As reported earlier here, Teach for America–the corporate teacher recruitment program–is having internal problems that it won’t admit in public. Heads are rolling. The diversity department was eliminated. Yet public relations for a major corporation like TFA require an offensive strategy. Mercedes Schneider has studied the PR strategy and describes it here. She reviews a report by Bellwether Partners (where Secretary of Education John King’s wife works), advising TFA on its image problems. Its biggest PR problem, it seems, is the TFA alumni who criticize the organization for its arrogance, its indifference to replacing experienced teachers, its inflated claims of success, and its constant self-promotion. They have figured out that no matter how many TFA are recruited, they cannot end the poverty that their students suffer, nor do they close the achievement gaps rooted in poverty.
A funny story that Mercedes uncovered:
According to the report, TFA just didn’t see hefty resistance coming on social media.
That’s just foolish. TFA is a teacher temp agency that then tries to place its former temps in strategic and powerful positions in order to advocate for test-score-driven ed reform. Of course many people will not approve, and that disapproval could be strongly expressed on the likes of Twitter, Facebook, and blogs.
Perhaps in its arrogance, TFA did not believe anyone could effectively confront them in the media. But it happened. And, as the Bellwether report notes, the comedy continues. Consider this excerpt:
“The volume and vitriol of the attacks caught Teach For America off guard. …The advent of social media exacerbated these challenges. While some of Teach For America’s critics, such as education historian Diane Ravitch, were highly adept in using social media to amplify their messages, Teach For America was slow to adopt a social media strategy. “We had lost touch with how this younger group of people were engaging with the world,” notes [former TFA staffer] Aimee Eubanks Davis.”
“This younger group of people”?? Diane Ravitch is 77 years old.
Makes one wonder just how far out of touch TFA is with reality beyond itself.
It seems TFA just believed that younger people would not read Ravitch. But apparently, they do. (Ironic how she blew the whistle on the current TFA downsizing.) Whereas TFA might label her criticism as “vitriol,” it seems that they recognize that their recruits consider her as being among the “reputable voices” criticizing TFA’s temp-teacher lifeblood.
Schneider’s post is a long read, but well worth your time.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Go Diane!
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TFA recruits I’ve met were idealistic, very young and almost (a summer of training?) completely inexperienced. They were thrown into some of the worst schools, to replace experienced teachers, that became ATRs (roving substitutes). I always did my best to help them. Very few lasted more than a year. TFA is rightly reaping the results of their unethical, arrogant and ignorant business plan shrink wrapped onto education.
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Yes. These days, the concept of “worst” schools needs to be revisited. When I first started to work inside our district’s high school which served the largest number of low-income students, the concept of being a “worst” school was simply that the students might not speak English, might be very poor, might have learning issues and be difficult to teach, etc. Then NCLB testing came along, and suddenly our school was labeled as a “worst” school simply due to the test scores produced by poor, often non-English speaking, non-dominant culture kids. Older, experienced “bad” teachers were pushed out against their will, and new “good” teachers were brought in. As these schools suffered the overwhelming downhill damage brought by losing a corps of veteran teachers who LIKED working inside these schools, an ever-churning crew of youngest, newest idealists simply became fodder for the get-money-for-teacher-blaming ESEA/ESSA machine. ciedieaech.wordpress.com/2015/09/23/faulty-replacements
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“This younger group of people”?? Diane Ravitch is 77 years old.
“Makes one wonder just how far out of touch TFA is with reality
beyonditself.”Fixed.
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“Out of Touch with Reality”
TFA’s biggest trouble
Is teaching, not PR
They’re living in a bubble
That’s kept inside a jar
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” While some of Teach For America’s critics, such as education historian Diane Ravitch, were highly adept in using social media to amplify their messages,”
TFA attributes social media and critics ability to use it “adeptly” as the problem.
Do they really think that the power and credibility of Diane’s blog comes from her tech savviness rather than who she actually is? Any one can start a blog, not everyone can bring the same depth and breadth of experience as well as the sheer amount of heart and good judgement that informs the ideas and discussion on this blog.
Take for example Cambell Brown’s $12 million dollar (no room for comments) “blog”
I suppose this represents the best simulation of a response, using social media, that money can buy. You can bet the techs who designed Cambell’s “blog” were “adept”.
But real ideas and the truth have a gravity that all the money in the world can’t buy. Unfortunately too many people are not willing to make the effort to carry this weight.
Thank you Diane!
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You hit the nail on the head, Jonathan. What these shysters fail to realize is just using social media is not an end unto itself. It is the message itself, not the delivery method. People find truth and sincerity in Diane’s message. Be them young or old, people can see through propaganda. This is why TFA will fail from a grassroots perspective. The only thing currently holding this organization together are the corrupt compatriots in high places. This too is destined to self implode.
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So some of the folks in the vanguard of self-styled “education reform” couldn’t see the glaringly obvious.
And they promote themselves as being one of the greatest things since the invention of fire, the wheel, and sliced bread.
It tells us everything we need to know about their ability to understand how to, and to be able to, “cure” public education of what ails it.
With all due respect to many in TFA that (in the words of a commenter above are “very young” and “idealistic”) this is self-parody at its best—and worst.
😎
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” they promote themselves as being one of the greatest things since the invention of fire, the wheel, and sliced bread.”
…but in actuality, are a smoldering piece of square burnt toast
“Un-inventing the (Square) Wheel”
To un-invent the wheel
This really has appeal
When wheel has been designed
By Gates and Coleman kind
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