“I never thought I’d be a teacher…” Part II: Teach For America

“Here’s a quiz: Which of the following rejected more than 30,000 of the nation’s top college seniors this month and put hundreds more on a waitlist? a) Harvard Law School; b) Goldman Sachs; or c) Teach for America. If you’ve spent time on university campuses lately, you probably know the answer. Teach for America.” -The Wall Street Journal, April 25, 2009

Last year over 35,000 college graduates, virtually none of whom graduated with an education degree, and many of whom came from the nation’s most prestigious universities, applied to a teaching program. Only approximately 4,000 were accepted. After being rejected, many of the others went onto elite graduate programs or top paying jobs, while those accepted committed two years of their life to early mornings, late nights, low pay and the steep learning curve that welcomes every first year teacher.

No, our nation’s college grads have not gone mad, they’ve just found Teach For America. Founded in 1990, Teach For America is on a mission to end educational inequity and bridge the achievement gap so visibly present between socio-economically disadvantaged students and their more affluent peers. It does so by doggedly pursuing both the most accomplished college graduates and wealthy contributors with equal zeal. Specifically targeting non-education majors with strong leadership experience, Teach For America believes that teaching is the utmost form of leadership, and that strong leaders can build on their intangible gifts with basic educational pedagogy to have tremendous success with their students.

Since this is a “Part II” article, interestingly enough Teach For America is NOT on a specific mission to lessen the teacher shortage; hence why their acceptance rate hovers just above 10%, the same as the Ivy League schools they draw heavily from. Their mission is not to put more teachers into the classroom, but instead to put only the most talented young leaders into the most difficult classroom situations. Since only the most select few are capable of surviving the challenges sure to face a first-year teacher in that situation, only those few are selected. Nearly all of those selected do share the common theme of not initially selecting teaching as a profession. In fact, Teach For America reports that only one out of ten of incoming corps members identifies education as one of their top career options.

Critics of Teach For America lob criticisms at it from all sides. Traditional education programs claim that it is sucking potential students out of their undergraduate classes. Some mockingly say TFA should stand for “Teach For Awhile” and that only their program makes long-term teachers. Teacher’s Unions claim that corps members are under trained, ill-equipped and unfairly taking jobs from experienced teachers. The President of the Detroit Federation of Teachers has called them “educational mercenaries” and complains that they are not committed to long term educational change. Nearly every critic asserts that Teach For America just isn’t effective at helping students.

However, the numbers don’t lie. The one out of ten incoming corps members choosing education as their career? After two years in the classroom, that number has changed to TWO-THIRDS as Teach For America alumni are bitten by the bug of educational reform and instead choose it as a life-long profession. Teach For America teachers don’t take positions away from experienced teachers, especially since many of the schools they are placed into have numerous vacancies. Lastly, a study conducted by the Urban Institute studying North Carolina high schools found that Teach For America teachers actually proved to be MORE effective than even EXPERIENCED teachers, particularly in science and math.

Nearly twenty years after its inception, Teach For America is going strong, and continuing to grow exponentially. With strong results and increasing acclaim, is there any doubt Teach For America will be a part of the Future of Education?

*NOTE: The author is a 2007 alumni of Teach For America and is now a graduate student in education.

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