Pulling the Welcome Mat on Teach for America Recruits
April 5th, 2009 by ThomAmidst the struggling economy, 2009 applications for Teach for America are up 42 percent (35,000 additional applicants). At the same time that those program application rates were soaring, the number of currently-employed teachers facing the possibility of layoffs come fall was also growing.
Those potential job losses have led at least one teacher’s union to publicly say, “thanks, but no thanks,” to Teach for America recruits.
Community Service at Full Pay
For those unfamiliar with the program, Teach for America seeks to solicit college graduates aspiring to other careers for a two-year service commitment to the teaching ranks. Those selected to the 20-year-old program historically have been given assignments in inner-city schools or underprivileged, rural areas of the country.
The fundamental premise of the program is to place high-performing college graduates into teaching locations where qualified applicants simply are not available. While these would-be instructors must commit to only two years of teaching, a second goal of the program is the hope that these individuals may ultimately make the profession a career.
With the limited job market, this year many additional graduates have put aside their career aspirations to consider this two-year commitment to teaching.
While the program is touted as community service, Teach for America differs greatly from other Americorps service options. The fundamental difference is that volunteers in the Teach for America program receive the same pay and benefits as any other starting teacher. In Boston, that salary is about $46,000.
On top of that, Teach for America program members receive the other perks that accompany service-oriented options – the traditional benefits of loan forbearance (the postponement of loan payments) and an education award of $4,725 at the end of each year of service. Over two years of service, that comes to a potential of $9,450 that may be used for future educational expenses or towards the repayment of qualified student loans.
Teacher’s Union Furious
In Boston, 20 new Teach for America program applicants have been hired. At the same time, the city, in the midst of enormous budget struggles, has laid off a significant number of teachers.
The sum total of these events has the local teacher’s union up in arms. The fact that these 20 individuals are being guaranteed jobs for two years without having undergone full certification requirements has resulted in union personnel offering some extremely strong remarks.
“We are not disturbed but furious that the department would lay off teachers with excellent credentials and bring in people with no experience and little training,” stated Richard Stutman, the president of the Boston teacher’s union. “They are sending a very bad message to teaching staff.”
William Horwath, acting assistant superintendent for human resources in the Boston public schools, insists that the Teach for America recruits will be assigned jobs that laid-off teachers are not certified to fill: math, science, special education and English as a Second Language.
However, the union insisted that was not true, that some of the 20 assignees were going to receive assignments in the popular areas of English, elementary education, and history.
Teach for a While
Because the Teach for America program consists of only a two-year commitment, the program has derisively been dubbed by some as “Teach for a While.” Those using that expression often insist that the recruits are using the program to simply pad their resumes.
In Boston, the focus has remained on the job loss of credentialed teachers. But in Detroit, where some groups are working towards reviving Teach for America in the city, Keith Johnson, the union’s president went off on the teach for a while notion.
“We don’t need educational mercenaries. We don’t feel people can ride in on their white horses and for two years share the virtue of their knowledge as a pit stop on their way to becoming corporate executives. Some don’t last their first year.”
Contrasting View
Most of the students entering the program have to be taken aback by such a viewpoint. Certainly, most who make the decision to apply are inspired by the chance to make a difference in the lives of public school children.
As for the program’s effectiveness, one Urban study examining North Carolina high schools between 2000 and 2007 was highly supportive of Teach for America. The study found that the program recruits were more effective than teachers from traditional teacher training schools in boosting student achievement.
The report attributes some of that success to the academic credentials the recruits bring with them to the classroom. That strong academic background appears to more than offset the brief five-week teacher training program Teach for America recruits go through in preparation for their assignment.
Challenging Assignments
Teach for America recruits typically receive very challenging teaching assignments. The norm is often a classroom with limited supplies and a student population that sees school as a problem rather than a solution.
It is an environment that has been known to bring even the most inspired candidate to his or her knees, multiple times, over the course of the two-year assignment. That difficult assignment seemingly would be borderline impossible if the other adults in the building are voicing open opposition to the recruits very presence.
However, for now, neither the union nor Teach for America appear ready to change course.
I am very frustrated. I am a certified teacher (English 9-12), and I cannot find a job. I am ready and willing to work in the challenging St. Louis City School District, where I completed my student teaching, but Teach for America “teachers” have taken all the spots. I know for a fact that many of them have fulfilled the minimum two year requirement, but have decided to stay, forcing qualified, certified teachers like me to be unemployed. Something is definitely wrong with this picture.
By Katie on May 14th, 2009
You could try applying to the program, I’m sure they would take someone like you in a heart beat.
By Jennifer on September 1st, 2009
A Convenient Mistruth: Teacher Education is a Myth & we like it that Way; Is this Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome?
One must seriously question whether we really want teachers and students to get Better. Ironically, while teaching is an old practice it may have failed to become a mature profession, and for reasons that most everyone knows but at some level seems to be denying. There are some great teachers, and even some great Teacher Preparation programs, but these are random occurrences where consistency is essential even while it will never produce “perfect” teachers every time. The reason is simple: Professional Education is (perhaps intentionally) absent the fundamental and coherent standards found in all other professions. Believe it or not, there is no core curriculum, and no sincere, systematic effort to identify Best Practices, no consistency of content from one professor to another; 80% Concurrence from one same named course to another is the quinesstinal core of every profession, from being a barber to a neurosurgeon. It is through the somewhat contentious process of identifying such principles and practices that professional maturity is achieved. Accordingly, it seems sensible to formulate a process for identifying, activating and cultivating Best Instructional Practices. The problem is that there has been too much that has become crystallized around our current state of affairs. Too many of us have figured out how to live with and even benefit by Education’s dysfunctionality, often having it serve as the object of scrutiny rather than each of us. This dynamic is quite common. For example, there are accounts of children whose parents incidentally discourage normal development for admittedly subconscious/self-serving reasons. One variation even has a name it is called Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome.
It would be especially helpful to have many minds addressing and illustrating how these core and collateral entities now benefit by and/or might rectify this unintentional misdeed. Does anyone have an argument, explanation, means to suggest that is better, more practical than the one suggested here, one that can begin to counter this systemic blockage of our journey toward the professional preparation or rebooting of the nations 2 million teachers? How about even a way to, at the least, redirect the question and possible solutions to some of sources of teacher competency: Professors, Schools of Education, Learned Societies, Foundations, Teacher Guilds, Federal and State Departments of Education, School based Educational Leaders, major media and publishing houses, and what of, parents, and students. Although students have been nicely muffled by a twisted practice that supports grade inflation and the odd ability to anonymously evaluate their professors’ style, friendliness, knowledge and classroom decorum. Could the benefit of this bit of Twitter- Brain governed reality possibly outweigh the dampening effects on a professor’s grading, thinking and speaking?
Below are two websites devoted to a form of masse self-examination a la’ Rational-Emotional Therapy that ideally would allow our profession to continue toward institutional & societal maturity. Please join the discussion at: 1.teacherprofessoraccountability.ning.com/main/invitation/new?xg_source=msg_wel_network 2. bestmethodsofinstruction.com and 3. a new site for detailing some professional teaching methods for Professional Teachers: http://anthony-manzo.blogspot.com/2010/05/brief-writing-for-thoughtful-righting.html
By Anthony Manzo,Ph.D. on June 17th, 2010