I go back and forth between a TFA-lover and hater. Part of what makes Teach for America a
popular fix to urban systems is that it attracts young, motivated, type-A
personalities – those who have a do-what-it-takes attitude and a drive to be
successful. These teachers are
given a crash course in teacher training and then thrown into the waters for
the next two years of their lives.
But what happens after that?
Well, about 50% of TFA corps members leave the classroom
after their two years, and 80% leave the classroom after three years.
One of the biggest arguments against programs like TFA is
this low long-term retention rate.
So I started to wonder: are the results really different when looking at
teachers coming from other backgrounds?
Interestingly enough, attrition seems to be pretty high
across the nation. About 50% of
new teachers nationwide quit after five years. This statistic is even worse in high-need schools (which, of
course, is where TFA places their corps members). In fact, around 20% of teachers at high-poverty schools
leave their schools each year.
Some leave education all together, but others merely leave to go to
higher-performing schools.
I think the reason this is true due to two major
factors. The first factor (and the
one that most TFA critics focus on) is the teacher’s ultimate long-term
goals. For some, who do choose to
use TFA as a “stepping stone” after college, the plan to leave the classroom
after two years never changes. Others, like myself, find their long-term goals
refocusing on education. In some
ways, this is a scenario that is dependent on the specific person. However, the second factor is where I
think we need to focus our efforts: overall satisfaction at their school. Understandably, teachers who found
problems with their administration, working conditions, or teaching placement
are less likely to remain in their placement schools.
This is obviously a systemic problem in urban districts – so, how do we
change this?
1 comment:
I think you're so right when you ask what we can do to change teacher attrition rates. I agree that there seems to be a larger issue here when it's not just TFA teachers that are leaving urban public schools.
Yesterday I had a really interesting conversation with a mentor from my childhood and he talked with me about someone he knows who is designing and implementing new systems of teacher evaluation for the Gates Foundation. This person, he said, is very passionate about what he is doing because teachers need to be held accountable. I definitely don't disagree-- teachers need to be held accountable, but to me there is something seriously wrong with a profession in which feedback is punititive and the working enviornment, physically, emotionally, and to an extent intellectually is less than ideal.
I've been spending a lot of time thinking about to make education better, and I think it's going to come down to supporting teachers, and I mean REALLY supporting them by making schools places with high expectations and a chain of command that backs teachers up and treats them like professionals. Yes, metrics, data, and delivery of instruction are important, but these are all things that take time to learn, and evaluating teachers based on piecemeal metrics does not accurately capture all that they may be doing for their school or their students.
The question of what to do about teacher retention is a good one, but perhaps the question we should be asking is one about how to improve the profession itself.
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