Teach For America announced today that it is expanding to Seattle-Tacoma, with plans to bring at least 35 top college graduates to teach in some of the area’s highest-need schools for the 2011-12 school year. Teach For America recruits, trains, and supports outstanding recent graduates and professionals who commit to teach for two years in under-resourced schools and become lifelong leaders in the pursuit of educational equity.
Corps members will apply for open positions in high-need schools in the Seattle and Federal Way school districts. Teach For America’s charter Seattle teaching corps could be as large as 50 if additional school district partnerships and funding commitments are secured this spring.
“Bringing Teach for America (TFA) to the Puget Sound is a real breakthrough in our focus on the achievement gap,” said LEV’s Chief Executive Officer Chris Korsmo. “Their commitment to the kids and schools that struggle the most is extraordinary. It’s long overdue – we’ve been exporting talent to other TFA sites and it’s high time we tapped into that resource and kept these talented individuals in the Puget Sound area.”
In its 20th anniversary year, Teach For America fielded 4,500 corps members from an applicant pool of more than 46,000 to teach in urban and rural school districts across 31 states and the District of Columbia. Nearly 250 Teach For America corps members from Washington State are teaching in other Teach For America regions across the country, including Seattle native Cullen White, who writes for the LEV Blog.
Wendy Kopp, who founded Teach for America, will be speaking on March 2nd at MOHAI as part of LEV’s Voices from the Education Revolution speaker series.
Teach For America selected Seattle-Tacoma as its first expansion site for the coming school year based on the community’s remarkable leadership and innovative vision for closing the academic achievement gap, and on support across the region that will enable Teach For America’s presence to be sustained over time. In November, the Seattle School Board approved an agreement that would allow Teach For America corps members to apply for open teaching positions for this fall. Federal Way Public Schools has signed up to potentially hire up to 10 corp members.
A broad coalition of supportive community groups, corporations, local philanthropists, and school leaders made Seattle-Tacoma an ideal location for Teach For America. The organization has raised nearly $5 million to date, thanks in large part to lead investors including the Gates Foundation, Besos Foundation, Raikes Foundation, and Seattle Foundation.
A growing body of rigorous research demonstrates that Teach For America corps members are highly effective in the classroom. In 2010, the Tennessee State Board of Education found that Teach For America teachers in the state made a statistically significant, positive difference on student achievement in every evaluated subject, and had a greater impact on student achievement than other new teachers. A 2010 study from the University of North Carolina found that corps members added the equivalent of an extra half-year of learning in middle school mathematics. Additionally, an Urban Institute study published in 2008 and updated in 2009 found that high school students taught by Teach For America teachers outperformed their peers, even those taught by fully certified teachers.
Teach For America’s network includes more than 20,000 alumni across the country who are working from within education and every other professional sector to level the playing field for children and families in low-income communities. Seattle is home to some 200 Teach For America alumni. Nationally, more than 13,000 Teach For America alumni remain in education, with more than 550 serving as principals and school leaders. Additionally, hundreds of alumni are winning accolades in the classroom, including the 2005 National Teacher of the Year and nearly 550 others who have been named teacher of the year at the state, district, or school level.
I’m supposed to be “thrilled” that Teach For America is bringing in teachers to take jobs from those of us who have attended four quarters of extensive training to be teachers on top of our Bachelors degree, or those of us who have a Masters degree in Education? I understand that some bright young people have done well in their college courses and now think they want to dedicate themselves to “helping” us to educate our American students, but a degree in science or English or art does not a teacher make.
We have an over-abundance of teachers in Washington State. I have absolutely wonderful substitute teachers coming into my classroom who are just waiting for an opportunity to have their own classrooms. I hear that Teach For America candidates get not only their state teacher salary, but Teach for America also gets a stipend for bringing them to our state. That does not sound like a “deal” for us, and an inexperienced teacher in a classroom is not a “deal” for the 29 students in that classroom.
So, take your Teach for America and give it to someone who does not recognize a scam when they see it.
Sincerely, Karen Anderson, First-grade teacher
All I can say in reaction to this news is that I would never allow any child of mine to be taught by some TFA five-week wonder, and hell would not hide any principal from my wrath who allowed any of these people into my kid’s school.
If these people are really the “best and the brightest,” then let them go learn to teach in a real college of education and go through the certification process like every other teacher does. I am not interested in having my kid’s teachers, or ANY kid’s teachers, “educated” by some private corporation, funded by billionaire “philanthropists” and hedge-fund managers.
The League of Education Voters loses all credibility by promoting TFA.
Have you met one before? Have you worked with one?
I’m sad that someone as judgmental as you is teaching in my home-state.
Please, please, PLEASE be educated about your enemy before you throw stones.
I AM a TFA teacher, and in my placement region (Granville County Schools, NC), we actually are MORE trained than quite a few teachers. NC allows what they call “Lateral-Entry” teachers. That means, I have a Biochemistry Degree, so I get to teach Science. They pick up the “teaching” part along the way. At least TFA has given me the tools to be a successful teacher, unlike my unfortunate lateral-entry peers.
