Educational inequity is the social justice issue of our time. At least that’s what the folks at Teach for America (TFA) would argue and we at CSP would have to say we agree with them.
TFA recruits the nation’s most talented college graduates, trains them at their own Summer Training Institutes, and places them in the most challenging schools in cities and rural areas across the country where they commit to teaching for two years. Since its inception in 1990, TFA has placed 24,000 individuals and is now a force to be reckoned with in post-collegiate talent recruiting, holding its own against management consulting firms and investment banks in luring the country’s most talented young people to the field of teaching. More important, TFA teachers are making an impact on the students they teach.
Research, including a rigorous 2004 study by Mathematica, suggests that TFA teachers perform on par or better, especially in the area of math, with their traditionally trained new teacher counterparts. Further, in cities that have marshaled their resources in initiatives designed to attack the achievement gap, research, like the 2007 Calder Urban Institute study, suggests that the presence of TFA corps members, and other talented teachers who arrive in the classroom through selective alternative licensure programs, are a critical factor in the success of these initiatives.
Despite persistent rumors to the contrary, the majority of TFA corps members are not short-term visitors to the field of education. In fact, 60% or so of TFA corps members remain working full-time in education after completing their two year commitment to the program (including, full disclosure, CSP’s own Katie Barrett Kramer). Those that go on to do other things bring with them their experiences in education and, almost certainly, a more nuanced view of education and, particularly, the education of at-risk kids.
TFA has been making national headlines since it arrived on the education scene but it only recently made headlines here in the Minnesota. This year marks the inaugural year of Teach for America Twin Cities. We are glad Executive Director Daniel Sellers and his team are here.
So glad, in fact, that out initial Teacher Quality initiative consists, in large part, of supporting our CSP Partner Schools’ decisions to invite TFA corps member teachers onto their staffs. This support is most obvious in CSP’s reimbursements of the corps member placement fees for our participating Partner schools in the first year of their relationship with the program. Why are we doing this?
We want to put our money where our mouths are.
Our quality contract highlights two of our core beliefs: 1) teacher quality is the linchpin to school success, and 2) data-driven decision making is a necessary characteristic of successful schools. We believe that TFA is attracting people to the profession who have the talent and drive to become high-quality teachers AND we understand that their pre-service training focuses on using data to improve student outcomes. Because we think the kinds of teachers TFA is bringing to the profession have the potential to positively impact the field, we wanted to make it easy for our Partner Schools to hire teachers we believe are well-positioned to help them achieve their ambitious student achievement goals.
Teach for America determines which schools, charter and district, qualify for participation in their program based on their enrollment area guidelines and the percentage of students at a particular school who qualify for the federal free and reduced lunch program. Currently, 5 of our Partner Schools have hired TFA corps member teachers: College Prep Elementary, Hiawatha Leadership Academy, Hmong Academy, KIPP STAND Academy, and Lighthouse Academy of Nations.
Among TFA Twin Cities charter corps members serving in charter schools is Caitlin Hamilton who was kind enough to reflect on her experiences with Teach for America and her first days at College Prep Elementary charter school in St. Paul under the directorship of Neng Heur. Caitlin’s optimism and her sense of awe about the power and responsibility of being a teacher are familiar to any teacher or school leader who can remember their first days in the field.
We are delighted to welcome Caitlin and all of Teach for America Twin Cities to the state. We look forward to working with them in our community of charter excellence to speed the day when all students, regardless of their family income or zip code, can receive a high-quality education that prepares them to succeed in life.
Teach for America corps members became a part of the Twin Cities experience this school year. This year, CSP supports the placement of 10 TFA corps member teachers in five CSP Partner schools serving high need populations.
From Caitlin Hamilton:
Hello! My name is Caitlin Hamilton, and I am a first year corps member teaching in the Twin Cities, originally from Eden Prairie, Minnesota. So far, my experience with Teach For America has been challenging, rewarding and fast-paced. I guess it is best to start from the beginning.
I heard about Teach For America (TFA) during my junior year of college at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. I knew of some older people in my sorority that had applied and been accepted, and I also received a number of emails from campus recruiters encouraging me to look into the program. I looked at the TFA website and found myself intrigued by the mission of the program. I had worked as a tutor both in high school and college for underprivileged students, and saw firsthand the challenges those students were facing. In many cases, the students that I worked with dealt with many obstacles that I was ignorant to growing up in a wealthier community. I decided to apply to TFA because I wanted to give kids the same type of hope and confidence that was instilled in me when I was in elementary school. I remember growing up feeling smart and excited about school. I wanted to give my own students this feeling.
