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| Teach for America isn't perfect, but it has been a boost to education | Teach for America isn't perfect, but it has been a boost to education |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| As an African-American male born to a teenage mother, my future was bleak, but I had an extended family of teachers, mentors and coaches whose high expectations and support helped me grow from a young boy with an uncertain future to a young man with a college degree. | As an African-American male born to a teenage mother, my future was bleak, but I had an extended family of teachers, mentors and coaches whose high expectations and support helped me grow from a young boy with an uncertain future to a young man with a college degree. |
| Although, I found a viable pathway, I remained agitated that we can predict a child's life trajectory based primarily on their zip code. Teach For America (TFA), an organization on a mission to ensure an excellent education for all children by putting talented college graduates into teaching roles, seemed like the perfect fit, so I headed south to teach 8th Grade science in the Mississippi Delta just three days after graduating from Harvard University. | Although, I found a viable pathway, I remained agitated that we can predict a child's life trajectory based primarily on their zip code. Teach For America (TFA), an organization on a mission to ensure an excellent education for all children by putting talented college graduates into teaching roles, seemed like the perfect fit, so I headed south to teach 8th Grade science in the Mississippi Delta just three days after graduating from Harvard University. |
| Early into my teaching experience, TFA's dramatic growth was capped off by the adoption of a revised set of core values, which left out my favorite phrase from the original value, Integrity: | Early into my teaching experience, TFA's dramatic growth was capped off by the adoption of a revised set of core values, which left out my favorite phrase from the original value, Integrity: |
| We ensure alignment between our actions and our beliefs, engage in honest self-scrutiny, and do what is right for the broader good. | We ensure alignment between our actions and our beliefs, engage in honest self-scrutiny, and do what is right for the broader good. |
| In the two years since then, I've been disheartened to witness escalating antagonism between the members of the larger education community, who often struggle to reconcile the "education reform movement" with their own perspective on social justice, and the leaders of TFA, who often don't recognize that platitudes about diversity and collective action won't mend broken trust overnight. | |
| Perhaps TFA's greatest asset is its ability to recruit corps members and put them on the fast track into the classroom. I passed the required tests and was placed into a classroom that had been vacated by a corps member who quit on the spot after realizing her assignment was to one of the most troubled schools in the Delta. My town was segregated on either side of Martin Luther King, Jr Boulevard, resulting in my students being 99.9% low-income and black. | |
| I struggled mightily my first year and wished that I'd receive textbooks, internet, supplies – something to supplement my chalk and cracked whiteboards. Like many fellow teachers, I started to improve when I decided to bring in outside resources and rely on the wisdom of a few trusted mentors. My second year was better, and my students showed much more growth as measured on standardized tests, but I also learned that there are no silver bullets to solving our nation's educational disparities. True educational equality would require greater community investment and stronger leadership across sectors. | I struggled mightily my first year and wished that I'd receive textbooks, internet, supplies – something to supplement my chalk and cracked whiteboards. Like many fellow teachers, I started to improve when I decided to bring in outside resources and rely on the wisdom of a few trusted mentors. My second year was better, and my students showed much more growth as measured on standardized tests, but I also learned that there are no silver bullets to solving our nation's educational disparities. True educational equality would require greater community investment and stronger leadership across sectors. |
| While my two years of teaching were more challenging than they should have been, I discovered that I was uniquely positioned to have a strong impact within the education world. For example, I'm grateful that TFA's connections helped secure a summer fellowship with the Mississippi Department of Education where President Obama's education secretary Arne Duncan retweeted my blog post as I expressed enthusiasm for a brighter future for our students. | While my two years of teaching were more challenging than they should have been, I discovered that I was uniquely positioned to have a strong impact within the education world. For example, I'm grateful that TFA's connections helped secure a summer fellowship with the Mississippi Department of Education where President Obama's education secretary Arne Duncan retweeted my blog post as I expressed enthusiasm for a brighter future for our students. |
| At the same time, I heard from district leaders who appreciated being able to hire hard-working, capable teachers through TFA, but also recognized that 20 years of a stopgap solution for new teachers hadn't helped stabilize their schools. Hearing these comments demonstrated the importance of addressing the underlying causes of why TFA teachers are necessary in the first place. Growth is good for TFA, but why are they expanding efforts in Chicago, for example, while my 8th graders still lack a 9th grade biology teacher? | At the same time, I heard from district leaders who appreciated being able to hire hard-working, capable teachers through TFA, but also recognized that 20 years of a stopgap solution for new teachers hadn't helped stabilize their schools. Hearing these comments demonstrated the importance of addressing the underlying causes of why TFA teachers are necessary in the first place. Growth is good for TFA, but why are they expanding efforts in Chicago, for example, while my 8th graders still lack a 9th grade biology teacher? |
| Despite the many challenges of TFA, teaching prepared me well for my role as a program manager with City Year, an education focused, nonprofit organization that unites young people of all backgrounds for a year of full-time service to keep students in school and on track to graduation. I'm responsible for guiding 10 young adults through a year of service where they serve as tutors and mentors in the classroom and in afterschool programs. My teaching background enables me to speak the common language of educators and to empathize with the daily struggles of teaching in a low-income community. Due to having two years of experience in the classroom, I'm able to be a better trainer and mentor for my team and the students we serve. | Despite the many challenges of TFA, teaching prepared me well for my role as a program manager with City Year, an education focused, nonprofit organization that unites young people of all backgrounds for a year of full-time service to keep students in school and on track to graduation. I'm responsible for guiding 10 young adults through a year of service where they serve as tutors and mentors in the classroom and in afterschool programs. My teaching background enables me to speak the common language of educators and to empathize with the daily struggles of teaching in a low-income community. Due to having two years of experience in the classroom, I'm able to be a better trainer and mentor for my team and the students we serve. |
| I used to say that the inadequacies of TFA training forced me to develop or hone skills that have made the tougher aspects of my current role much easier. I've since realized that while TFA positioned me to have a greater impact in education, there are other ways I could have done this without contributing to a cycle where the most under-resourced schools are used as training grounds for ambitious youth on the way to public policy, charter schools, or other endeavors. | I used to say that the inadequacies of TFA training forced me to develop or hone skills that have made the tougher aspects of my current role much easier. I've since realized that while TFA positioned me to have a greater impact in education, there are other ways I could have done this without contributing to a cycle where the most under-resourced schools are used as training grounds for ambitious youth on the way to public policy, charter schools, or other endeavors. |
| Dr Camika Royal once said: | Dr Camika Royal once said: |
| You have come to Teach FOR America … that will only happen to the extent that you commit yourself to serving and learning. A teacher is a servant. And you are not here to save. You are here to serve. | You have come to Teach FOR America … that will only happen to the extent that you commit yourself to serving and learning. A teacher is a servant. And you are not here to save. You are here to serve. |
| For TFA alumni, we must keep in mind that a lack of authentic integrity and humility has soiled the TFA brand. For people interested in the future of our nation's children, I would suggest that you encourage the leaders of TFA to find ways to return to an ethic of committed service. Otherwise, TFA may still exist in 10 years, but our nation's children will not truly have attained an excellent education. | For TFA alumni, we must keep in mind that a lack of authentic integrity and humility has soiled the TFA brand. For people interested in the future of our nation's children, I would suggest that you encourage the leaders of TFA to find ways to return to an ethic of committed service. Otherwise, TFA may still exist in 10 years, but our nation's children will not truly have attained an excellent education. |