Word: tfaã
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...current Teach For America corps member, I increasingly see TFA??€™s rapid expansion as a liability, rather than a necessary response to the influx of applications. Adequately training hundreds of new and inexperienced teachers for a truly challenging experience is already an uncertain proposition, as well as a costly one. Teach for America takes this on each summer prior to sending corps members to their respective sites around the country. Maintaining quality as quantity increases is not only critical for the survival of TFA, but far more importantly, it is critical for the children in thousands of classrooms...
While new teachers in impoverished areas certainly face an extremely tough job, it is difficult to believe that only 12 percent of TFA??€™s applicants would be able to successfully teach when there is such a dramatic demand for educators. Judging from the qualifications and experience of two Harvard seniors who TFA turned down this past fall, it is easy to see the vast potential being squandered...
...consequence of TFA??€™s narrow outlook—that only the very best should be accepted and sent to the most disadvantaged districts—thousands of other excellent applicants who want to teach for two years, like these seniors, are being spurned in spite of the massive need for teachers. There are no broad nationwide programs that seek to match all qualified recent college graduates with school districts starving for teachers; TFA is the closest thing, along with five cities that have very selective programs aimed at young and mid-career professionals. Those who are rejected could...
Considering TFA??€™s impressive expansion, it is understandable that there would be organizational hurdles to accepting, training, placing and supporting even more applicants while maintaining high standards. Brakke and Eubanks also pointed out other obstacles that have hindered TFA??€™s efforts to establish new sites—most notably a lack of alternative certification programs that permit teachers without educational backgrounds to enter the classroom. To facilitate TFA??€™s growth and maintain the quality of its programs as it expands, more federal funding is necessary, and of course states must ensure that their regulations...
...there were a national program with the broader goal of training qualified college graduates to teach in districts that need them, TFA??€™s mission of placing only the very best applicants in the most disadvantaged areas would be a superb complement to it. But as it is, TFA is pretty much the only way for seniors who do not plan to teach as a career, and who have no formal teaching credentials, to make an immediate impact in the classroom. There is a massive teacher shortage, and TFA cannot ignore the fact that almost every applicant it turns...