Tag Archive for 'Teach for America'

A Memo to Wendy Kopp

Published by Robert Pondiscio on May 22, 2008 in Education Leadership and Teaching. 16 Comments

To : Wendy Kopp, CEO and Founder, Teach For America
From: Robert Pondiscio, The Core Knowledge Blog
Re: Taking TFA to the Next Level

Dear Wendy:

First of all, congratulations on the huge surge in applications this year, and that New York Times editorial praising the impact of Teach For America’s teachers. TFA is hot, hot, hot! You’re well on the way to establishing the premier brand in education reform. Heck, you’re already there. That’s why you made this year’s TIME 100 list of the most world’s most influential people. It’s a good time to be Wendy Kopp and Teach For America. You’ve earned every accolade.

Because of all this success, you have built up a boatload of political capital. You’ve earned the right to innovate and really move the needle for our most disadvantaged kids. Now it’s time to break the mold and deploy your corps members in a way that could take TFA’s impact—already significant—to new heights.

You and I both know that the big knock on TFA is always going to be that its teachers are “two years and out.” Sure, you’ve got data to show that your smart, well-trained new teachers improve student outcomes. That’s great stuff. We also know that a third of corps members stay past their two-year commitment, and that’s even better. Even those who teach for just two years often go on to leadership positions, both in and out of education, deeply affected and energized by their experience. Bonus! But the more cache TFA gets, the more it’ll be used by some as a blue-chip resume item to catch the eye of recruiters on Wall Street, in the best law firms and corporations, and in top grad schools. Face it, that’s already an issue. These kids are no dummies, after all.

So here’s how we solve the “two and out” problem and kick TFA’s impact into the stratosphere: Instead of throwing TFAers into the worst teaching situations in the cities you serve, place them in some of the best, highest-performing schools. (Stick with me, Wendy, here’s the beauty part.) Place them in that high-functioning school for two years as pinch-hitters for some of our best, most experienced teachers, and send those master teachers to the same schools to which you’re sending TFA corps members now. We can call it the Teach For America Fellowship, and throw in a nice extra chunk of change to incentivize those master teachers without worrying about whether it’s merit pay.

Here’s why it makes sense:

Continue reading ‘A Memo to Wendy Kopp’

Go Big Mo!

Published by Robert Pondiscio on May 19, 2008 in Teacher Training and Teaching. 0 Comments

Speaking of Teach for America (see below), Eduwonk has a guest blog piece by former TFAer Maureen Miller, who looks behind the surge in the organization’s recruitment numbers. I’m kvelling. She was my grad student a few years ago.

Speed Hiring

Published by Robert Pondiscio on May 19, 2008 in Education Practice, Employment and Teacher Training. 0 Comments

A 15-minute call might save you 15% on your car insurance, but if the folks from Geico really want to save people time and money they may want to stock their call centers with Baltimore principals—they need just one-third of that time to reach a hiring decision on a teacher. This blog post from a Teach For America recruit hired to teach in the school district offers insight into how little due diligence goes into hiring decisions in some tough city schools. The “idealistic young man” describes attending a school district hiring fair in Baltimore where he is surprised to hear Chancellor Andres Alonzo announce that every school year in Baltimore begins with 850 vacancies.

“This huge demand for teachers resulted in a rather confused, chaotic environment. Some teachers were being hired on the spot after a 5 minute interview at best. The lines for each school were like a meat processing plant, simply looking if you were certified in an area of need, and then moving on.”

That night, the anonymous TFA recruit bunked with a couple of Teach for America Corps Members (CMs) and was surprised by some of the war stories he heard.

“The things we heard about some schools in the district were completely crazy. I should preface this by saying that I am not at all dissatisfied with my decision to join TFA, even after hearing how rough some of these schools can be. But, I think everyone needs to know what they are up against. We heard stories of teachers quitting in their first week. One female CM quit because a gang member she offended the day before fire-bombed her classroom, meaning he threw a bottle full of lighter fluid into her room (molotov cocktail). Her principal merely encouraged her to “put out the fire and call the police”. The other, a male CM, quit after a student pulled a knife on him because he didn’t like his tone!”

Perhaps if they take longer than five minutes, they might give those idealistic TFAers time to change their minds.

The Big Uneasy

Published by Robert Pondiscio on February 10, 2008 in Education Leadership. 0 Comments

Daily HeraldWhat’s Paul Vallas up to these days? The former CEO of the Chicago school system is now superintendent of the Recovery School District of New Orleans, and retaining his habit of sticking his thumb in the eyes of the educational establishment.

“Vallas hasn’t lost his penchant for speaking truth to power,” notes the Chicago Daily Herald, “or at least public school power, as he demonstrated during a recent speech in DeKalb sponsored by Northern Illinois University’s College of Education.” In his speech, Vallas talked up charter schools, KIPP, alternative teacher certification and Teach for America.

Teach for America recruits “come in with content mastery, energy and work ethic,” Vallas said. “I’m not saying old teachers don’t have that, but we want new teachers coming in with an optimism about their ability to help educate inner-city kids.”