Spoiler alert Scott Shine is all for Teach for America, a broke clock is more right about education than he is.
It is hard to believe but Teach for America is even worse than I thought it was.
From the Times Union:
There was a rare audience at this special board meeting.
http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/education/2017-05-04/duval-school-board-agrees-seek-interim-superintendent-replace-vitti
Only sixty of the first 580 are currently in the district. That's about 12 percent. How couldn't we do better than that?
The article also didn't mention the additional 6.25 million they have received in QEA funds.
Must be nice to work for TFA, you have enough time to go to special board meetings during the day, unlike real teachers.
Willie asked what will we do without these folks? the answer is we will do just fine.
It is hard to believe but Teach for America is even worse than I thought it was.
From the Times Union:
There was a rare audience at this special board meeting.
Most were people affiliated with Teach for America. Darryl Willie, executive director of TFA Jacksonville, urged the board to not cut funding for his organization.
A majority of the School Board discussed budget priorities last week and most board members put TFA low on their list.
TFA, a national organization that recruits college students to teach in hard-to-staff schools, has been criticized because many of its teachers leave district classrooms once their two-year commitment ends.
Duval Schools is no exception.
It has spent nearly $5 million since 2008 on TFA, not counting teacher salaries, on the 700 teachers TFA placed in Duval schools; 180 remain, including 120 who are bound by their two-year contracts, Wright and Willie said. About 60 TFA teachers stayed beyond their contracts, but most others became education administrators, charter school teachers or other professionals.
Willie pointed out that 14 percent of Duval’s newly hired science teachers and 12 percent of its new math teachers are TFA placements. TFA has provided 50 new teachers a year in recent years.
“What will you do without those folks?” he asked.
Shine agreed, saying Duval doesn’t have another teacher recruitment strategy to replace TFA.
But Wright said Vitti assured her that Duval will be able to recruit at least 50 teachers a year if TFA’s contract is not renewed.http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/education/2017-05-04/duval-school-board-agrees-seek-interim-superintendent-replace-vitti
Only sixty of the first 580 are currently in the district. That's about 12 percent. How couldn't we do better than that?
The article also didn't mention the additional 6.25 million they have received in QEA funds.
Must be nice to work for TFA, you have enough time to go to special board meetings during the day, unlike real teachers.
Willie asked what will we do without these folks? the answer is we will do just fine.
I am not surprised that TFA showed up at the School Board meeting to plead its case. I'd read that some of its staff, after their two year stint, are tasked with putting a positive spin on anything that is anti-TFA. Everyone should read "I Quit Teach for America," a story written by Olivia Blanchard that appeared in The Atlantic magazine (Google will find it for you). Ms. Blanchard taught two years in an Atlanta elementary school, for which she felt grossly ill-prepared. In her story she talks about an acquaintance who had been a Religious Studies major, was supposed to be placed in an elementary school, but ended up teaching high school math. She failed the subject test and was fired after one year. Is this typical of the math and science teachers Willie brags about that TFA is providing to DCPS?
ReplyDeleteI'll tell you what I'll work recruiting and promise you 50 teachers that are really good for a mere 4 million. You pay me now and in 2 years let's see if they stay. Sound good? Okay. It's a deal. Even for the $600,000 I'll do it. 50 teachers from other districts or who graduated and had a satisfactory internship.
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