Gary Rubinstein was one of a small group of TFA alums invited to meet with the new leaders of the organization, who took over as Wendy Kopp took charge of TFA’s international program.
Gary was surprised to hear that others echoed his criticisms of the organization. Gary believes that the education reform movement is nearing its end, as the public and the media realize that their ideas consistently fail.
A good discussion.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Funny that the books recommended in the Common Core from the recent NYT article are written by authors that were suicidal, depressed, melancholy and without family. Perhaps these standards were sponsored by the pharmaceutical lobby.
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I think you are on to something, Joseph.
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I am a retired teacher and former adjunct subbing in schools. I had a 2nd grade class that was doing quiet reading. In time I moved to a popular spelling game and gave the kids the option to continue reading. I was dumbfounded that at least a third of the class continued reading and not the least distracted by the excitement of the students around them. I mentioned to an administrator what I saw and concluded that this would cease when they begin to feel that reading is nonsense and they move into the testing beginning in 3rd grade.
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I was interested in what one of the commenters said: “Pushing out experienced teachers so that DCPS can meet there TFA quota makes them fairly unpopular.”
Is it true that when districts contract with TFA, that they agree to a certain quota, or fixed number of hires, from the TFA program, no matter what? Can anyone confirm this? It seems absolutely absurd.
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Yes, it is true. North Carolina is spending $6 million on new TFA recruits.
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Andrew, it is true in Clark County, Nevada, they have a set number of slots. Usually they go to charter schools, but when there aren’t slots there available….They also are not subject to reductions in force, after all, a contract is a contract for them!
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Sad. I have family in Clark County. I almost applied to teach there, once, long ago. It’s too bad, too, because the general concept and ostensible purpose of TFA is such a good one.
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From Rubinstein’s article:
“When it was my turn, I had about five minutes, which is tough for me because I had a lot to say and wanted to make what I said count. I said that I don’t think the reforms in New York City have been improving schools. Certainly the national tests don’t show improvement compared to other big cities. As far as TFA is concerned, I said that while I felt that TFA may have earned ‘a seat at the table,’ it seems like they have been given more seats than they deserve and that they have not been responsible with this influence they have been permitted. For New York, I said that TFA should be actively opposing all the school closures that have been going on here over the years, that some of these schools are schools that employ TFA teachers and even TFA administrators. When I pointed out that the main NYC DOE employee who is shutting down the schools is a TFA alum, himself, they said that they don’t tell him what to do, and I reminded them that he was recently the keynote speaker at a large TFA fundraiser. I also expressed frustration that TFA is still putting a spotlight on all the other prominent alumni corporate reformers. Maybe not Michelle Rhee anymore, but definitely the rest of that crew (Huffman, Barbic, White, Anderson, Johnston, Feinberg, Levin, and Daly).”
Great stuff. The rest of the article is worth the read.
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I just had to post anotner excerpt:
“Matt and Elisa (the new Kopp “replacements”) were definitely thinking hard, and furiously scribbling in their notebooks, throughout the meeting. They looked tired, and not just because it was such an early meeting. I could be projecting how I’d feel if I were them, and I’m certainly no expert on body language, but how could they not be frustrated trying crack this dilemma they face: For about five or six years the TFA ‘message’ was pretty easy — charters and Michelle Rhee. And it was working out pretty good for TFA as they now raise over $300 million a year. But it seems clear that the ‘tide is turning’ and TFA is going to have to be strategic to make sure that they don’t get left out when the pendulum of ed reform shifts back to things that actually work and people who actually know about education. But if they stray too far from what has been working for TFA, they risk their funding. I’m sure they do not want to be the ones who ran the organization into the ground — killing the goose that lays the golden eggs — by trying to be more diplomatic. Honestly I don’t even know if they have the power to make any significant changes without first consulting the board, which is led by Wendy Kopp. I don’t envy their task.”
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I’m just thrilled that TFA is going global. Great news and an effective way to make US education results look better- bring all those other countries “down to our level”! And this gives all those young, white, rich girls a chance to see the world while getting their loans paid off. Then they’ll come home and be ready to settle into education policy jobs.
Better yet- maybe they’ll marry off to foreign royalty and stay gone!
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I hope to be as hopeful as Gary, but i ask…how could such a huge rally in a major state capital go uncovered in national news media. So far I have seen or others have only reported 4 local NYS papers…Albany, Rochester, Gannet LoHud, and Rochester….
Granted the NYT opinion piece (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/09/opinion/sunday/the-common-core-whos-minding-the-schools.html?ref=opinion&_r=0) by Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus was an improvement but it is a far cry form the kind of change the media had during the Vietnam War after Tet. Perhaps we are a Tet away.
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Perhaps a tit for tat?
What might constitute a Tet moment?
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The Tet moment is unforeseeable…Unrecognizable in the future…as was Tet. What the Tet moment of the Vietnam War had going for it was a lot of white boys dying on television.Will it take the same here? Will the unseen educational death of boys, mostly Black, be enough? Nope. Will it take a catastrophe of outrageous proportions for someone with someone in the Media with the stature of Walter Cronkite? I hope not. There is no one like him any more. John Stewart ain’t Walter Cronkite.
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One of Mr. Rubinstein’s suggestions is that TFA stop placing special education teachers. He doesn’t explain this at all, but perhaps some explanation would be worth reading, if not completely necessary. I can speculate on why I think this is – but can anyone illuminate this for me? If I had to explain it, I’d say that special education is teacher training in its purest form and is almost unrelated to the specific subject. TFA’s bachelor’s degree + 5 weeks of pedagogy and classroom management could never prepare a special education teacher. Am I right? Are the also other things we could say? Children with special needs are the most vulnerable to unprepared teachers.
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