TFA
Teach For America was on NPR (Talk of the Nation) earlier this afternoon. The guest wrote a (generally positive, by my guess) book following 4 TFA teachers in Los Angeles. The host was not in devil's advocate mode. Response from callers was mixed. Take away points:
I'm continually collating info on TFA from its representatives and people I know. I think everyone agrees that it's not the perfect solution, but given the size of the problem it's trying to address, there are no easy answers. The people I know say that standing at the front of those classrooms can be hell; whether it's worth the pain, they haven't said. However, I'm feeling I probably don't have the patience for the job either way, so I'm not entirely regretting not applying.
- Turnover rate of TFA teachers is high, but then so is the turnover rate among new teachers as a whole, especially in troubled school districts.
- TFA says that a majority of their corps stay in education, though maybe not as teachers or in the same school districts they were assigned to.
- TFA claims that even those who leave teaching and education are changed by conditions they experienced and things they saw, pointing to the numbers of former-TFA who are in education reform.
- The 2-year commitment does little to address the fact that teaching, by and large, is not a respected profession. Liable to punishment by the government, blamed by the parents, not respected by the students, while being underpaid.
I'm continually collating info on TFA from its representatives and people I know. I think everyone agrees that it's not the perfect solution, but given the size of the problem it's trying to address, there are no easy answers. The people I know say that standing at the front of those classrooms can be hell; whether it's worth the pain, they haven't said. However, I'm feeling I probably don't have the patience for the job either way, so I'm not entirely regretting not applying.