Valerie Strauss here analyzes the sharp drop in Teach for America recruits. The numbers of new corps members are down by as much as 25%.
Why? Teachers’ morale has declined precipitously from 2008-2012 (will Arne Duncan be held accountable?) and the teaching profession has lost its allure. Strauss points out that TFA may be a causal factor in the loss of respect for the profession, since it claims that brand néw college graduates are better than veteran teachers. By doing so, TFA has encouraged the belief that 5 weeks of training is good enough. This destroys the profession as such. Veteran teachers have been replaced by TFA kids. This can contribute to instability and demoralization.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Snark alert: In a rare case of equality of information due to the hard work of TFA opponents, the marketplace has spoken, TFA does not have what it takes.
LikeLike
“Strauss points out that TFA may be a causal factor in the loss of respect for the profession”
Technically, what Strauss says is that “[c]ritics of TFA are likely to say” this. And now they have!
LikeLike
Bonus points for close reading. You make Coleman very proud and evidently you are college and career ready. 👏👏👏
LikeLike
Well played, FLERP and Linda!
LikeLike
My guess, and it’s just a guess, is that the economy’s out of free fall and they can just go right to their “real” jobs.
Sent from my iPhone, with keys way too small for humans.
>
LikeLike
No need to slum anymore to get your Wall Street or law school card punched.
LikeLike
I agree with Jon and with Mike. In this free market choice, 1. follow the Invisible Hand, and the market has spoken by rejecting TFA; and 2. the economy has had some recovery so there are more high caliber jobs available, plus expensive grad schools are looking for students.
Beaten at their own game, it would seem
But also, as in LAUSD, these elite barely trained grads, thrown into inner city schools with classes as large as 52 in a room, are fleeing. Not worth it to be skinned alive for $18 – 30 K a year.
LikeLike
It really doesn’t take an Ivy league degree to figure out what the elites in this country think of teachers. Who could possibly endorse a program that replaces veteran teachers with 5-week teach for awhiles and rhapsodize about the crucial, life altering work that teachers do in the same breath?
LikeLike
It’s easy for the public to support TFA. It demands absolutely nothing of us. We’re paying for one teacher per class anyway and 99% of people probably don’t know TFA is federally subsidized.
It’s “free” because it’s a replacement for a teacher not an additional expense, and the claim is they add “extra” value.
It’s getting something for nothing, and that’s always an easy sell.
I wonder if it would have taken off if it had been en additional expense, an aide rather than a replacement. I doubt it.
LikeLike
Except the interns come with a $3,000-$5,000 finder fee, which is replenished every 2-3 years, and districts don’t have that additional costs will real teachers.
LikeLike
Ed reformers are pushing a poll that says “modernizing teaching” outpolls addressing the role of poverty in schools.
Now there’s a shocker, huh? The “education improvement” that demands ABSOLUTELY NOTHING from the general public outpolls the education improvement they have to pay for 🙂
I think it’s key to the political strategy of the ed reform movement that they promote policy where no one outside of teachers and students have to invest anything or contribute in anyway. It asks nothing of the general public. We don’t have to do anything.
Popular! You bet it is. It’s “free”.
LikeLike
Well, since many TFAers don’t attend Schools of Education, they won’t have to worry about their students’ test scores factoring into the proposed rating system. Another little ray of sunshine to brighten someone’s day – teacher morale be damned.
LikeLike
Having denigrated and devalued the profession of teaching, TFA now finds it difficult to recruit recent college graduates to be teachers. Who would have thought?
LikeLike
I am happy to have been part of that process since 2011. Other outspoken professional critics like Barbara Veltri have done much to inform the public and school district policy makers as well. A shout out to brave media like Al Jazeera America as well for doing a series of news segments on the underbelly of TFA. The latest one by Lisa Binns @binnsee & Christof Putzel @ChristofPutzel can be seen in 2 parts at:
http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/america-tonight/2014/12/as-teach-for-americaspopularitygrowssodoesbacklashpartonea.html
and
http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/america-tonight/2014/12/as-teach-for-americaspopularitygrowssodoesbacklashparttwo.html
The growing movement against Teach For America
Teach For America is a brand name in education, but it has seen increased backlash from its alumni and school officials
LikeLike
Student loans forgiven…resumes for grad school…oh to be 22, cool as heck, smart, and godlike to school kids. So why is this not the answer to problems?
LikeLike
Their mantra had become that teachers from ed colleges are the bottom of the barrel, and they, TFA, needed to elevate the profession with their elite college recruits. Wendy Kopp should be drawn and quartered…I swear, the ugliness of her insides matches that of her outsides. Does this mean the great TFA experiment will end? Not if there is still $$$$ to be made. I hate TFA. Hate is a strong word. I never use it to describe my feelings for anything else besides TFA, Wendy, Michelle, Duncan and their ILK.
LikeLike
They snub their noses on true educators, who really are in it for the kids, and turned teaching into a punchline. Shame on them; they should be prosecuted for their thievery and return the monies sitting in their coffers to the taxpayers.
LikeLike
Colleen Donnelly and Donna: you’ve just articulated what the self-styled “education reform” movement considers a successful outcome.
Teaching is just so, you know, passé and 20th century. Time to get on to “real” careers!
😒
The damage they’ve done may last generations. John Deasy and the iPad/MISIS catastrophes? Small change in comparison.
And will they hold themselves in any way shape or form responsible for that? Or even accountable?
As a former TFAer who rose to superstardom in the “education reform” establishment, and is now fading out in obscurity, once pungently observed:
“I reject that mind-set.” [Michelle Rhee]
¿? Yes, pungently, not succinctly. Stinks to high heaven.
