Word: tfa
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Last week TFA's 505 trainees, selected from more than 2,500 applicants, tried their wings for the first time in the classroom. Under the eye of veteran teachers, they began working with students in 65 Los Angeles schools. The classroom sessions are part of a grueling eight-week training institute, based on the U.S.C. campus, that includes instruction in teaching techniques and workshops on decision making...
...When the TFA recruits' training ends in August, 233 of them will remain in Los Angeles. The rest will take positions in New York City, New Orleans, Baton Rouge, La., and rural districts in North Carolina and Georgia. These are all districts that permit the hiring of teachers without an education degree. TFA participants will receive salaries from $18,000 to $29,000 and be allowed to defer any federal student-loan repayments until the end of service...
Many educators hope that TFA's unorthodox approach will boost the low status of the profession and help alleviate the growing teacher shortage. According to the American Federation of Teachers, U.S. schools will have to hire 1.8 million new teachers by 1997. The need is especially acute in inner cities and rural communities, precisely the areas TFA serves. "Without programs like ! this," says New York City Schools Chancellor Joseph Fernandez, "we are never going to resolve pipeline issues related to attracting the very best and brightest to our profession...
...some traditionally trained teachers are highly critical of TFA. "They are probably good people," says Jaime Escalante, the East Los Angeles calculus teacher who served as the inspiration for the movie Stand and Deliver. "But the time ((for training)) is not enough." Some are galled that TFA has received widespread publicity while the achievements of most teachers remain unheralded. "It's because the profession is starved for recognition," explains Sandra Feldman, president of New York City's United Federation of Teachers, which supports TFA...
Many trainees are sensitive to charges of arrogance and surprisingly critical of their own colleagues. "Some people are complaining about their area of placement when they should be thinking about the kids they are doing this for," says Michael Yudell, 22, a Tufts graduate. TFA itself has come in for disparaging comments from corps crusaders who feel it has not done enough to recruit minorities -- although 106 of the first crop of trainees are African American, Hispanic or Asian American. "The program needs to be more diverse," insists Richard Rivera, 22, a Syracuse graduate of Puerto Rican descent...