A blogger named Democracy Tree reports that TFA is putting up recruitment posters in the toilets at the University of Michigan.

Probably it is to recruit teachers for the financially strapped Educational Achievement Authority, where 27% of the teachers are TFA.

The blogger reports:

“Yep, that’s Teach For America (TFA) hustling young adults while they pee — Geez, talk about lowbrow recruiting tactics. Surely it’s every graduate’s dream to say “I discovered my life’s calling in the third stall on the left in North Kedzie Hall”.

“What makes this so interesting in Michigan is that 27 percent of the teachers hired by the state’s controversial Education Achievement Authority (EAA) are from TFA. The EAA is a special school district, established by fiat, which took-over 15 academically failing schools from Detroit Public Schools. The new district lacks democratically elected leaders and is instead run by a “Chancellor” — John Covington, who readily admits that fully 51 percent of his teaching staff has less than three years experience in the classroom. Covington came to the EAA from Kansas City Public Schools where, under his watch as superintendent, the district lost its accreditation. As chancellor, he currently enjoys compensation to the tune of over $353,538.

“How does the EAA pay for that salary? In part, by hiring college graduates on the cheap. They receive a whopping five weeks of TFA training before being thrown into a classroom full of academically struggling students. Last year, Detroit-area Senator Bert Johnson (D-2) reported numerous problems with the schools — mostly due to inexperienced teachers, including one school where a dozen TFA recruits walked-off the job out of frustration.

“TFA recruits are not required to have a degree in education. In fact, the only education-related training they typically receive is the TFA summertime crash course immediately prior to their fulfilling a two-year teaching contract. Fewer than a third of them go on to pursue a career in education. With the soaring cost of higher education, and lack of jobs, TFA becomes an attractive short-term alternative to grads much in the same way as the military.”