Teach for America

My experience with Teach for America

has only been positive. I was skeptical at first. I had felt called to work in the Zuni Public School District on the Zuni Indian Reservation in New Mexico. My challenges with low income, primarily white, middle school students seemed insignificant compared to the poverty I'd seen during mulitiple trips throughout the southwest. I loved New Mexico and Colorado...maybe because, as an artist and former art teacher, I am a huge fan of Georgia O'Keeffe and often used her paintings when I taught new concepts. Anyway, I interviewed for a principal position and they offered me the job over the phone. They also said, "Things are different here, so you can't accept until you come visit."

Boy, it was an eye opener for my wife. The reservation is like entering a 3rd world country. This community has existed without much change for over 2,000 years. I fell in love with the school when they showed it to me, but my when we drove away, my wife said, "Absolutely not." Well, when we got back to Missouri, the doors to this world opened and others doors shut and my family agreed to let me follow this calling.

The first few weeks were challenging, but intensely rewarding. Right off the bat, it became apparent that there were teaching issues in the school. My staff, primarily Zuni, cared deeply about their kids, but they were perpetuating weaknesses in instruction they had been exposed to growing up--because we teach like we are taught. I also had some teachers from other parts of New Mexico who had been in the system long enough that they'd given up changing it, or didn't have the skills or support to do something different.

However, my two Teach for America (TFA) kids that had been there for a year already were on a whole different planet of instruction. I believe they were successful for several reasons.

Number one, I gave them a chance. I had no experience with Teach for America, but my initial opinion, as a public school official, was that we didn't need a private organization pumping unqualified teachers into public schools--it seemed like a bad idea to me. In fact, given the opportunity as principal of the building, I did not place my daughter in one of their classes. But these two quickly proved me wrong.

Number two, they were adequately prepared. I'm not saying all Teach for America recruits are as successful as these two, but they were picked for the program because they were great kids. Coming from Ivy League schools, they had felt this was a chance for them to give back in some way. There was a little bit of that attitude of entitlement, but they used that to their advantage. Both ran their classrooms efficiently and fairly. Both of them set daily, weekly, quarterly, and yearly goals with their kids' input. Then, they held class meetings and discussed progress toward these goals and modified instruction and learning accordingly. I was highly impressed and their kids outperformed the other classrooms on benchmark and summative assessments.

Number three, they were intelligent, success-driven individuals. Both of them had been successful at tough schools because of their character. If I had known what they were capable of, I would have placed my own daughter in one of their classes. One of the teachers decided to stay in education and stay in the school district because she felt the intrinsic reward that went with the job. She started working on a Masters in Education so she could gain full state certification. The other one was torn, but a full ride for a graduate program to another Ivy League school stole him away. Still, TFA boasts a 63% retention rate in education. Graduates from education programs across the USA don't fare a whole lot better than that.

Based on this singular experience, I wish we could model a government teaching program, similar to Teach for America, but recruiting high school graduates into it much like recruiting for the military, and developing a core of "teaching soldiers" or "soldier teachers". These recruits would recieve 5 years of undergraduate education, classroom experience, mentoring, books, uniforms, and housing. In return, upon graduation, they would serve for a minimum of 5 years in an underpriviledged school in order for their debt to be repaid. The requirements to get into this program would need to be rigorous and graduation requirements even more rigorous.

With teacher stress and burnout prevelant, personal finance skills and healthy lifestyle courses would have to a significant part of this program. Upon completion of the 5 years, the recruit would have the option of signing on for another 5 years at which time they would be provided National Board Certification training at no cost and a significant federal tax incentive for the remainder of their career. I would recommend states offer the same incentive in order to get these recruits to accept assignments in their states.

Or, these recruits could opt to serve their second "tour" in another country where the U.S. is trying to build diplomatic relations for 3 more years. They would be eligible for the same incentive when they return to the U.S.

Surely we could fold this sort of program into our current military structure and budget. We would not be spending $20 per bullet, or $1 million per rocket. We would be investing modest amounts of money in a program that is proactive rather than reactive. The success that Teach for America has should become a model for reform while addressing the shortcomings of a program that is only able to provide limited training and support before throwing these college kids into the toughest classrooms in the country.

Criticism of TFA focuses on research that shows only slight advantages for kids in math and no advantage in reading. What? A beginning teacher with only a couple of months of actual education training has a slightly positive effect over certified teachers in math while performing evenly in reading and we are doubting that such intense, focused training provided to bright, dedicated, passionate kids can make a difference in the teaching profession?

Don't get me wrong, the best teachers I have ever worked with come from our universities and colleges, but the worst teachers I have ever worked with came from those places to. Much of their success depends on their personal character and intelligence before they ever start in the classroom. But what if, as a nation, we sought these people out as they leave high school and provided them the opportunity, prestige, and incentive to teach instead of losing them to high-paying, less-stressful occupations which are not trashed daily in the mainstream media.

Our least-provided for kids deserve sharp, dedicated professionals. Let's give high-needs schools another opportunity to find them. If TFA can do it on a small school, the USA can do it on a nationwide scale.