We Need Good Teachers, But is Teach for America the Answer?

Most of us have heard of the Teach for America program.  Developed in 1990 by Princeton graduate Wendy Kopp, Teach for America (TFA) is a non-profit organization that employs recent college graduates and some mid-career professionals to teach for two years in low-income neighborhoods.  Often praised as a means to supply more teachers to a struggling profession while simultaneously bringing quality education to under-served communities, TFA recently received $50 million in federal dollars as part of the Obama/Duncan innovation grant.  But there are facts about Teach for America that most people never hear about.  Consider these points:

• Candidates for TFA positions do not have to be certified teachers (the vast majority are not).


• Those who are selected to teach in these low-income communities are given "on-the-job training" - they complete a five week seminar to prepare.


• TFA teachers are normally placed in schools where other TFA members are already teaching.


• Some schools opt to hire TFA members because they're salaries are typically (if not always) less than more experienced or certified teachers.

These key points bring up a number of questions: Shouldn't we be sending our most-qualified teachers to the under-served communities? Shouldn't new and unexperienced teachers enjoy the guidance and mentorship of seasoned academic professionals?  Shouldn't the focus be on training teachers comprehensively instead of on the fast-track?  Research indicates that these questions are well-founded.  A peer-reviewed study in Arizona and Texas entitled "Teach for America: A Review of the Evidence" found that teachers who are certified (meaning they typically have a four-year degree in Education and have taken state licensing exams) consistently outperform TFA members.  The study compared apples-t0-apples.  That is, the researchers looked at teachers in low-performing schools and found that certified teachers do a better job at educating students.  And here's the really interesting part, and comes as no surprise to anyone ingrained in the field: with additional oversight, mentoring by seasoned colleagues, and advanced coursework, TFA members improve their teaching skills.  It just makes sense: you can't learn to teach in five weeks.

Given all this evidence, why is Teach for America still such a popular program?  Media perception is a big part of that. The organization is high-profile and its behind-the-scenes partnerships with school districts and community organizations help it to stay afloat.  School districts with tight budgets can hire TFA members at the lowest pay rate and sacrifice more qualified teachers by doing so.  In the process, the community at large views the school districts as taking proactive steps to save resources.  The TFA program also attracts corporate and philanthropic dollars from a number of well-known organizations.  This clout is useful in marketing the program across the board to school districts, potential applicants, and to the media.

The bottom line is that teachers, particularly those serving the neediest communities, must be well-versed in all aspects of teaching and learning.  Students face myriad issues - emotional, physical, and educational.  Teaching cannot be summed up in a five-week seminar or, dare-say, in even two years of on-the-job experience.  A program like Teach for America can never be truly effective so long as it fails to recognize this fact.

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