Teach for America: What College Seniors Need to Know

College undergraduates blindly join Teach for America Movement

Teach for America is an organization driven by data. Unfortunately, the data fails to support the reason for Teach for America’s existence. Teach for America recruits young college graduates to teach in inner city and rural school districts that are not meeting national education standards. While these students are at the top of their college class, they are not certified in education. Most have never taken an education course. Teach for America offers a six week summer training program called “Institute” to prepare their recruits.
Graduates who join the program believe that they are replacing an unqualified teacher. They strive to make “significant gains” in order to close the achievement gap between privileged and underprivileged students. The data does not support this belief. In a September, 2002 study, 109 certified and uncertified teachers were observed in five low income areas. The study found that Teach for America teachers did not perform significantly better than other uncertified teachers and that TFA teachers were 20 percent less effective than certified teachers (Berliner). Two other studies, one conducted by the Houston Independent School District and the other conducted by a group from Stanford University, reported similar findings. The Stanford University group wrote, “we find that certified teachers consistently produce stronger student achievement than do uncertified teachers.” Their study examined test scores from 406,036 low-income students in grades three through five. They controlled for several factors including prior student achievement. (They took into account students’ previous test scores). The Stanford group concluded that teacher experience was the strongest single variable in affecting student achievement on standardized tests. These three studies are just a sampling of many with the same conclusions.
As a first year Teach for America corps member, I was disturbed when I started researching over my Christmas holiday. Teaching was difficult. Living far away from my friends and family, taking graduate classes, and attending Teach for America meetings every month had made the year especially challenging. However, I still believed what I had been told over and over again during recruitment. I was making a difference. I was doing a service to my community. I was helping these kids. If I was not in the classroom, then someone else less competent would be. When I googled Teach for America, I was surprised to find article after article that debunked my beliefs. As I reflected on these studies, I realized that most of the other teachers in my school did seem to have a better grasp on what they were doing than Teach for America teachers. Furthermore, all the other corps members in my classes were struggling just to “survive” as most described it. Barely anyone read the course books.
All of us are learning by doing, and our first year students are the guinea pigs. Even worse, everyone seems miserable all the time. Few people ever have anything positive to say. The second year corps member at my school is planning on working at Banana Republic next year in order to recuperate. She has been counting down the days until when she will be done teaching since the beginning of the year.
While the Teach for America movement clearly has some problems, I am not arguing to disband the movement. Teach for America teachers might be filling in slots rather than replacing other teachers. There are not many people who want to teach in these schools.
However, college seniors should have access to more of the information surrounding Teach for America. The organization has effectively shut down the negative aspects of its programs. Students have no idea what they are getting into. Teach for America corps members are not really allowed to describe their experiences if they are negative. Colleges don’t seem to want to report the negatives either. The cause of Teach for America is so noble that everyone shuts out any information that indicates it might not be accomplishing its goals.
I write this from the perspective of someone who is in the program, who is not quitting, and who is making academic gains. I am not going to abandon my students half way through the year, but I remain undecided about next year.