Lastly, I do have to say that I am VERY disappointed in putting TFA in the Seattle-Federal Area. I believe there are areas of greater need, but, if this is what Ms. Gregoire thinks is the best service to Washington children, then that’s on her shoulders.
@Brandon:
I am not, and have never been, a teacher. I am a very recent, very involved Seattle Public Schools parent and was a constant classroom volunteer until my daughter kicked me out. :-)
All I can say to you in reply is that Seattle is not North Carolina. Maybe they have a shortage of QUALIFIED teachers in North Carolina. I assure you that there is no such shortage here. The Seattle Public Schools superintendent knows this, we the taxpayers know it, and most certainly, the League of Education Voters knows it.
Judgmental? You bet I am! This whole idea is bogus on its face. Why would I or any other taxpayer tolerate our tax-supported public school system paying $4,000 per “teacher” to TFA for every one of its “five-week wonders” placed in our school system? It’s paying more and getting less. What sense does that make?
TFA proponents tell us Gates and Bezos will put up the $4,000. My response to that is: Who the hell sent for them? It’s not THEIR school system — it’s OURS. We all know that who pays the piper calls the tune. Maybe in North Carolina, where they tolerate nutballs like that guy running the schools in Wake County, it’s OK for rich guys to buy a public school system. We won’t tolerate it here, and that’s a promise.
I wish you all the success in the world personally. I consider the business model under which you are working to be unacceptable for Seattle Public Schools, and i intend to oppose TFA with everything I have.
I should clarify: TFA has a great “business model” — for itself. I consider it a rotten EDUCATIONAL MODEL.
@ Ivan-
Interesting point of view. $4,000 is something very different than what we are given. We do receive an AmeriCorps educational award, only allowed for further education.
To clarify: We DO go through a REAL UNIVERSITY program to earn our teaching certificate. We are qualified by the STATE to teach. I have a University Certification in Teaching.
I certainly am NOT in Wake County schools, and I also oppose their work in that county.
And it is THEIR school. Its a national movement. Better that we start cleaning up our education in our own country then run around central america trying to tell THEM how to live when we can’t even take care of our own here.
I think we should be focusing more on the 20-year veterans who sit in their classrooms allowing the children to play monopoly and passing it off as Math Practice. Where is THEIR scrutiny? What is their contribution? Oh yeah, its The Education Gap, which exists in Seattle as much as in the rest of the nation.
At least TFA has the chutzpah to address the problem.
Realizing that Washington State has outstanding and progressive teachers worthy of recognition, I am deeply concerned at the continual decline of teachers of color in our schools due to low seniority and retirement. While race can not be the sole criteria for recruitment, I sincerely hope that when considering teachers for this area, that the selections reflect our communities and ultimately, our society. I’m excited about Teach For America!
The audacity of dropping an inadequately-trained “teacher” into a special education class thereby depriving our children of their right under both state and federal law. We will be watching very closely. The first instance we see an abuse of state laws regarding certification or delivery of SDI, you’re gonna hear about it in federal court.
Congress did our children a disservice by granting inexperienced trainees “highly qualified teacher” status. What a farce! Was it too hard to earn it the real way?
Nora Liu recently wrote a Times Op-Ed that Seattle is really “two school districts” with the financially poorer section of town getting the “Failing school district”.
In Seattle 199 of 200 classes are taught by highly qualified teachers. This figure is the same regardless of school income level.
TfA “newbies” will only be sent into the “poorer district”. How is it a good idea to send under-trained teachers to only the “poorer district”?
In Nashville only 10% of TfA teachers taught for a third year in their assigned school. It is ridiculous to believe the TfA will improve schools, as transient “TfA” Newbies are NOT an improvement.
Wasn’t it just two years ago that everyone was complaining that the low-income and minority parts of the district had too many inexperienced teachers and too much teacher turnover? Wasn’t the District going to take steps to bring more experienced teachers to those neighborhoods and take steps to get teachers to stay in those schools?
So why, all of a sudden, do they want to bring a bunch of novice teachers to these schools? Why, all of a sudden, is it supposed to be a good idea to hire in teachers who have only a two year commitment to the profession?
This appears to be a recipe for exactly what the District said they wanted to stop – novice teachers and high turnover.
Given that there is absolutely no shortage of qualified certificated teachers, this does not seem to be ripe territory for Teach for America. TfA makes a lot more sense in areas of the country where there is a teacher shortage. The choice in those areas is a TfA corps member or some other conditionally or emergency certificated teacher. That’s not the choice here. Here the choice is a real teacher with experience and a commitment to the profession or a TfA corps member with no experience and no long-term commitment to the work.
Teach for America is a fine organization, but they simply aren’t needed here. It’s like sending CARE packages to Beverly Hills.