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Not Hot for Teachers from Teach for America[*]
Columnist Ron Hart looks at the way in which teachers unions are responding to Teach for America, a program that puts new college graduates in failing classrooms:
According to truly independent studies done by the Urban Institute, "On average, high school students taught by the Teach for America corps members performed significantly better on state-required end-of-course exams, especially in math and science, than peers taught by far more experienced instructors. The TFA teachers' effect on student achievement in core classroom subjects was nearly three times the effect of teachers with three or more years of experience."
So what does the unionized education establishment do when confronted with such good news? They only hire 3,700 of the 25,000 applicants who want to truly help kids. They badmouth the TFA program, and with their friends in the Democratic Party, who fear an educated electorate, put up barriers to such competition for their entrenched jobs.
More here. [Note: Mistaken link corrected]
[*]: Please accept my proactive apology for such a bad headline.
Update: Blogger and film critic extraordinaire Alan Vanneman not only pointed out the bad link above, but directs me to the actual Urban Institute study about Teach for America, which is online here.
|6.20.08 @ 9:53AM|#
That link goes to some wingnut yammering about "the Hil-Da-Beast" and "Slick Willie" and rehashing how much he hates hippies.
|6.20.08 @ 9:58AM|#
There's a perfectly legitimate reason that TFA is highly selective. By making their entrance process highly exclusive, TFA makes what would normally seem undesirable (teaching poor kids) into a status symbol. While the unions are to blame for about 90% of educational problems, I doubt this is one of them. If TFA were to accept more graduates, the status of the program would decline alongside the quality of newly minted teachers and their effectiveness.
Episiarch|6.20.08 @ 10:08AM|#
Please accept my proactive apology for such a bad
headline
Not a problem. If you had referenced Van Hagar instead of Van
Halen, that would be a problem.
|6.20.08 @ 10:08AM|#
and with their friends in the Democratic Party, who fear an
educated electorate
I'm sorry, but that part was just hilarious. It's really easy to
make digs at teachers unions without resulting to borderline
conspiracy theories, but some people just can't manage. As if
there's any chance of the electorate becoming "educated" enough to
compeltely dismiss the bull they get from both the Democrats and
Republicans
|6.20.08 @ 10:10AM|#
Ok - wtf with the "remember me" gremlins? I totally changed it
before I posted.
Anyway, I'm Mitt Romney, everybody
|6.20.08 @ 10:10AM|#
I'm no fan of the Democrats, but to say they "fear an educated electorate" is a mite uncharitable. It's not like the GOP plays to the higher intellectual crowd, either.
ed|6.20.08 @ 10:12AM|#
the Democratic Party, who fear an educated
electorate
Most succinct description of Democrat strategy I've ever seen.
|6.20.08 @ 10:12AM|#
The line about an uneducated electorate couldn't be more true. It's working to perfection this year.
Episiarch|6.20.08 @ 10:13AM|#
wtf with the "remember me" gremlins?
If you have two threads open in different tabs or windows, they are
sharing the same cookie. Use joke handles in this way with
caution.
|6.20.08 @ 10:14AM|#
Yeah, I'm with Wiglestat (though I can't RTFA since the link
isn't to the article). If TFA is being really selective, isn't that
a possible reason why their average results are so good?
Furthermore, is this an argument for expanding this government
program? Because if so, I'm confused. What website is this?
|6.20.08 @ 10:18AM|#
If you have two threads open in different tabs or windows,
they are sharing the same cookie. Use joke handles in this way with
caution.
I've been really successful in the past, and I know all about the
cookie caution, but my most recent post was as myself in this
thread and that's usually enough to bring the default back to what
I last posted as
|6.20.08 @ 10:33AM|#
I always knew that there was something odd about that Mitt Romney guy. To find out that he is really just Reinmoose's sock puppet is actually sort of comforting.
loli|6.20.08 @ 10:39AM|#
There's a perfectly legitimate reason that TFA is highly
selective. By making their entrance process highly exclusive, TFA
makes what would normally seem undesirable (teaching poor kids)
into a status symbol. While the unions are to blame for about 90%
of educational problems, I doubt this is one of them. If
TFA were to accept more graduates, the status of the program would
decline alongside the quality of newly minted teachers and their
effectiveness.
Amen to all of this. As an undergrad I worked in the campus writing
center helping people polish up papers. There was this one girl who
was in my major (biology) and desperately wanted to get into TFA.
Her application essay was laughably bad, bordering on Engrish
except for the fact that she was a native English speaker. The
conclusion was actually a little racist--"The poor black kids at my
summer job just didn't know better until they met me because their
families suck!" She was sure that they'd take her because of their
need for science teachers, but even that couldn't save her.
I have the sneaking suspicion that a lot of TFA applicants are only
marginally prepared for the real world, and that's the limiting
admission factor.
|6.20.08 @ 10:40AM|#
Could it be that the Teach for America teachers are so successful precisely because the program is so selective?
h-dawg|6.20.08 @ 10:51AM|#
The real reason that the Democrats are suspicious of Teach for America is that it is one of the most effective vehicles for throughly disabusing bright, motivated Ivy League kids of their liberal idealism.
|6.20.08 @ 10:55AM|#
h-dawg :
If only.
