Teach for America Sees Surge in Applications

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Compiled by Noelle Barton, Caroline Bermudez, Maria Di Mento, Audrey Hill, and Anne W. Howard.

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May 14, 2008

Teach for America Sees Surge in Applications

Applications to participate in Teach for America’s two-year program have risen by more than one third this year, in part because of a slow economy and better recruitment work on the part of the nonprofit organization, reports the Associated Press.

The program’s reputation is helping with fund raising and with recruiting on college campuses, the news agency reports. It has seen applications soar to 25,000, and its annual budget has increased from $40-million in 2005 to about $110-million this year, a change that has allowed for more recruiting.

At least one major donor, Eli Broad, who has given $16-million to the organization, is planning a larger contribution in the near future.

“It’s one of the best investments our foundation has made,” Mr. Broad, a California financier, tells the Associated Press.

Still, some critics observe that Teach for America teachers are less likely to embark on a full teaching profession than traditionally trained teachers and more often leave the classroom behind. The organization estimates that one-third of its alumni stay in the classroom, the news agency reports.

Read a Chronicle special report about the growth spurt of Teach for America and other new organizations seeking to spread their ideas across the country.

(Free registration is required to view the AP article on the Washington Post site, and a paid subscription or short-term pass is required to view the Chronicle article.)

Comments

While it may be true that fewer Teach for America teachers end up teaching as their career, it’s my impression that a good number of people who do the program would probably not have even tried teaching otherwise. The value of community service and engagement is the key thing here, I think—it’s not a cure-all solution for reviving teaching as a career, and I don’t think it’s intended to be. It’ll take more systemic change on a social scale (like paying teachers more) to change that, but I think that Teach for America is an important piece and I respect them for that.

— Katie May 14, 01:31 PM #
I wonder if the critics noting poor teacher retention have studied retention rates of teachers graduating from standard programs. “An analysis of the most recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics found that approximately a third of America’s new teachers leave teaching sometime during their first three years of teaching; almost half may leave during the first five years…” [from the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future (NCTAF) 2003 report entitled “No Dream Denied: a Pledge to America’s Children”]. At least the Teach for America participants gain a greater understanding of the challenges, problems and joys of the profession than is held by most of our society. Teach for America may not be THE answer, but at least the organization and its teachers are doing rather than offering sound-bites.

— Stacey May 14, 02:09 PM #

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