OP-ED | TFA contracts ignore the evidence - and Malloy’s own rhetoric
by Sarah Darer Littman | Feb 22, 2013 12:00pm
(17) Comments | Commenting has expired
Posted to: Education, Opinion
Last week I drove 950 miles taking my daughter to look at colleges. Aside from learning that the Good Lord has an evil sense of humor for conspiring that hormonal women of a certain age and their equally hormonal teenage daughters take long trips in small, enclosed spaces, I also discovered, in the course of a college tour, more disturbing news about my child’s intended course of study.
You see, my daughter, bless her, wants to be a teacher. She has the smarts, the intuition, the interpersonal skills and the empathy that will, most likely, make her a very good one. Despite my concerns about what is happening with national education policy, she is focused on making it her vocation. We’ve been schlepping all over New England comparing different programs, seeing which colleges offer a five-year combined BA/MA, asking how soon each program gets one into the classroom to observe and student teach, etc. This is a kid who is plans to be in teaching for the long haul.
We were on a college tour and someone in our group asked our tour guide (a senior) about his post-graduation plans. Our guide said he had “a few irons in the fire,” one of which was Teach for America. I explained that I was a columnist with a particular interest in education issues, and asked if TFA was actively recruiting on campus. “Yes,” he explained. “They sent emails to all the Resident Advisors.”
You have to wonder about the message that sends our future teachers. Here’s my kid looking to invest four, possibly five years pursuing a double major in a subject area and education, and yet she hears about TFA sending recruitment emails to any resident advisor, regardless of major, and sees a senior thinking about going into teaching not out of vocation but rather because the economy is weak, it’s only a two year commitment, and TFA touts stellar positions obtained by past “corps” members in business, government, and graduate schools.
This week the Washington Post ran a piece by Mark Naison, professor of African American Studies and History at Fordham University and director of Fordham’s Urban Studies Program, about why he won’t let TFA recruiters into his classroom.
Naison discusses a TFA flyer plastered around the Fordham campus several years ago that said: “Learn how joining TFA can help you gain admission to Stanford Business School.” He writes: “The message of that flyer was to “use teaching in high-poverty areas as a stepping stone to a career in business.” It was not only disrespectful to every person who chooses to commit their life to the teaching profession, it effectively advocated using students in high-poverty areas as guinea pigs for an experiment in “resume-padding” for ambitious young people.
Back in February 2012, as part of his Education Reform Bill, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy called for tougher standards for teacher education programs. Yet the most troubled districts in Connecticut, the “turnaround” districts, are the ones where one finds the most TFA corps members, who show up in classrooms after five weeks of training. Think about it: as Barbara Torre Veltri, author of Learning on Other People’s Kids: Becoming A Teach for America Teacher put it, “instant teachers are not hired in — Scarsdale, New York; Greenwich, Connecticut; or Los Altos, California . . . only in poor, urban school districts of mostly minority populations does TFA have the collective ability to save America’s tough schools.”
Let’s look at the research about the effectiveness of those briefly trained “elites” shall we? An examination of peer reviewed research by Julian Vasquez Heilig and Su Jin Jez, Teach for America: A Review of the Evidence,
found that students of novice TFA teachers perform significantly less well in reading and mathematics than those of traditionally credentialed beginning teachers. While both TFA and traditionally credentialed teachers improved with experience, most studies found that relatively few TFA teachers stayed long enough for their students to reap those benefits. More than 50 percent of TFA teachers leave after two years and more than 80 percent after three. What’s more, studies show the negative impact of teacher turnover on school climate and student achievement, and such turnover is “particularly harmful to the achievement of students in schools with large populations of low-performing and Black students,” according to How Teacher Turnover Harms Student Achievement (Ronfeldt, Loeb & Wyckoff 2012).
One wonders then, why Gov. Malloy, despite his words about strengthening teacher qualifications, is allowing State Commissioner of Education Stefan Pryor and Special Master Steven Adamowski to ignore the research and sign contracts with TFA in the districts that need stability the most.