And if only it were in a Johnsonally sort of way…
😷
LikeLike
From the TFA letter:
[MY COMMMENTS]
“Today’s education climate is tough [NOT THAT TFA-TOTALLY FU…NG AS…..S-HAVEN’T BEEN ONE OF THE MAIN CHEERLEADERS IN DENIGRATING TRUE HONEST TEACHERS]—fewer Americans rate education as a “top 2” national issue today [OH SO THEY’VE BEEN RECRUITING ON THE SUPPOSED FACT THAT EDUCATION WAS IN THE TOP 2 OF NATIONAL ISSUES-CAN SOMEONE POINT ME TO WHERE THAT HAS BEEN A CONCERN AND OR RECRUITING STANCE?], and teacher satisfaction has dipped precipitously in recent years—down from 62% in 2008 to 39% in 2012 [SEE MY FIRST COMMENT]. Additionally, an increasingly polarized public conversation [SEE MY FIRST COMMENT] around education, coupled with shaky district budgets, is challenging the perception [SEE MY FIRST COMMENT] of teaching as a stable, fulfilling profession; in turn, we’re seeing decreased interest in entering the field nationwide [SEE MY FIRST COMMENT]. (You can read analysis of this trend here in Education Week.) We’ve felt some of this same polarization around TFA [HEY WENDY, “WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND, EH]. At the same time, the broader economy is improving and young people have more job options than in recent years [BULLSHIT, EXCEPT FOR THE CHILDREN OF THE OLIGARCHIC ELITE]. Having experienced the national recession through much of their adolescence [LIKE MOST ADOLESCENTS KNOW WHAT A “NATIONAL RECESSION” IS], college graduates today are placing a greater premium on what they see as financially sustainable professions [AND ONE OF THE MOST STABEL, ALBEIT, NOT WELL PAYING WAS TEACHING UNTIL THE EDUDEFORMER AS. . . . . S INCLUDING TFA-TOTALLY FU…NG AS…..S]. Teaching and public service have receded as primary options [WHY SHOULD THE PRIVILEGED BE THE CHUMPS TO BE THE URBAN POVERTY DISTRICT TEMPORARY TEACHERS WHEN MOMMY AND DADDY CAN FIND SOMETHING BETTER NOW].
LikeLike
TFA is an insulting and absurd concept to begin with, unless TFA recruits are used SOLELY as interning assistants to qualified teachers with licenses and Master’s degrees.
It’s no wonder TFA is weakening.
It was the small aspirin that turned into a deadly monstrous overdose. . . . .
LikeLike
Good riddance. TFA’rs are no different from int’l Peace Corps members stepping in to provide western-world solutions to 3rd-world villages or VISTA volunteers exporting upper-class solutions to native american villages. All that’s needed is a superior attitude & a BA.
LikeLike
Yup.. And the Peace Corp hasn’t solved poverty as far as I know.
LikeLike
Good riddance (let’s hope and work towards) to a combination cult and scab recruitment agency…
LikeLike
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Texas Education.
LikeLike
http://newyork.craigslist.org/stn/edu/4808313990.html “Become a certified teacher with NYC teaching fellows. Apply by 1/15 (NYC) No prior teaching experience or education coursework is necessary”. More scabs??
LikeLike
Whatever the motivation of the NYC DOE regarding Teaching Fellows, my experience is that they are a different breed from the overwhelming majority of arrogant, entitled TFA temporary scabs.
Fellows come into the system with the explicit intention of being career teachers. I’ve encountered many in my school, and they have all been dedicated teachers who came with the intention of remaining in the classroom and helping their students, not polishing their resumes. They also tend to be older, and less likely to have the condescending, privileged pedigree that infests the culture of TFA.
LikeLike
I’ve sung the praises of the NYC Teaching Fellows before. My kids have had great experiences with teachers who came through the program.
It’s true that Fellows are infinitely more likely to stay in the classroom–most are career-changers with that special sense of focus and purpose. But it does need to be pointed out that the program was developed in conjunction with Michelle Rhee’s The New Teacher Project. Admissions are highly selective, and the pre-service summer training bears a lot of similarities to TFA’s. Fellows also seem to be a bit more forthright about what plenty of traditionally credentialed teachers will only admit when they’re letting their guard down: much of what’s taught in their master’s programs is essentially worthless.
TFA’s retention rate is indeed a joke, and it is weird/creepy that they all have the same stock responses about being “change agents” and convenient anecdotes about veteran teachers who drink/sleep/do the crossword during class, but I always felt that they were more about ed-school busting than union-busting.
LikeLike
North Carolina had a stellar Teaching Fellows program recently “replaced” by a legislative buy-in for TFA. Truly a colassal on pupose mistake.
LikeLike
I think they have just done the bait and switch. Just like CCSS just changed its name in a few states so has TFA. It now goes by TNTP http://tntpteachingfellows.org/. Admittedly this is Michelle Rhee’s old group but same wolves in sheep clothing.
LikeLike
They’re really good at marketing, I’ll give them that.
“Teaching fellows” sounds much more scholarly, high-brow and value-added than “22 year old with no experience” 🙂
LikeLike
Its all about poverty, everyone knows it….were not talking about rocket science here people. The people at the state education department, tisch and her cronies can come up with anything they want but until poverty in the inner city is addressed, these kids will never perform on task with the more affluent students. Look at my classroom today, kids are all over the place….smell like crap…lack of sleep…no one at home for the most part….live in government slum houses with minimal food and heat……i can go on and on but this truly is the problem people i dont care who the freken teacher is…try teaching global history to a kid who slept in a cold apartment last night with minimal food and certainly no love
LikeLike
It’s long overdue to cut them out of AmeriCorps. There never was a reason for this outfit to exist in the first place.
LikeLike
I feel badly for the new recruits. Can you imagine being a superstar and then being placed in the most impossible situations. Built to take elites and make them failures.
LikeLike