I knew a girl who was super democrat, tried TFA, quit, and now
advocates even MORE government intrusion into education.
Also, do you think they all go into it thinking it'll be like
Sister Act 2?
Democratic Party electorate|6.20.08 @ 10:58AM|#
There's a perfectly legitimate reason that TFA is highly
selective
Catching terrorists at the airport is hard work.
h-dawg|6.20.08 @ 11:13AM|#
"a girl who was super democrat" sounds like the lead-in to a
P.J. O'Rourke joke.
Actually, I don't know what the applicants are thinking when they
go in, but I know that most of them are thinking "this is FUBAR" on
the way out. But I'm not surprised that a good number of them think
that the government just isn't doing it right.
boston|6.20.08 @ 11:21AM|#
Reinmoose,
I believe thats what TFA is going for. IIRC, the founder of TFA
came to my school to speak. She said the objective of TFA wasn't
really to recruit teachers per se, but to recruit young
professionals. The goal was to get two to three years out of them
before they went into the real world. Then the TFA'ers would become
'advocates for education.'
|6.20.08 @ 11:27AM|#
While the TfA program is selective, it appears that the value of
education courses is NOT a requirement to be an effective
teacher.
What is required to be an effective teacher -
Above average intelligence
In depth knowledge of the subject matter
Preparation prior to presentation
An honest give a damn attitude.
Education degrees are noticeably absent from that list.
Jennifer|6.20.08 @ 12:02PM|#
While the TfA program is selective, it appears that the
value of education courses is NOT a requirement to be an effective
teacher.
And THAT is why the teachers' unions oppose the program, not
because of any paranoid "fear of an educated citizenry"
conspiracy.
Old Bull Lee|6.20.08 @ 12:35PM|#
Reminds of a news magazine show (20/20, Dateline, something) on last week about a teacher who thought she'd have it easy teaching in some ghetto neighborhood just because she was black.
Kendra|6.20.08 @ 12:54PM|#
line about an uneducated electorate couldn't be more true.
It's working to perfection this year.
I find this comment highly ironic considering the fact that Teach
For America is one of the "Public Service" programs that Obama has
been promoting so heavily, and that many Reason writers
and H&R commenters have faulted him for doing so.
Hmmmm…
|6.20.08 @ 2:08PM|#
Education degrees are noticeably absent from that
list.
I respectfully disagree. I have a masters of education as well as a
"real" degree in liberal arts. I did teach for a short period of
time but now have a finance-related (read: much better paying)
job.
I had loads of subject-matter expertise in what I was teaching
(history), but I can honestly say that what I learned in my
teaching classes was far more valuable in the actual performance of
my job than my knowledge of history.
Are there naturally gifted teachers who can go into a classroom and
help kids learn without taking ed classes? Sure. But I don't think
there are very many.
Of course, maybe my program was unusual. For one thing, my
instructors were VERY skeptical of the teachers' union (we were
told in no uncertain terms that we should never hang out with the
other teachers in the lounge because it is a "cesspool of
negativity").
|6.20.08 @ 2:15PM|#
If the "Democrat" party wants an uneducated citizenry, why do all of the people who can't tell a noun from an adjective vote Republican?
TallDave|6.20.08 @ 2:47PM|#
The real problem here for teachers is they'll have to compete
for students' sexual favors with attractive young college
graduates.
You can't blame them for being upset. It's totally unfair.
TallDave|6.20.08 @ 2:52PM|#
The TFA teachers' effect on student achievement in core
classroom subjects was nearly three times the effect of teachers
with three or more years of experience.
Gee, what a shock: teachers in a meritless gov't-run system that
doesn't reward performance don't get better with experience, but
instead just stop caring.
If only there had been a massive failure of a world-spanning
political system that was able to teach us this sooner!
|6.20.08 @ 3:48PM|#
If the "Democrat" party wants an uneducated citizenry, why do all of the people who can't tell a noun from an adjective vote Republican?
Obviously Republicans seek out a sizeable contingent of the chronically underinformed/undereducated as well.
Robert|6.20.08 @ 7:02PM|#
I applied last year to be a New York City Teaching Fellow, but wasn't accepted -- similar selectivity to TFA. I'd been teaching science courses to non-science majors in college for years, and I'd like to teach scholastically if I could get a job casually (i.e. without orienting myself toward a teaching career) that paid my living expenses, but that doesn't seem to be the case.
Paul|6.20.08 @ 7:35PM|#
Education degrees are noticeably absent from that
list.
Everyone's right, they are being selective. That's why their
results are so good.
why do all of the people who can't tell a noun from an
adjective vote Republican?
That's not what they said in the HBO movie "Recount".
|6.20.08 @ 11:26PM|#
who fear an educated electorate
Oh, come on.
And I see that no one going to mention the significance of these
teachers being recent graduates, just starting out in life, bright
eyed and bushy tailed, and who haven't gotten burned out yet. You
try teaching the same subject year after year and see if you manage
to inspire most of the students who walk through the door.
|6.21.08 @ 8:35AM|#
Hart is the new PJ O'Rourke! He is funny and on target making
his points much like Jon Stewart does on the left.
If TFA can get that many good applicants, why can't the public
schools? One has to be a unionized zombie to get a teaching job,
bought in to the Left.
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