Making change

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/how-to-improve-teacher-education-now-and-why-teach-for-america-isnt-the-answer/2011/08/02/gIQANclsqI_blog.html

This piece by Arthur Levine, president of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation and former president of Teachers College, argues that alternative certification programs like Teach for America serve to undermine true reform efforts in teacher quality. These programs, he says, siphon off resources that could go towards truly reforming teacher education programs. Instead of shutting down or revamping poorly performing schools, we simply create another source of teachers. Meanwhile, poor schools continue producing lackluster results.

This sounds a lot like the opposition I’ve heard to the charter movement. Much like Levine’s frustration with alternative certification, critics see them as band-aids for more systemic issues in education.

But if there is demand for these schools – and for these teachers – programs like charters and alternative certification can offer an important service.

Both charter schools and programs like Teach for America act in many ways as laboratories for innovation. Teach for America doesn’t simply provide certified teachers to classrooms. As an organization, it has contributed to a body of knowledge, offering valuable insight into what creates results in low performing schools. Though not everything a charter school or TFA tries is successful, these movements accelerate innovation.