As reported earlier, the far-right North Carolina legislature voted to start vouchers and to end teacher tenure.
But there was good news for TFA: the far-right Republican majority allocated $5.1 million for Teach for America. The governor’s education advisor Eric Guckian is an alum of TFA.
TFA presents itself as passionately devoted to equity, but its major funding comes from the far-right Walton Family Foundation and it is very popular with reactionary legislatures. Maybe it is because they see TFA as a ready source of low-wage teachers who won’t stay for many years and will never expect a pension.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
How many TFA temps are taking the jobs of laid off, experienced, certified, dedicated, professional Chicago teachers?
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Many. I read this in another post regarding a veteran teacher who was fired in Chicago. His mother was called with the news. Yes, Chicago is also investing in TFA.
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That is EXACTLY the “plus” in TFA! Just for the greedy corporate shils like Jeb, Gates, Walton and the whole slimy group who don’t give a fig for education! In the Denver Public Schools (enriched yearly by Gates to the tune of millions) the TFA guinea pigs are the epitome of miserable until their “sentence” is up and 90% flee as though their hair was/is on fire! It’s the most colossal scam that the Wall Street, corporate cronies have ever pulled off on the public!
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Can people fight this at the local or specific school level? Is there any way one could intervene or be heard at the stage after the contract is awarded but before the teachers are replaced?
Do parents even know this is coming?
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Sadly many people do not have a clue about all this. It is generally not covered adequately by the media, most of which is owned by Rupert Murdoch who is a major privatizers, and who also is doing the data mining of all students most personal info for his inBloom activities to sell this info to all comers.
Did not know the Waltons, scumbags of the world, in addition to being the major funders for parent trigger laws, for Stand Your Ground gun crazies, and now Diane tells us they also fund TFA. They are super N)N-patriots looking to turn America into the Wild West, kill all unions, starve all workers, keep kids dumb to serve them as wage slaves.
It is so disgusting that these ignoramuses with their inherited billions have so much power. They are pure thugs.
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So we want students to be “College and Career Ready” but we’re going to allow all these people who are not certified and for the most part have no intention of making education their career to teach…. I had to jump through hoops to get highly certified about five years ago since my state did not requie teacher testing when I was in college. The crazy thing was was that I had gone to college in a state that did require teacher testing in order to even student teach. So I had actually already passed what had been called the NTE and then had to take the PRAXIS almost 10 years later. Now, all these people can teach without even being certified!?!
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Linda, there are also schools across the country where TFA teachers–and can we call them “temps” when their longevity in the career is comparable to new teachers in similar schools?–are the only alternatives to long-term subs. I teach in one of those schools, where we had five long-term substitutes in my building last year alone, simply because no one else would interview for those positions.
I’m not saying that we shouldn’t discuss the issues happening with the organization in many cities, but we need to be sure that we’re acknowledging both sides of the story.
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Why won’t anyone interview for those positions?
TFA messes with the normal balance that free marketeers like to CLAIM keeps things running smoothly. If a school cannot offer decent employment, no one will want to work there, and it will have to sweeten the pot. Ah, but if that same school can import enough TFA temps into its classrooms — and keep churning more in as the “old” ones leave after their two years are up — then the rules change a bit.
I see this happening at my own school, where the only subs we can get are retirees (who aren’t looking for full time work) and many if not most of the teachers who are new to the system are TFA.
Years ago, my town had a kooky residency requirement for public school teachers that had to be dropped after a few years because the town had difficulty finding new teachers. You might say that the free market corrected the problem of the town demanding too much of its teachers — yes, the free market at work in a public school system! TFA artificially mucks with the free market that the free marketeers like to trumped about.
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Ron Poirier: comments like these are why I view this blog.
I have no doubt that someone at some point will ‘refute’ your points by spinning out a phantasmagorical tale of “free market” magic on RheeWorld. The only problem is that the vast majority of us live on Planet Reality.
The edufrauds [thanks for the term, Linda!] dress up their creative destruction with lovely inanities. But once again, one of those old Greek guys saw through this long long ago:
“Foolishness is indeed the sister of wickedness.” [Sophocles]
🙂
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Many of the TFA candidates cannot find jobs in their chosen fields, so are doing this to kill time for small pay until they get into grad school, or get another job. They are acting as ‘scabs’ in our public schools and damaging the education of children. Their universities should be straight with them about the damage they are doing.
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It is not true that TFA folks can’t find jobs in other fields. Criticize motives or whatever, but let’s stick to facts. Also, a lot of TFA’s are first gen college grads, black, and Latino. How does that play into this discussion?
