Recently ProPublica published a deeply researched investigation of Teach for America’s close ties to the charter industry. As Gary Rubinstein reports in this post, TFA functionaries responded with shock to this clear statement of fact.
What is amazing is their defensive reaction to easily documented facts.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
News alert: Water is wet.
Seriously? I thought TFAers were the “best and brightest” from colleges and universities with strong mission who – instead of joining the Peace Corps – did a gig with TFA. How did they graduate and learn nothing about business models, scarcity and supply and demand.
I guess they missed Econ 101.
TFA is the ultimate corporate greed (and unsuccessful small business) business plan.
The New Optimal Business Model = Deregulation + corporate ax breaks for + tax credits for the wealthy + no long term employee costs (no need for pension contribution or professional development or increased “career” compensation.
The New Guiding Principles: use “disruption” as an excuse for change, unions are bad, privatize anything public, demonize public schools, include “free” and “public” in all advertising
Yikes. Wake up and smell the politics.
Did they miss the lecture on 21st century corporate guiding principles and corporate culture:
TFA is a corporate dream.
Buy up or invest in a bunch of “free public education with transportation provided’ Charter schools.
Hire the cheapest labor you can find in the guise of “service.”
Assign them far away from home.
Provide teachers no incentive to stay in the job after 2 years, hence, no reason for a retirement package.
Cherry pick kids. Threaten expulsion to misbehaving children (But do it after you receive the per pupil funding)
Place teachers in high pressure, scripted working conditions
Receive government funds without using them (NOLA charters – see NPE investigation)
Receive public school funds.
Cheap labor, public funds, high turnover
(EdWeek: After five years, 27.8% were still in teaching. This retention rate is markedly lower than the 50% estimated for new teachers across all types of schools (Smith & Ingersoll, 2003).
It’s a surprise that TFA is tied to charter schools?
I guess so – just like the revelation that the NRA is more than a club for legitimate hunters.
And the funny (not ha ha) part about the retention rate is that all of the supposed education “leaders” are wringing their hands over the 50% loss of public school teachers by year 5, but can’t seem to be upset by a far smaller number of charter teachers being retained.
great line: WAKE UP AND SMELL THE POLITICS.
“Nearly 40 TeachForAmerica leaders from across the country recently came to learn from experts at IUPhilanthropy and local civic & philanthropy leaders. Thanks to close partner WaltonFamilyFdn’s Beth Bray for leading a Q&A with our Executive Director Amar Patel!”
I don’t know. Does “close partner” mean something different than “close partner”?
Anyone can go look at any of the TFA marketing and see they are identical to the “ed reform movement” as it’s currently constituted. The only difference is some of them work inside public schools.
Can they point to where they’re different than the other 5000 ed reform orgs in the “movement”? They’re often inside public schools rather than outside them. Is that the difference?
Here’s the Walton Family Foundation K-12:
https://www.waltonfamilyfoundation.org/our-work/k-12-education
What’s TFA’s claim? That the Walton Family Foundation is not an ed reform org?
Because it is. It’s the exact same language and policies they all promote.
TFA didn’t contest any of the facts in that article because they’re true. I understand they want to be perceived differently, as “agnostic” as the currently fashionable term is used, but people don’t have an obligation to accept their marketing of their “brand” as definitive or the one true story. They claim they’re agnostic. The Propublica article questions that claim. That’s allowed.
Arne Duncan used to tell his buddies in charterworld not to damage the “brand”. An investigative reporting team doesn’t share that goal, and the public doesn’t either.
Duncan is sickening.
To be clear: the Walton Family Foundation reflects the anti-government, anti-union, anti-teacher, anti-public school views of the Walton family.
Their net worth collectively is about $150 BILLION.
They are doing their best to destroy public education in Arkansas and wherever else their funds can buy politicians.
” …the Walton Family Foundation reflects the anti-government … views of the Walmart family” … ”
To qualify that statement, Walmart Family Foundation and the Walmart family LOOOOOVE the government in one respect.
Rather than provide any health benefits — or decent benefits that don’t require a huge chuck taken out of your paycheck, or huge deductibles, or huge prescription costs (the Walmart plan) — Walmart instead sends those employees to … yes … the government health plans such as Medicaid, or Medical.
The same goes for employees who can’t afford food … Walmart managers send their employees to the government for WIC coupons and food stamps.
They just pass those costs on to the taxpayers, so you’re still paying more when you buy cheap stuff at Walmart, and enable this scam.
Here’s a segment from the movie WALMART: HIGH COST OF LOW PRICES.
Former Walmart managers, their voices heavy with shame, speak on camera about the horrible health plan that no one uses, and instead, under orders from their Walmart masters, they’d give low-paid employees the actual applications for Medicaid, WIC, Food stamps, and even for Welfare to supplement those low-paid employees’ miserable Walmart wages.
One Walmart worker talks about being on the health plan of his non-Walmart-working mom’s job, and then at 25, switching to Walmart’s plan. The same bottle of pills that cost $5 on his mom’s plan, then jumped to $70-a-bottle on Walmart’s plan. Thus, the workers have nothing to do with that plan, and then either go without a health plan, or opt for a government health plan such as Medicaid or Medical.
(go to around 19:18)
(watch the whole movie, btw, it’s depressing, but necessary viewing)
Mind you, this is what the Walmart folks want to do to the salaries and working conditions of those in teaching profession, which will ultimately do untold damage the education of children in the process, while enriching Walmart and its allies who … once they’ve achieved their end game goals … will have privatized and taken over public education.
They are truly the forces of darkness.
From TFA’s website-it’s not a teacher training program, far from it. It’s literally adult summer camp:
“It’s a profound experience that ties you to all other corps members, past and present, and will no doubt leave you feeling deeply connected to our larger TFA community. No matter which institute you attend, one thing is certain—this is a one-of-a-kind experience. You’ll form intense bonds and lifelong relationships with your fellow corps members. You may even meet your soulmate.”
In order to preserve and protect the new recruits from the mean streets of East Oakland, TFA Bay Area campers (trainees) aren’t housed anywhere near the gritty Oakland neighborhoods. Far from it. Instead, they are housed in some very nice condos in Moraga. I grew up near there; it’s now one of the wealthiest suburbs in the East Bay. Perfect for TFAers who don’t want to get their hands dirty. Absolutely no authentic community support required.
In New Jersey, the state underwrote the construction of “teacher villages”–nice condo units–specifically to house the temporary TFA teachers who were teaching in urban districts, where they certainly did not want to live.
Despite dwindling numbers of applications to TFA, the organization continues to survive as a front for the interests of the 1%. They use their considerable assets to endlessly lobby for privatization. They position some of their bright, ambitious types in congress where they can bribe congressmen to expand private charters schools using public money. While they claim to be supportive of all quality public schools, this statement is misleading. All their efforts promote expansion of private charter schools while they disregard the negative impact this has on the public schools from whom they continuously drain money. TFA spends hundreds of millions each year on lobbying. https://www.edweek.org/ew/section/multimedia/teach-for-america-by-the-numbers.html
“Soulmates for America”
TFA dating
For ivy league grads
Ranking and rating
With thesis born fads
TFA marriage
Till class do us part
Teaching miscarriage
For year, till we dart