Sarah Darer Littman is an award-winning columnist and novelist of books for teens. Long before the financial meltdown, she worked as a securities analyst and earned her MBA in Finance from the Stern School at NYU.
Tags: Teach for America, TFA, Stefan Pryor, Dannel Malloy, Steven Adamowski, education, teacher certification, Sarah Darer Littman, dh
(17) Comments
posted by: Linda12 | February 22, 2013 6:31pm
A little more on our commissioner, Stefan Pryor:
“This shows that SERC is nothing but a slush fund for the State Education Commissioner Stefan Pryor to hire cronies to advance an agenda that is in their self-interest, but not in the best interests of Connecticut students,” he said.
In their interim report, auditors said state bidding and personal-services hiring procedures were not followed in at least two instances.
At the time last spring, during fierce negotiations over Malloy’s school reforms, teacher unions charged the consultants were pursuing plans to circumvent teacher contracts, particularly in charter schools in the under-achieving urban centers such as Bridgeport; and suspending bid processes on local school purchases.
“SERC represents itself as a nonprofit organization on its website,” the auditors reported. “However, the statutory language indicates that SERC was created as a state entity ... SERC has not acted in a manner that is consistent with state agency requirements for transparency and accountability.”
<a href=“http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Probe-State-agency-a-slush-fund-4299001.php#ixzz2LfVHS9jd”>Read more here<a>
posted by: Linda12 | February 22, 2013 6:41pm
And there are some special provisions for the TFA in Windham as determined by the special master, Adamowski.
TFA cannot be considered “new hires” when teachers are laid off, but other teachers who pursued the traditional route CAN be eliminated. So the temp takes precedence over the career teacher.
This was so TFA cannot be targeted, says the special master, but evidently everyone else is fair game.
We must protect the “elite” even when they will most likely leave within 2-3 years while waiting for the economy to improve and then move on to their real careers.
Why waste your money and time pursuing a degree in education when a teach for a while intern will bump you out anyway?
posted by: brutus2011 | February 22, 2013 7:10pm
My heart-felt advice to your daughter is to re-evaluate her choice of training and career.
Teaching is a noble endeavor but here in our state and country it is a loser’s game.
You remember what a loser’s game is from your financial days, yes?
If my daughter, who is about to enter secondary school, tells me she wants to be a teacher, I will do all I can to change her mind, unless the national climate towards teachers changes drastically.
And yes, I am a teacher.
posted by: Castles Burning | February 22, 2013 8:50pm
I applaud your daughter for pursuing a career in a field that I no longer recognize but want to believe can be remedied. It will have to be by those who truly understand what/who a teacher is and your daughter, with her focus on the CLASSROOM and close examination of programs, will hopefully find what will most enable her to be a teacher in the deepest sense of the word.
It is not easy to be that kind of professional because the current movement towards so-called “education reform,” as has been demonstrated nationally and here in CT, is not about improving learning for students. The serendipitous story that you present about “the maybe I will go with TFA RA” provides the stark contrast very well and supports your research findings.
All that you say about TFA is part of the “so-called reform” movement towards the privitization of education, especially in urban schools. The hiring of more TFAs, as Paul Vallas has already declared that he will be doing this month (40-50 were the numbers hoped for) for Bridgeport, makes the undermining of public schools more possible.
Fortunately, more and more are decrying various aspects of this scheme—which include high stakes testing, limitations on tenure, data-driven teacher evaluations—and are bringing its travesties to the public’s attention. For example, as Diane Ravitch reports today, “Nearly 150 professors at universities in Massachusetts issued a statement in opposition to high-stakes testing.” Hopefully, we are on our way to redeeming a profession that has been undermined and vilified for far too long. I am glad that your daughter knows much of what she will be up against and that she still persists. She sounds like she has true teacher potential.