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That’s right! You can teach without certification. Look at TFA!
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Follow the money. Activists must file open records requests for the TFA NC contracts and share the information with the media. Open records requests for Eric Guckian’s e-mails would provide insight into the TFA scheme.
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TFAs plan to educate 2/3 of the Native American children in South Dakota by 2015. They are well on the way!
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I think that I would be ashamed if I was a TFA teacher and knew it was likely that I was replacing a good, experienced teacher who had been laid off.
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So who is boycotting Walmart and Sam’s Club?
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No one is boycotting Walmart and Sam’s Club. Wanna know why? Their falling prices appeals to those with low incomes. Who usually has the best back to school deal for school supplies? That’s right, WALMART!!!
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If every family member of every public employee in the country boycotted these two stores, what impact would it make?
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typo…falling prices appeal to…
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Eric Guckian was referred to Governor Pat McCrory by McCrory’s pal and former campaign manager, John Lassiter. Lassiter says that “one of the most important things you have is your reputation. You won’t find me doing things that discredit what I stand for.” So we can only presume that Lassiter is proud of what McCrory and Guckian are doing to public education in North Carolina.
Guckian has stated that Governor Pat McCrory and his Republican brethren want to make North Carolina the “education leader of the world.” And how will they do that?
They say they will create an “opportunity culture for teachers” that is based on (1) “more meaningful assessments measures including student achievement,” and (2) “Innovative, revenue-neutral ways to dramatically increase teacher salaries,” and (3) Meaningful rewards for our most effective educators,” and (4) “Job-embedded supports that value field-based outputs rather than theory-based inputs.”
In plain speak what it means is more significant high-stakes tests, and merit pay for teachers, and more charter schools, more virtual schools (“digital learning”), and vouchers.
Guckian formerly headed the New Leaders project in Charlotte. New Leaders had a contract with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools ––under former superintendent (and Broad Academy grad) Peter Gorman, who now works with Joel Klein for Rupert Murdoch –– to deliver principals. As the Charlotte Observer reported, “New Leaders, and gotten only a handful of principals, a cost of roughly $400,000 each for recruitment and training…The initial agreement called for CMS to provide residencies for up to 40 New Leaders recruits through the current school year and up to 56 through 2014…A partnership with Winthrop University has provided more principals than New Leaders has…”
Eric Guckian is helping to unravel public schooling in the Tar Heel state, yet he admits that “I’ve been out of the classroom for ten years, I don’t claim to know what’s happening in the classroom.”
John Lassiter, the man who recommended Guckian, says that the ultimate outcome of government is that “we have responsible citizens who pay their taxes and support their families.” I seriously doubt that dismantling public education is the best way to achieve that. But conservative Republicans care not. At the same time they cut funding for public schools, they gave big tax cuts to corporations and the wealthy.
This is the face of education “reform” in North Carolina.
And so much for John Lassiter’s “reputation.”
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What’s particularly sad here in NC is that we had a highly successful Teaching Fellows Program. We were able to attract and retain new graduates who excelled in the classroom. One legislator, Deb McManus, filed a bill that proposed that NC re-establish the TF program, but you can see where that went. This is just another NC General Assembly move that flies in the face of what we know works in K-12 education. This is no time to quit; it’s time to keep fighting!
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In every rape of the government run institutions, be it prisons, public schools, and the next target, the postal service, we always see a pattern. Like a parasite, the corporate cabal infests the public system, claims it’s bankrupt (SS, is an example) and totally ineffectual. Its sells the public a totally false paradigm, with a “cure” that is deadly to the particular targeted branch, organization, etc. Seems the public is unable to see a pattern and eagerly join the pitchfork attack against the target. Once they have hooked the public with their intentional falsehoods, destroyed the “host” and claimed it was insolvent, suddenly, like manna from the skies, there are MILLIONS to fund their destructive replacement. The worst destruction of public schools is the “curriculum” that will be a perfect training ground for a non-critical thinking, subservient lower class (in other words, the 99%’ers), BACK TO THE DAYS OF DICKENS AND THE ROBBER BARONS!
N.C. is the master plan. One could almost graph where each state is in the steps for
ruination/replacement!
Obama is the happy host to the plutocracy that is eclipsing, as Jimmy Carter said, our democracy. Until we see where our profession fits in the overall picture, we will be unable to fight what is an all-encompassing attack on the Republic and the middle class.
Time to dispel the charade of Obama and the jackals like Duncan, “Jeb”, Gates, Walton and the growing list of corporate vultures that are parasitically destroying our nation!
NONE of it is a “Sh– Happens” event!
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