Teach for America: costly turnover, little student improvement, perform below certified teachers

[Hannah Bell]

EAST LANSING, Mi., June 9, 2010 -- Teach For America has generated glowing press reports, but the evidence regarding whether this alternative teacher-training program works is very unclear, according to a policy brief released today by the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice...

Studies show that TFA teachers perform fairly well when compared with one segment of the teaching population: other teachers in the same hard-to-staff schools, who are less likely to be certified or traditionally prepared. Compared with that specific group of teachers, TFA teachers "perform comparably in raising reading scores and a bit better in raising math scores," the brief's authors write.

Conversely, studies which compare TFA teachers with credentialed non-TFA teachers find that "the students of novice TFA teachers perform significantly less well in reading and mathematics than those of credentialed beginning teachers," Heilig and Jez write. And in a large-scale Houston study, in which the researchers controlled for experience and teachers' certification status, standard certified teachers consistently outperformed uncertified TFA teachers of comparable experience levels in similar settings.

http://www.greatlakescenter.org/docs/Policy_Briefs/Heilig_TeachForAmerica.htm


Oh, & btw: They cost MORE:

TFA requires that their Corp members be paid the same as would certified teachers in the same positions EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE NOT THEMSELVES CERTIFIED. Further, the contracts with school districts require a payment to TFA of several thousand dollars additional for each Corps Members, thus effectively making a TFA placement MORE EXPENSIVE than hiring others to teach, whether fully certified or - like TFAers - provisionally certified.

http://educationpolicyblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/httpwwwdailykoscomstory2010618877196.html

[Tunkamerica]

1. my only question is, are these tfa teachers all math and english teachers?

if they're science teachers or some other subject then rating them on a reading/math scale isn't helpful. I was under the impression that tfa also hired science teachers. They couldn't be worse than some of the science teachers I had in high school.

[Hannah Bell]

3. the statistics are from grades 1-8, and are for the 2 subjects of high-stakes tests: math & reading.

[opihimoimoi]

2. Poor training doesn't have to mean poor prep by the Teacher.

Subject adjustment courses 101 to 303 are available

How to understand any subject matter to the point of teaching a course ...in 2 weeks....

The point is::::minimum trained teachers should achieve higher SAT Scores....

Is Laziness a factor here??

[Swamp Rat]

4. Teach For America = The Privatization of Public Education

This Machiavellian takeover is currently trickling up to higher education.

Pretty soon we'll be competing with DeVry and 'University' of Phoenix graduates for tenure.

[Tunkamerica]

5. your post sounds kind of arrogant...

maybe you're not sure you'd win such a competition.

[Swamp Rat]

6. Your post sounds like an insult.

Maybe you can learn to use correct punctuation the next time an insult occurs to you.

[Tunkamerica]

10. It's not an insult to point out that your post implies that people

who attend University of Phoenix or DeVry aren't on your level. If they truly weren't then the competition wouldn't bother you, but it does seem to.

I'll leave it to you to re-interpret your words and tell me how you really feel about people who sought education in a different manner than you.


(on edit: And punctuation? Are you kidding? Do you always point out punctuation errors in informal writing? Is that just for people that disagree with you? There are several examples in this thread alone that you seem to have ignored.)

[Hannah Bell]

11. maybe he thinks those are scummy schools that soak the students & the public while providing nothing

that can't be gotten at a community college for a damn sight less money.

besides polluting the public airwaves with their phoney, lying, emotionally-charged ads:

"i've got a good job now, people look up to me!"

"my worthless degree cost me $40K in student loans & i make $7.50 an hour!"

[Tunkamerica]

12. he didn't talk about the schools.

he talked about the graduates competing with him for tenure.

[Hannah Bell]

14. no, he didn't. go back & read his post. you're the one who made it personal.

and now, i'm done.

[Tunkamerica]

13. And, for the record, I agree that those types of schools are, generally, bad investments.

[Hannah Bell]

7. ...

[4_TN_TITANS]

8. Who could have known - experience / training matters?

I'll bet my wife/teacher of 15 yrs. against any charter teacher.

[Nikki Stone1]

9. This can't be stressed enough

Thanks for posting.