posted by: Apartheid First | February 22, 2013 8:55pm
Sarah Darer Littman may not realize how courageous she is to publish a column critical of TFA. There is academic research on TFA, and research on the need to foster stability and teacher retention in all classrooms, especially in high-poverty areas, but it is very difficult to get the CT State Department of Education to heed it. Instead, the State BoE and Dept. of Ed. bash teachers in traditional teacher-training programs, as if teachers are to blame for the obscene disparities in school district funding that exist in this state. Many CT school districts are more segregated now than they were at the time of Brown Vs. the Board of Education—and that means some school districts are providing a first-class education, while others scrape by on criminally low budgets. TFA is being used to depress teacher wages in poorer districts, and it is sending the message to poor children and children of color that they do not matter—that they should be thankful for anyone who decides to show up and “practice” teaching on them.
posted by: saramerica | February 23, 2013 9:59am
Brutus, I was fighting against this misguided ed “reform” before my daughter said she wanted to be a teacher because I passionately believe it is the exact OPPOSITE of what we need to be doing for our kids to prepare them for the 21st C global economy, and therefore it is catastrophically wrong for our country.
But, if it were possible to find an even greater reason to fight, I have it. Eisenhower warned of the military industrial complex - now we have the educational /testing/tech company/hedge fund complex. I will do my utmost to work with those who really care about genuine learning, research, and the whole child, not just their test scores, so that hopefully by the time my kid graduates we have turned this insanity around.
posted by: gailj2 | February 23, 2013 12:59pm
Thank you Sarah for the facts about TFA and bravo to your daughter. I hope she sticks with her present career goal: to be a teacher. I do follow you on Twitter but it was Diane Ravitch blog that flagged your post for me. She also notes in past blogs that TFA gets a “finder’s fee” from school districts to “populate” classrooms. Tax payers need to know this as local “real” teachers who get laid off just might be replaced by out of towner TFA teachers who as you point out leave teaching after 2 to 3 years. Local tax money is paying the TFA organization! How very sneaky this is. What sounds so good, really is just fueling the privatization public schools!
posted by: GoatBoyPHD | February 23, 2013 3:35pm
Having gone through the long route to certification I had some anger at the varoius alternative certificaiton routes that are routinely used to hire politically connected staff. These are not always TFA types. Often its small town politics using alt certification.
Ultinately there is not a one-size fits all model. As an example I worked with an Alternate Path Finance guy who started teaching one section of Finance then a second one at the other HS and then Algebra II in each school and then a remedial math class. He worked his way up over 3 years while taking the obligatory credits at night after a few years. These were older kids, he was in his 50s and it worked out nicely. The kids weren’t discipline issues as most were Juniors and Seniors and it was a suburban scenario with many college prep kids in those elective finance classes.
I’ve seen the other issue as well in urban middle school where the alt cert teacher candidate had no idea what they were heading for. Bad fit is the best that could be said.
By far a bigger problem is whether teacher prep does it job. I don’t mean the practicum part I mean the courses leading up to the practicum and then the requirememts to maintain a certification. Most of the classes are bozo classes with bozo requiremetns to maintain the cert.
I literally took ‘Basketweaving and the Rainbow Curriculum’ as a diveristy elective because I could and the other training-day electices were just as ridiculous.
How many LGBT diversity classes does a teacher need before they are insulted by the condscending idiots pushing the seminars? Or worse—teachers start asking stupid questions just to get a laugh like “Are gay people like regular people. Wow I didn’t know that?”
The 5-year contract proposal Dan Malloy had, which would allow adult professionals a place in the classroom was a decent proposal. Not for every open position or applicant, but for many.
Oh and here’s the weird thing: It would be easier for me to recertify as an alt cert candidate rather than someone holding two lapsed subject area certifications in two states with xxx years of teaching and two Masters Degrees (neither in Ed). That’s how screwed up the system is.
Ongoing training and evaluation is needed. Look into the canceling of the BEST and mentoring programs that CT used to have in place to facilitate new teachers.
Your daughter should pursue teaching as an option rather than a firm destination. At her age its all about keeping your options open (IMHO) and getting a professional licensure while in College is not a bad way to go if that is her calling.
