Since Teach for America’s retention rates are so horrible why are we spending 11 million dollars on the program?

First the facts

Duval County has a teacher retention problem; over half don’t last 5 years.

The Champions for Education a philanthropic group steered by Gary Chartrand want to spend 11 million over 5 years on Teach for America

Teach for America puts an ever-revolving door of novice teachers in our neediest classrooms.

From the Folio: On average since 2008, when TFA came to Jacksonville, 82 percent of TFA teachers have finished their two-year teaching commitments. The tricky part is getting TFA teachers to stay beyond two years. An average of only 35.5 percent of TFA teachers remain through their third years, according to historical data provided by TFA.

This year, that third-year retention rate among TFA teachers doubled to 48 percent, compared to last year’s 24 percent, which is still squarely below the one-out-of-two mark that the JPEF study cites. The only five-year TFA retention figure available — for TFA corps members who began in 2008 — showed an abysmal 3.6 percent retention rate.

http://www.folioweekly.com/Short-time-Teachers,5810

Why aren’t we investing that money in programs that will see our classrooms have life long professional educators in them? No I am asking you.