"Teach for America"- There's more teaching to be done!

A social service group in India is consulting with TFA to develop a similar model for India. The challenges and workability of the program in a country like India are hard to predict. An analysis of TFA's working here in the US itself reveals that it has its share of critics.

Wendy Kopp started "Teach for America" in 1990 with a noble mandate to eliminate educational inequality. Today it has become America's largest provider of teachers for low-income urban and rural communities. The organization recruits recent college graduates of all academic majors who can commit to two years of teaching. Those who are accepted to the program attend an intensive 5-week summer preparation institute and are placed in one of the 26 urban and rural areas. Corps members are paid directly by the school districts where they work and receive the same salaries and health benefits as other beginner teachers. After they begin teaching, most recruits are required by state law to pass subject-area tests and take courses during the year. Many recruits receive their teacher certification after their two years.

While a lot of graduating seniors are driven by their earnest desire to do community service there is a fair share of those who are looking to TFA as a great resume filler. TFA is listed as one of Business Week's Best Places to Launch a Career. Whatever the incentive the number of applicants dwarf the number of available positions.

The Internet has plenty of resources for hopeful corps members, including some heart rendering and inspiring anecdotes at "Teach for America Diaries" or at TFA's website. But often recruits find themselves in over their heads and struggling to get a hold of their classroom.

Joshua Kaplowitz a Yale graduate realized he was "completely ill equipped" when he started teaching. In his article "How I Joined Teach for America—and Got Sued for $20 Million", he details how his service endeavor went miserably wrong. While his story might be isolated between 10 and 15 percent of each corps class drops out before completing the required two years (Source: Learning Curve by Gillian Gillers). The attrition rate has often been attributed to the training course that might be too short and ill-directed leaving the new recruits overwhelmed by the demands of teaching. More so with many of the teachers from elite schools, Gillian points out that they find themselves unable to connect with students who face issues such as poverty and violence in their every day lives. There have also been many questions raised on the impact of this program on the educational failings it is trying to remedy. By placing minimally trained teachers in the hardest of classrooms and yanking them when they have finally honed their skills, are the students truly benefiting? An advocacy group called Public Advocates and the law firm Goodwin Procter LLP are suing the Department of Education alleging that the alternate teacher certification programs such as TFA's has violated the “highly qualified teacher” provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act. An unfortunate diversion when it would seem that the schools that TFA is staffing would not be able to attract any more experienced teachers that its own.

With the organization's growing clout and stature it can make a substantial move to fix the underlying problems of teacher shortage in underprivileged areas and elsewhere. It would be prudent for TFA to offer financial and even more advisory assistance to school boards in the hard hit areas to create employment situations that attract teachers of high caliber. A more permanently placed and qualified educator could create a more substantial difference than a present TFA recruit. Born out of a very noble cause TFA has become a giant in the educational realm, it needs to step into its new shoes and shoulder more responsibility.

Yet, there is no justifiable means to undermine the efforts or intentions of TFA or its members. Good teachers are becoming a sparse resource and there is plenty to blame for that. Although TFA might not be solving the core problem it is definitely an integral part of the solution.

A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops ~Henry Brooks Adams