Even if licensure is a step into another direction it says something. Its one of other reasons I like TFA BTW. Not everyone is cut out for a long term teaching career and many view it as a stepping stone rather than tunr into a resentful and cranky union member. Meeting these old cranks in the teachers room will scare anyone away and turn even hard core liberals anti-union.
Don’t let the naysayers fool you. Teaching can be fund and rewarding if the starting pay doesn’t scare someone away. Your daughter’s insights on the union teachers from the inside will be priceless.
posted by: Reasonable | February 23, 2013 7:34pm
Sarah Darer Littman: Why would Gov. Malloy allow Stefan Pryor and Steven Adamowski to ignore the research and sign contracts with TFA in the districts that need stability the most? It makes no sense, and Pryor and Adamowski are
highly regarded professionals to boot.
posted by: Linda12 | February 24, 2013 6:09pm
To reasonable…that was sarcasm, yes?
Admanowski and Pryor and highly regarded professionals?
Highly regarded by the privatizers? The hedge fund crew? The eduvulutures?
That’s what you meant, I think.
posted by: Demian | February 24, 2013 8:35pm
Great article explaining why TFA is not how to improve teaching, especially for low income and minority students. It seems more like a jobs program for the elite (as http://www.thelaf.com/news/teach-for-america-top-employer-for-2013-1.2996134#.USqtEvJ9Sfs)shows). Check out http://reconsideringtfa.wordpress.com for more on TFA.
posted by: GoatBoyPHD | February 25, 2013 11:19am
TFA uses s similar alt certification approach as Charter Oak. 8 Intensive weeks of training before placement with some courses being moved online.
These alt certs don’t get anyone’s ire up because the grads generally pay their union dues and aren’t associated with the reform movement and aren’t highly publicized.
If Malloy was to really run with these programs and 5 year union exempt contracts for similar career professionals what do you think would be the result?
It would be “Union Spasticus” and all their paid bloggers would go ape in their cages.
It’s all about the union dues and greenbacks
See Charter Oak’s alt cert program here:
http://www.charteroak.edu/Current/Programs/AltCertification.cfm
This whole idea that if someone goes through TFA they are evil but f they use atl cert they are good is sickening.
posted by: ASTANVET | February 25, 2013 11:30am
Apartheid First – Teachers are not to blame for the funding. The true issue with funding comes down to the town. If Towns want to fund education, raise taxes and put education as a priority on their budget. I suspect that throwing money at a problem will not yield good results, but that aside, you mention that schools in “high poverty areas” do not perform as those not in those areas? Why is that? If you transplant the teachers from Simsbury, to Bridgeport will students start miraculously doing better? It would seem that you are placing blame at the teachers, when the blame should be laid soundly at the feet of the families of each community that do not perform. I am encouraged by Mrs. Littman’s daughters desire to become a teacher. I wish her the best of luck, and hope for her success.
posted by: Linda12 | February 25, 2013 2:39pm
Reasonable,
All your comments on Sarah’s articles are negative, so I am not sure it is the issue that you oppose. Read the links Sarah provided and be informed…learn.
posted by: Reasonable | February 25, 2013 3:29pm
Linda12: Sarah’s arcticle was good. I Oppose Gov. Malloy using Stefan Pryor and Steven Adamowski as his ploys—not necessarily as an agenda that is necessarily in only their self-interests. Point the finger at the real culprit Linda. I’m sorry your consider my opinion as negative—but that’s the way the cookie crumbles. You are entitled to your opinion.
posted by: GoatBoyPHD | February 25, 2013 4:04pm
When McDonald Big Macs do not sell in India you do one of two things: you either change the menu or you continue to book substandard profits and handle protests over the barbaric menu choices,
The teachers unions answers to all this is simple: “If it works in Avon then the teaching profession should have the same rules and regulations in Hartford. The same menu. Anyone else is an evil reformer.”
My hatred for them and their parrots knows no bounds. It’s right there with the MacDonald’s staff insisting that beef be sold in all locations in India. Anything else would be unAmerican and unMcDonald’s and unprofessional.