Feeds: 
symbol identifies content for paid subscribers only.
THE TEACH FOR AMERICA NUMBERS.
Speaking of the wisdom -- or lack thereof -- of relying on young participants in national service programs like Teach for America as stopgaps in struggling schools, Negar Azimi's New York Times Magazine story probes deeply into the practice and ideology of TFA. So, exactly how effective are TFA teachers? It depends on who you ask:
The question of what it takes to be a good teacher has inspired a series of spirited data wars between T.F.A. and its critics. Most often cited (by the critics) is a 2005 study examining the links between student achievement and their teachers’ certification status. In a study of more than 132,000 students and 4,400 teachers in the Houston public-school district, Linda Darling-Hammond, a professor at Stanford University’s School of Education, and three colleagues found that students taught by certified teachers outperformed those taught by noncertified teachers in reading and mathematics. Uncertified T.F.A. teachers had negative impacts on student achievement on five of six tests. Tellingly, their effectiveness improved when they gained certification.T.F.A. has called the Stanford study flawed, arguing that its sample sizes were small and questioning whether it was subject to adequate independent review. (The organization’s P.R. team is formidable.) Teach for America points to a 2004 study carried out by Mathematica Policy Research that shows T.F.A. teachers’ student scores matching those of a comparison group of novice and veteran colleagues in reading and slightly better in math. Over two months of talking to T.F.A. staff members, I was referred to this study no less than 13 times. Another study points to the fact that principals clamor for T.F.A. teachers; 74 percent considered T.F.A. teachers more effective than other beginning teachers.
Darling-Hammond’s explanation for the numbers is not exactly flattering to T.F.A. “The principals who are saying ‘I love T.F.A.’ are responding to the fact that teaching standards in schools that hire uncertified teachers are typically low,” she told me this summer.
Some other interesting numbers on the program: Over 40 percent of TFA-ers leave the profession within 3 years. And 70 percent of the young teachers are white, although many are placed in almost completely non-white schools.
It feels heartless to criticize a program that's, well, so good-hearted. Of course America's most elite college graduates should be giving back. But while it appears that TFA is very effective at connecting business leaders and young professionals with the public school reform movement and imbuing them with a sense of commitment toward public education, it's unlikely TFA is impacting student achievement in any broadly-defined way. It is not a substitute for larger, more systemic pushes to get the best teachers into the most difficult classrooms.
--Dana Goldstein
COMMENTS (8)
Your statistics regarding TFA attrition are cherry picked. The reference provided in the url under my handle states:
"The data suggest that after just five years, between 40
and 50% of all beginning teachers have left teaching altogether." "teachers with higher ability, as measured by test scores such
as the SAT, the National Teacher Exam, and teacher licensure tests, are more likely to
turn over" Figure 6 shows that annual turnover at high poverty schools is 22%.
Posted by: bemused | October 4, 2007 10:39 PM
Look at all the numbers you want. Take as much out of context as you desire. The bottom line is, Teach For America works.
Growing up in Oakland, I had an incredible 7th grade teacher who changed my life for the better. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't be where I am today... in college and about to graduate. He was a Teach For America teacher.
Posted by: justagirl | October 4, 2007 11:12 PM
I had an incredible 7th grade teacher who changed my life for the better.
And this illustrates the divide: Maybe (1) this one teacher did amazing things so that justagirl became a better reader or mathematician; or maybe (2) this teacher simply believed in her, pushed her, and showed her that she could succeed. If it's the first: the plural of anecdote isn't data. If it's the second, well, that's not what's being measured.
TFA is valuable and worthwhile; how effective it is at raising test scores is another question entirely. I am not a fan of learning for tests, so I'm pretty committed to the apparent social benefits. That's a sufficient reason to support TFA, especially when the testing paradigm undermines, rather than promotes, the education of students.
Posted by: T. Paine | October 5, 2007 9:52 AM
I think the fact that 60% of the TFA kids stay teaching is amazing. Many of those kids probably intendted to teach for just a short while. As the above poster mentioned, this number is actually higher then the average, and the average includes good and bad schooles while TFA teachers teach in mostly bad schools.
Did the study show that certified TFA teachers did better then other certified teachers?
Posted by: jp | October 5, 2007 10:11 AM
Dana:
If you missed it, check out Brian Lamb's hour with Wendy Kopp (TFA founder) on Q & A last Sunday night. Reactions:
1) Kopp talks a very good game. And talks it. And talks it. And talks it.
2) I find it hard to believe that anyone is much good in his or her first, or perhaps even second, year of teaching--especially in elementary grades.
3) Kopp is all about the idea that "we brightest leaders in the country" are going to show up and share our vast brilliance. As a Harvard grad teaching in Baltimore, I quickly discovered that I had a lot to learn from the Morgan State grads with whom I was working. Her attitude is pretty hard to take.
4) I was disappointed in Brian: In the full hour, he never asked her how TFA teachers do compared with everyone else.
One compensation: Brian asked Kopp why she has never worked as a teacher herself. If I may paraphrase her answer, it ran something like this: Ahomina, ahomina, ahomina.
Posted by: bob somerby | October 5, 2007 4:31 PM
The article states that "only" 60% of Teach For America corps members stay in the classroom. It insinuates that this is a small %.
BUT, when talking about diversity, it says that 70% of the teachers are white, insinuating this % is huge.
Can't have it both ways--is 60-70% a lot or a little?
Posted by: Gordon Goodtimes | October 5, 2007 8:08 PM
Another paper can be linked to under my handle for the url that is much more credible (imho) than Darling-Hammond's, which are statistical cherry picks even worse than this blog post. Darling-Hammond is on a mission to defend schools of education and the teacher unions' efforts to prevent alternative entry paths into teaching. Her paper on the Houston schools compares teachers without factoring out years of experience as a component of impact on student performance. She obviously knows better, so I attribute this to trying to shape her conclusion.
TFA is not a panacea, and Wendy Kopp is a lousy speaker. However, if "Over 40 percent of TFA-ers leave the profession within 3 years" that is clearly better than the 66% one would expect to see leaving from poverty schools after 3 years. In fact it is something to celebrate. Most of the difference between new and experienced teachers' impact on student test scores is accounted for in the first four years. And to Mr. Somerby -- yes, those experienced Morgan State grads had much to teach you, but statistically, teachers with higher SATs and coming from better colleges do produce a somewhat better outcome for their students, after correcting for the more important effect of teacher experience.
Posted by: bemused | October 6, 2007 12:49 PM
A focus on "the most experienced teachers" and "the most difficult classrooms" neglects whether or not there are excellent administrators actually running the school. I think this is a big part of the problem, both when it comes to academic achievement as well as teacher retention. Skilled principals can do a lot of make "difficult classrooms" less difficult by being thoughtful about student assignment as well as by providing good support in terms of discipline and overall school order. They can try to keep outside-the-classroom burdens like lunchroom duty or faculty meetings to a minimum. You don't hear this much in education debates, but if you actually ask teachers who know the difference between good and bad principals, its common sense.
Posted by: William | October 9, 2007 6:36 AM