Teach for america pdf

Authors Covert, Louise. Issue Date Type Thesis or Dissertation. Abstract There is a gap in research examining teacher candidates' perspectives of learning to teach in alternative certification programs and, in particular, Teach For America's TFA program. This interview case study used critical discourse studies Gee, and examined how one TFA corps member CM learned to teach through TFA's training model and its influence on her early teacher development. To date, the organization has placed 5, teachers in under-resourced public schools.

Kopp wonders how to expand the corps-both in size and scope-without compromising the quality of the teachers and the entrepreneurial culture of the organization. Critical to this endeavor will be understanding how to leverage her resource appropriately. She has just hired a COO and a director of site expansion to help with this effort.

To have students examine Kopp's leadership style over three periods of growth and change for the organization. They will see how this social entrepreneur managed all of the constituencies in the public school system; who she listened to and how she responded to them.

To discuss how she prioritized her time and attention and how she experimented with innovation and new ideas. Fill out your application now! Seeking equity-oriented leaders who believe in helping all students reach their potential. Educators need support to deal with ongoing challenges related to the coronavirus and political strife.

Teach For America works toward the day when every child will receive an excellent and equitable education. We find and nurture leaders who commit to expanding opportunity for low-income students, beginning with at least two years teaching in a public school.

The circumstances children are born into predict the opportunities they will have in life. But Teach For America has learned that dramatic progress is possible. It takes bold, grounded leaders working together, inside and outside of schools, fighting for the aspirations of children and their families. Working shoulder to shoulder with students, educators, and community members, Teach For America corps members support the academic and personal growth of students.

Although a majority of poor children live in working families playing by the rules, they cannot earn enough to escape poverty. A minimum wage job pays only Ultimately, this sort of perspective lets the system that structures inequitable student outcomes off the hook. They show students that if they work hard enough, they can and will achieve. Ultimately, this frame functions to relieve the systemic inequities that structure schooling practices of any blame.

The overall logic suggests that the deficiencies of these communities prevent them from achieving the kind of transformational change that only TFA leaders can provide. This sort of deficit-informed rhetoric also feeds into the white savior industrial complex.

Originally coined by Nigerian-American novelist Teju Cole in response to the Kony media frenzy, this phrase refers to the confluence of practices, processes, and institutions that reify historical inequities to ultimately validate white privilege. White intervention, not local empowerment, becomes the solution. As a result, entire populations are denied the autonomy to direct their own lives in a manner that is not exclusive of self-respect.

According to these principles, TFA is able to frame teaching, not so much a calling for dedicated individuals willing to put in the time and effort required to achieve full teacher certification, but a sort of rescue mission designed to save students from the deficiencies of their unique backgrounds. This particular label, although common in popular discourse, ultimately pathologizes students for failing to conform to whitestream standards and curricula that are perpetuated in public schools, despite the fact that these particular understandings of knowledge and behavior may be inconsistent with the unique backgrounds of an increasingly diverse student population.

It takes committed leaders in our classrooms today who will continue to fight for students tomorrow. These excerpts assume that high-poverty students have a gap to overcome. However, they do not account for the whitewashed schooling practices that inform such disparities Anders, ; Deschenes et al. In effect, the commonsense way in which TFA describes what is ultimately a violent slogan defies its ability to end educational inequity.

I see only more of the same. In so doing, TFA undermines the good work being done in low-income communities and, ultimately, perpetuates the status quo. This rhetoric feeds into the white savior industrial complex that both appropriates the language of social justice in order to validate the status and privilege enjoyed by TFA teachers through their educations and disguises the harmful effects of deficit thinking.

These commitments ultimately silence and devalue the same students whom it purports to help. We know that deficit thinking is dangerous.

So, why are we not considering alternative ways of assessing the inequities that persist in our schools? TFA suggests that poverty is some abstract obstacle that can be overcome with the help of the dedicated young college grads and professionals who populate TFA. I am not convinced that a revolving door of under-experienced teachers who have received a heavy dose of deficit-informed rhetoric can really put an end to educational inequalities.

Instead, I argue that we must change the ways in which we talk about and educate our students. We know that targeted students benefit from culturally responsive pedagogies, curricula, and relationships Delpit, ; Goodwin, ; Howard, ; Ladson-Billings, ; Meiners, ; Michie, ; Mihesuah, ; Olson, ; Valenzuela, So, why are we not actively committing to identifying and teaching to student strengths?

If equity really is the overall goal of current reform movements, then it warrants much more than lip service. Our students and teachers deserve better. References Alexander, K. Schools, achievement and inequity: A seasonal perspective. Education Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 23 2 , Anders, A. Circuits of dominance in education and poverty: Control logic and counter narrative. The Urban Review 43 4 , — In Press. The Urban Review, 46 1. Anyon, J. Social class and school knowledge.

Curriculum Inquiry, 11 1 , Apple, M. Afterword: The politics of labeling in a conservative age. Kihn Eds. New York: RoutledgeFalmer. Artiles, A. Toward an interdisciplinary understanding of educational equity and difference: The case of the racialization of ability.

Educational Researcher, 40 9 , Betsinger, A. Journal of Staff Development, 22 2 , Boyd, D. Recruiting effective math teachers: How do math immersion teachers compare? Evidence from New York City. Boyles, D. Educational Theory, 61, Brantlinger, E. Urban Education, 20, Impediments to social justice: Hierarchy, science, faith, and imposed identity disability classification.

Ayers, T. Stovall Eds. New York: Routledge. Carspecken, P. Critical ethnography in educational research: A theoretical and practical guide. Cass, J. Case studies of children in or at risk of the pipeline in Ohio and Mississippi. Edleman, J. Curry Eds. Edelman, J. Cole, T.

The white savior industrial complex. The Atlantic. Empowering minority students: A framework for intervention. Harvard Educational Review, 71 4 , Darling-Hammond, L.

Who will speak for the children? Phi Delta Kappan 76 1 , Does teacher preparation matter?