The ALEC -- Teach for America Connection
Last summer, quite by accident, I met a group of about six young adults on the MAX here in Portland who were traveling from the airport to train for their new jobs. They were talking about having just finished their teaching jobs and how happy they were to be done with it. Being an unemployed teacher myself, I listened for a while and then struck up a conversation. They identified themselves as Teach for America corps members who had just completed their obligatory two year stints in the classroom. They were headed to the Stand for Children offices to be trained in writing education policy. Most had been hired to work as legislative assistants in state houses around the country. I asked a few probing questions about their education expertise, especially in policy. Turns our none of them had any education credentials. Some had worked on their masters degrees during teaching, but none had studied education or education policy. They really didn't get my point. The arrogance was palpable. I finally asked one of them point blank, "Don't you think you should have some education and experience before writing education policy?" They assured me that over the next two weeks (I think, anyway, short time) they would be trained to do it.
I hadn't thought about that encounter much since. But when I read Diane Ravitch's latest article in the Answer Sheet, Ravitch: A Primer on the Group Driving School Reform, it occurred to me that Stand for Children could be the conduit to the uniformity in education legislation using Teach for America "leaders" as the delivery system. Last summer ALEC was barely a blip on my radar so I hadn't make a connection back then.
Could Stand for Children be training former Teach for America corps members to write ALEC policy for state legislatures? I know Oregon legislators aren't savvy enough to develop language and coordinate ideas that mesh with those in other states, but their Teach for America, Stand for Children trained assistants may well be. With a little help from a persistent friend, this is what I found out.
Showing posts with label Teach For America. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Teach For America. Show all posts
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Want to keep teachers? Get rid of summer break - Boston.com
Want to keep teachers? Get rid of summer break - Boston.com
Nationally, about half of all teachers leave within three years of starting to teach. As many as 80 percent of Teach for America teachers leave after year three, according to a recent study by the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice. A lot of talk in the current education debate focuses on how to attract the best and brightest to work in education. But the bigger issue is how to get talented and dedicated young people, who also have other options, to stay in education.
I teach fifth grade at a charter school in Boston. Many of my friends studied education, and almost all chose to work at charter schools or through Teach for America. There’s a simple reason for this. Teaching in a regular public school generally requires a master’s degree in education and certification tests. That means that you essentially have to be sure you want to teach. The time and money one would invest in a master’s program only makes sense if you’re committed to teaching for good.
So here’s the situation: Many young people with other employment options enter the world of education. We choose to work in the toughest neighborhoods, with underserved populations. We work long hours in high-stress environments, forgoing many basic amenities of other jobs (like the ability to get up and go to the bathroom, for example). We make personal connections with students and take our worries about them home with us along with papers to grade and lessons to prep. Then after two or three years, the vast majority of us leave the classroom.
One solution that’s been proposed for teacher retention is higher pay or bonuses. For money to actually make a difference in teacher quality and retention, salaries would have to be dramatically increased to the point where candidates who are getting pulled into finance and consulting jobs would instead opt for education. Personally, I certainly wouldn’t turn down extra money, but it also wouldn’t have a significant impact on my job satisfaction.
Nationally, about half of all teachers leave within three years of starting to teach. As many as 80 percent of Teach for America teachers leave after year three, according to a recent study by the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice. A lot of talk in the current education debate focuses on how to attract the best and brightest to work in education. But the bigger issue is how to get talented and dedicated young people, who also have other options, to stay in education.
I teach fifth grade at a charter school in Boston. Many of my friends studied education, and almost all chose to work at charter schools or through Teach for America. There’s a simple reason for this. Teaching in a regular public school generally requires a master’s degree in education and certification tests. That means that you essentially have to be sure you want to teach. The time and money one would invest in a master’s program only makes sense if you’re committed to teaching for good.
So here’s the situation: Many young people with other employment options enter the world of education. We choose to work in the toughest neighborhoods, with underserved populations. We work long hours in high-stress environments, forgoing many basic amenities of other jobs (like the ability to get up and go to the bathroom, for example). We make personal connections with students and take our worries about them home with us along with papers to grade and lessons to prep. Then after two or three years, the vast majority of us leave the classroom.
One solution that’s been proposed for teacher retention is higher pay or bonuses. For money to actually make a difference in teacher quality and retention, salaries would have to be dramatically increased to the point where candidates who are getting pulled into finance and consulting jobs would instead opt for education. Personally, I certainly wouldn’t turn down extra money, but it also wouldn’t have a significant impact on my job satisfaction.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Matt Damon and Mother Reject Union's Award – SchoolBook
Matt Damon and Mother Reject Union's Award – SchoolBook
The actor Matt Damon and his mother, a professor of education, on Wednesday turned down an award from the country’s largest teachers union after reading an opinion article that the union’s president had co-authored with the founder of Teach for America.
Writing that she was “confused by your collaboration” with Teach for America, Dr. Nancy Carlsson-Paige said she and her son, Mr. Damon, no longer desired to be nominated for the National Education Association’s Friend of Education Award.
In the opinion piece that Dr. Carlsson-Paige referred to, Dennis Van Roekel, president of the N.E.A., and Wendy Kopp, founder of T.F.A., urged the importance of evaluating and improving teacher training programs across the country. Yet in her e-mail to Mr. Van Roekel, Dr. Carlsson-Paige said she finds this message somewhat disingenuous on the part of T.F.A.
“I am very familiar with TFA and believe that its short-term, minimal training of teachers undermines teacher quality and harms children who too often get an inadequate education with its teachers,” the e-mail states.
LP - Amen that there still are a few Americans willing to take a principled stand.
The actor Matt Damon and his mother, a professor of education, on Wednesday turned down an award from the country’s largest teachers union after reading an opinion article that the union’s president had co-authored with the founder of Teach for America.
Writing that she was “confused by your collaboration” with Teach for America, Dr. Nancy Carlsson-Paige said she and her son, Mr. Damon, no longer desired to be nominated for the National Education Association’s Friend of Education Award.
In the opinion piece that Dr. Carlsson-Paige referred to, Dennis Van Roekel, president of the N.E.A., and Wendy Kopp, founder of T.F.A., urged the importance of evaluating and improving teacher training programs across the country. Yet in her e-mail to Mr. Van Roekel, Dr. Carlsson-Paige said she finds this message somewhat disingenuous on the part of T.F.A.
“I am very familiar with TFA and believe that its short-term, minimal training of teachers undermines teacher quality and harms children who too often get an inadequate education with its teachers,” the e-mail states.
LP - Amen that there still are a few Americans willing to take a principled stand.
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