Criticisms Of TFA Don't Stand A Chance

Maybe I can't get Wendy Kopp to write me a note like some other upstart bloggers can, but I can tell you that it's only a little while until the much-anticipated "discussion" about how to improve TFA shows up in the June issue of PDK International. 

That issue of PDK will feature Megan Hopkins' analysis of what TFA could do to strengthen its program, which was mentioned in last September's New York Times overview of the program's strengths and weaknesses. 

What'll happen next?  As in the past, TFA will squash any criticism of its efforts by a combination of three strategies:  (a) killing its milder critics with passable kindness and a startling display of straight white teeth, (b) claiming to have already considered and implemented/dismissed the recommended approaches, and (c) sending out word among the reformista club to crush and question any who would dare critique TFA. 

Comments

[William Jones]

TFA is an interesting instrument for educational change. But change is not its true purpose, contrary to the mission statement. The true purpose of TFA, like any nonprofit (or business for that matter), is growth and sustainability. Hence the dependence on emotional case studies and carefully staged events to tell its story.

How many kids have had terrible TFA teachers? A shockingly high number. I know because I was one of them.

Disclosure: I'm an alum, '95 (Long Beach, CA).

I trained for 5 weeks in Houston, TX. We didn't have enough students to create a summer school. We trolled the streets and rec centers and knocked on doors to round up enough kids to have something resembling normal classes.

We wrote daily lesson plans. I got the kids playing bongo drums to illustrate a point about systems (or something). We played Jeopardy (a lot). The TFA directors loved it. Kids were active. Every moment was photo-ready. "Metrics" had not yet become a catchphrase. As is the case today, image was everything.

Others were not so lucky. The teachers who "struggled" were targeted early, often arbitrarily, for relentless interventions by TFA staff. Mostly this took the form of hazing that ended in successful reformation. A few prospective teachers found envelopes in their inboxes after 5 weeks--the gist of it was "you're not worthy." Five weeks and all you've got to show for it is a lousy t-shirt. I worked with two such teachers that got bounced. The only difference between us was that I discovered the power of bongos to give the illusion of student-centeredness and they did not.

After the training institute, I was taken to Long Beach Unified. At Human Resources, a string of principals came in and tried to grab us. These were not interviews. One principal asked me if I wanted to teach bilingual kindergarten. Another, ninth grade integrated science.

For all the aggressive posturing about its training program, there's nothing to substitute for a bit of humility and serious dedication to on the job training. Listening to other teachers. Listening to the students. Working very very hard. Taking classes (real classes). This is much of the battle to becoming a good teacher. TFA brings another part of the equation to the table--over the top cockiness. Confidence, to be sure, is a very powerful thing. Without the other elements, though, it's all just bloviating and bluster. Two things TFA does really, really well.

Disclosure part 2: After completing my 7th year of teaching, I became a training institute instructor. In spite of the many improvements to the curriculum, one thing has not changed (and will never change) about the organization. TFA believes its methods--whatever they happen to be at the moment--to be far superior to anyone else's.

Great for fundraising. Lousy for any chance at real self improvement.

And that is why I no longer Teach for America.