There always seems to be a question about whether Teach for America is doing more harm than good. One side of the argument claims that TFA teachers are under-qualified and will simply leave after their two-year commitment is up. They claim that TFA takes away from more qualified teachers and they are only sustaining the problem of continuing to give BCPSS students a poor education due to the lack of new teacher ability. People who are pro-TFA state that they are bringing in a crop of intelligent and dedicated teachers who are masters of their content and committed to change. In the interest of full disclosure, I am a TFA teacher in my second year of teaching. While TFA does have many, many, many flaws, I do believe that TFA is a great benefit to the city.
Many people claim that traditional education programs give better pedagogy training and I completely agree. TFA’s pedagogy training is weak and inefficient. In my experience though I have found that traditional programs do not train their teachers to be effective masters of the content and these teachers are unable to teach the significant themes and ideas prevalent to subjects because they themselves do not understand it. While most TFA teachers will leave the profession and never look back, a great many of them will stay and go on to be master teacher’ and experts of the craft. This year’s Baltimore City Teacher of the Year is a TFA alum and proof that TFA teachers can become leaders in the region.
When TFA entered Baltimore the city already had a failing education system, and it was those traditional teaching programs that led us into that failing education system. TFA is simply alternative to traditional programs that led Baltimore into this problem. While change is scary to those who will lose power and influence, (a.k.a. bloated and ineffective traditional education programs, and jaded veterans) it is necessary if we want to give the children of Baltimore an effective education.
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I agree that TFA can be great--I have known TFA teachers who have come in and done amazing things....But like any program, it is hit or miss. For every great Teach for America teacher that I have met, I have met another with a head so large that it barely fit through his/her classroom door, who would say things such as, "Well, I (emphasis on the I) am here for the children." Really? The rest of us must be here for the money and prestige then. Then, to boot, they spend most of the year alternating between crying and screaming. My problem with TFA is that I don't find it to be a solution to the problem. If we, as a city, or as a nation, faced the fact that teacher education is lacking, and moreover, that teachers are abused and bullied, programs like TFA would be irrelevant. In my thinking, part of why teachers lack respect (apart from being traditionally female), is that it is just so ding-dong (can you tell I teacher elementary school?) easy to become a teacher. It is the fall back of every undecided major in every state school in the country. Further, because teaching is high stress and relatively low paying (especially in the city), it makes little sense for someone with a rigorous academic background to go into the field...Especially if that person went to a prestigious (read:expensive) college or university. I can speak from experience when I say that I can barely cover the cost of my student loans on my teaching salary. TFA is fine-for now. But a long term solution it is not. Despite Alonso and Rhee's advocacy of the program, it fails to address the bigger problem: how to create and sustain a dedicated proficient teaching corps. Though it makes sense to have people serve in the field then go on to make systemic changes in law, policy, etc., we also need teachers who are coming in to be that: teachers. TFA is a way of meeting hiring needs at a low salary with the knowledge that most will be gone before we ever have to pay them more. That is the unspoken factor in so much of the hiring in the city.
Again, this isn't to abuse TFA-but to say that it isn't the fix that so many of our school leaders would like it to be.
My opinion of TFA has changed slightly over the last 1 year+, in a sort of oscillating way. Recently, it has been moving down away from the 'crest'. TFA does recruit people that are extremely dedicated to pushing themselves and their students to achieve more. All this effort and these intentions would be the fix if only effort and intentions were what mattered. Unfortunately, many new teachers simply don't have the practical experience to be able to deal with many daily situations that prevent teacher hard work from translating to high student learning.
This is not to say that TFA is not a positive thing. Overall, I think many students have been much better off having had TFA corps members than they would have if that young college graduate hadn't been in the classroom. Some, invariably, were worse off. One thing that TFA has done is really propel a discourse that wouldn't be nearly as emotionally charged had TFA not become a national headline.
Overall, the lack of smooth school functioning and really good administration prevents many new teachers from reaching their potential. I agree with the previous comment (Mr. Beana) that TFA certainly isn't the 'fix'. I think TFA would agree. It's going to take much more overhaul that putting highly motivated, high-promise individuals in the classroom.
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