awfully wide.
The intervention of TFA in post-Katrina New Orleans is objectively aiding in the privatization of the city’s school system. It is providing scab labor that is helping prop up a school system robbed of union representation and local control. This only adds to the misery of a long suffering people. The time has come for the TFA members in New Orleans to either stand up for justice or to get the hell out of the way.
TFA Alum // February 18, 2009 at 3:48 am |
Mike – “The time has come for the TFA members in New Orleans to either stand up for justice or get the hell out of the way.”
Justice for whom? The reason that TFA radically increased the number of its corps members (who are not volunteers, by the way) is that it was begged to by the Recovery School District. As of the beginning of the 2007-2008 school year, there were over 250 students who didn’t have a teacher at all – they couldn’t show up at school if they wanted to. Not to mention the thousands of students who were being crammed into 40-student classrooms where even the most seasoned educator would have difficulty succeeding. So, TFA stepped up to the challenge and brought in more than 200 additional teachers last year alone.
One of the harshest social outcomes of Katrina has been the mass exodus of professionals from New Orleans – most of which have yet to return. Having found more lucrative opportunities in Houston, Atlanta, Miami, and beyond, they have permanently relocated. Unfortunately, that’s just not an option for the city’s lowest-income residents. So, there is a massive human-capital gap in NOLA – particularly in the field of education.
Rather than looking at this as a hopeless disaster, though, I suggest trying to see it as an opportunity for meaningful and lasting change. Even before Katrina, schools in New Orleans were failing by any objective measure – test scores and graduation rates were both in the bottom 25% nationally. The one small silver lining that might come from the disaster is that we now have the unique opportunity to literally rebuild the education system in New Orleans from the ground up.
Kids in NOLA have been systematically denied an adequate (let alone excellent) education for decades. The only justice we should be concerned with is for them – and that justice will be achieved through a relentless focus on academic results, not on artificial job security for ineffective teachers.