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.
