Mercedes Schneider takes us on a tour of the latest claims, exaggerations, and braggadocio on the Teach for America website. She is bothered to the extreme by TFA who are assigned to special education classes, despite their poor preparation.
What bothers me most is this:
“Even with its fly-by-summer training and its turnstile, two-year recruit commitment, TFA unabashedly proclaims itself a provider of “world class education.”
TFA has been in business since 1989. That’s almost thirty years. It cannot name a single district where its young college graduates have provided a “world class education.” Kopp wrote in her last ghost-written book that New York City, D.C., and New Orleans were proof of TFA success. But where are the miracles in those three cities? D.C. still has the largest achievement gaps of any urban district in the nation, and it has been under TFA control (Rhee And Henderson) for a decade. No one calls either NYC. Or NOLA a miracle district except for PR flacks.
Lies really bother me. It shows character to hide ones TFA background. Or shame.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
It’s because it’s a private sector model. They started with the assumption that if you stay in one position for more than two years you’re not “moving up” – which of course also assumes that teachers are the lowest rung on a career ladder.
They have to move UP or move OUT. That’s the corporate career model.
They’re starting with a fundamentally different frame. Of course you go from teacher to running a charter school to running a chain of charter schools to running the Obama Ed Dept.
Only losers would remain teachers for 10, 20, 30 years. That’s an entry level, lower status position in the ed reform private sector frame and the Best and Brightest don’t stay entry level.
What I love about it is what it says about how they view “education” broadly. They must believe that people learn absolutely nothing at work which is amazing because it’s so anti “educational”.
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Yes, definitely a different mindset towards the value of a career in teaching.
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Uncredentialed teachers should never have been allowed to replace professional teachers in a public school in the first place. When this occurred in some states, the union failed to do its due diligence. It was a nose of the camel moment that should have been challenged. Now that this practice has become somewhat accepted, it is time to lower the bar further by creating parallel fake authorizing agencies and credentials. This is the slippery slope to McDonald’s wages for teaching. Arizona is a Koch brothers model for no credentials in teaching. If they get away with it in this state, they will expand to other states, if states save money with this practice. The union should be creating a firestorm in Arizona, but all I hear are crickets.
Using minimally prepared teachers for special education and poor schools is an expression of individualism and disinvestment in them. It implies that these students are not worthy of resources comparable to those of other students. The collectivist ideology would imply and all people are of equal worth, and we have to serve them fairly the best we can. That is one reason we have credentials for public school teachers. Certification laws set the minimum standards of preparation for professional teachers.
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“The union should be creating a firestorm … ”
The parents should as well.
If my child was being taught by an uncredentialed, inexperienced teacher who was eyeing the exit to greener pastures in one or, at most two years — and the underlying reason was so that the powers that be could cheap out on the cost of good teachers (not mention union busting) — I’d go thermonuclear and organize fellow parents in the same situation to raise holy hell.
I’m waiting for that to happen in Arizona and elsewhere, but, at the same time, I ain’t holdin’ my breath either.
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Another example, horrible one: “Post truth”. This is education? Education is the search for truth.
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Hi Diane,
I respect your work and appreciate your efforts to improve education. I am, however, surprised and disappointed that you would share this post. Schneider went to great lengths to research my education, certification, and later even YouTube comments, but never contacted me. Had she contacted me, I would have been happy to explain my reasoning for not including TFA on one version of my resume– though frankly I’m surprised that a line on one individual’s resume merits an entire blog post. Better yet, she could have contacted more TFA alums and asked if we included TFA on our resumes, and why or why not. That might have made for a post that actually informed readers about how alums see their experiences. Instead, she chose to write an entire post about me, without contacting me, and include personal details. I have no problem with public criticisms of Teach for America– in fact, I’m sure we share some of the same concerns. That being said, writing a degrading blog post about one individual without contacting her doesn’t seem like the best way to advance your aims.
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Sarah,
I agree with you.
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Diane, thanks for your reply. If you agree that the post doesn’t further your aims, perhaps you would consider taking down the post.
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Sarah, all of the information in my post was available on public forums: Your blog “about” page; your Linkedin bio, and the Illinois teacher certification search engine.
When a TFA alum chooses to avoid mentioning TFA on two public bios, it is news.