When I heard the news that I had been admitted to TFA, I accepted the offer without so much as a second thought. Looking back now, I oftentimes laugh. I had NO idea what I was getting myself into! Don’t get me wrong, I have loved my experience up to this point and have been pushed farther than I could have ever dreamed. I got accepted in late November and had a long waiting period until the program officially began in mid-June. Of course I was excited to begin, but I was also extremely nervous about having so much responsibility. Parents of 9 year-olds were putting their kids in my hands all day and trusting me with their well-being and education.
In April, I traveled back to Minnesota to participate in a hiring fair that the Twin Cities regional staff had set up. The hiring fair was a day-long event that involved interviewing with a number of schools who were interested in hiring TFA teachers. I interviewed with four schools at the hiring fair and ended up getting a job offer from College Prep Elementary (CPE), a charter school serving K-5th grade students in Saint Paul. Now that I had actually been placed in a school, the idea that I was going to be teaching in the near future became much more real. Over the next couple of weeks, I was in contact with my principal, and it was decided that I would teach fourth grade. I had always thought of fourth graders as being the perfect age: old enough to joke around with and have real conversations, but also young enough to think that their teachers are the coolest and smartest people around. With that being said, I was very excited about my grade and school placement. Although it felt good to have the interviewing process out of the way, it made me even more anxious to start training.
On June 28, I left Minnesota for training in Los Angeles, California. Over the next 5 weeks, I would be participating in institute, which is an intense training regimen including teaching summer school and taking pedagogy classes on the foundations of good teaching. Institute was an experience unlike any other I have had before. The schedule was exhausting, but I wouldn’t have expected it any other way. In just 5 weeks, the institute staff needed to relay the most essential and critical skill sets and knowledge that education majors attain over the course of 4 years. A typical day for me at institute involved waking up around 5 AM and getting on a bus to head to school. After arriving at school, we had about an hour to prepare our classrooms and lessons for the day. Students came to class around 8, and corps members taught these students in summer school until noon. Every day, we were observed and given feedback by experienced TFA and non-TFA teachers. Following the teaching, corps members participated in sessions with experienced teachers to learn about classroom management, investment, diversity, and lesson planning. After the sessions, we rode the bus back to campus. Once back at campus, we attended specialty sessions to improve our practice, met with an advisor to analyze strengths and weaknesses in our teaching, or worked to prepare upcoming lessons. Although the training was mentally and physically exhausting, I do believe it was the most productive and effective 5 weeks of my life.
Upon returning to Minneapolis, I felt as prepared as I could have been to start training at CPE, the school that I would teach at for the next two years. During this training time, I was developing long term plans and unit plans to start the year. Before I knew it, I had taught my first day of school.
My first two months of teaching have been challenging and rewarding. I have been able to see the effects of the academic achievement gap firsthand in my classroom. On average, my class of fourth graders reads at a mid-second grade level. A few students in my class were unable to read a single word on the first day of school. Although I had been told a million times about the seriousness of the gap in Minnesota, it was eye opening to witness it with my own students. I have 16 fourth grade students who come to school every day excited and ready to learn. There is not a day that has passed that I haven’t been greeted by an enthusiastic, “Hi, Ms. Hamilton!” when I walk in the door to my classroom. It is hard not to love your job when your students are so respectful and encouraging. Over the course of the last 2 months, I have had the honor of seeing a student’s eyes filled with happiness when he realized he was capable of reading. I have seen the power of high expectations in the form of excitement towards learning and high test scores.
My fourth graders and I have a long road ahead of us, but I am inspired to keep giving my best effort because of the hard work of my kids, other TFA corps members, and the teachers that surround me every day at school.
Growing up in Minnesota, I had always been under the notion that Minnesota was one of the best places to get an education. I believe that my teachers cared about me, and they made me believe in my own ability. Until recently, I was unaware that Minnesota had the second largest educational achievement gap in the country.
After interviewing, working, and interacting with charter schools in the Twin Cities, I have no doubt in my mind that administrators and teachers are moving in the right direction, towards equality. Over the last 6 months, I have come into contact with dozens of people who are on a mission and are dedicated to getting our students back on track.
CPE was opened to offer Hmong students a place where they could learn more about their culture and feel comfortable learning and expressing their opinions in a welcoming environment. CPE is a small school that feels more like a big family. Because the school is so small, all of the teachers have the opportunity to get to know every student in the school personally and to build the social skills and confidence of each student. I believe that TFA teachers can help to foster this sense of community and confidence within charter schools.
Many charter schools have opened because they hope to try something new and different for their students, many of whom were not excelling in their old schools. Teach for America is definitely something new and different. Although TFA teachers might not be as experienced, I believe we bring an unwavering sense of determination, work ethic and sense of possibility to the schools we are placed in.
As everyone now knows, unless it gets its act together and puts together a better proposal with greater union support in the next round, Minnesota will effectively kiss hundreds of millions of dollars for our schools and their students goodbye. It’s confusing: we’re a state that traditionally puts our money where our mouth is in terms of school funding, so why did we bomb so badly on RTTT?