Contacting other TFAers is an option, but again, if you consider the information personal, then do not post it publicly.
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Mercedes, as I mentioned in the comment I left on your original post, I am aware that the information you included is available publicly, should one choose to search for the information. These details, while available separately, are not ones I list all together for a public audience. For example, I see no reason for you to include the name of my former school in the post. Again, I am aware that the information is technically public, but I maintain that your piece is in poor taste. It does not provide any useful information or even provide an informed opinion, since you did not contact me asking for my rationale. I’m unclear as to why you are writing about me with such unveiled disdain, without any attempts to contact me or any provocation on my part.
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Just posted:
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Sarah, I edited the post as follows: I use only your first name and last initial, and I edited out the name of the school in Linkedin bio info.
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Thank you.
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Sarah,
I read your above posting with anticipation, expecting that you would indeed answer the question about why you omitted your year with TFA from your Linkedin resume, and your personal blog bio.
Alas, this was in vain.
Ms. Schneider made a reasonable speculation that you were trying to distance yourself from the organization, perhaps because of some philosophical (or other) differences that you have with the organizations. Your comment on the other TFA Corps Member’s YouTube video seems to back this up, as in this comment, you criticized TFA teachers being used as de facto scabs in Chicago in 2013.
Perhaps Mercedes can interview you — over the phone, or thru the emailing back-and-forth of questions / answers — and post such and interview. This would certainly clear the air about this, and allow your to have your say.
On that score, Mercedes just put out an open request for TFA alumni such as yourself who have chosen to omit TFA from their resumes and bios to contact her, and explain publicly why they have done so.
Finally, I think that you mischaracterize Mercedes article when you described the piece as somehow “degrading” you. That’s not what I took away from it, anyway. You had your reasons for omitting TFA from your resume and bio, and, along with others, I’m eager to hear them.
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Hi Jack,
I responded with a brief explanation on Schneider’s original post. It was absolutely degrading. Rather than contact me, Mercedes gathered information about me and wrote a tabloid-like post about me including the name of my former school. The title itself has a mocking tone: A Teach for America Curiosity: When the Houseplants Outrank TFA– really? I certainly have no intention of providing an interview to someone who didn’t have the professionalism or basic common courtesy to contact me before writing two contemptuous posts about me. I would have been happy to answer questions had Schneider contacted me before writing her post. At this point, I have no desire to collaborate on anything with her. I was not familiar with Mercedes Schneider prior to this, but I do respect Diane Ravitch and her work. I would not have expected her to share a post of this low a caliber. It’s disappointing to me that those who claim to be trying to improve education are spending their time and talents dissecting my resume. It’s certainly within her right to do so, but I don’t deserve to be treated in such a dismissive manner. Whatever you may think of how I got my start in teaching, I care deeply about my students and work extremely hard at my job. Any teacher, administrator, student, or parent I have worked with would tell you the same. That does not make me immune to criticism or curiosity, but it’s poor form to write about me without contacting me. I am not anyone’s enemy here– we likely share similar views– but I certainly won’t be volunteering to collaborate with someone who thinks it’s acceptable to dissect someone’s life and career without seeking permission or even a comment.
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Journalists (not researchers) seek comments from people for articles. As an example of the difference, researchers report on the toxic levels in a water supply without the expectation that the report will include farmers’ comments about causal factors like crop run off.
Community members can agree it is “common courtesy” to be informed and permission received before TFA’ers are hired with the citizens’ tax dollars. And, taxpayers can agree it is anathema to democracy to use federal taxes to subsidize a corporate plan like TFA which evidence may show is anti-union.
Communities have a right to demand teacher professionalism, which includes elimination of end runs around credentialing.
Oligarchs like Bill Gates and Walton heirs spend a fortune threatening America’s most important common good. A willingness to fight for quality public education and to reject contractor schools is the battle for which Mercedes Schneider and Diane Ravitch have sacrificed. The description as “poor taste”, the tangential points used to focus on the major issue, ranks along with complaints about the Titanic’s hors d’oevre.
We should all get over ourselves in pursuit of the future that our children will have- oligarchy or democracy.
Americans should read “Democracy in Chains” and “The One Percent Solution: how corporations are remaking states one at a time”.
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