Tell me about Teach for America...

Parents Forum
81

<p>I’m sad to report that our son did not make it to the final interview step. He is pretty bummed-out right now and is trying to regroup to figure out his next move (presumably grad school).</p>

82

<p>Once he’s over the initial disappointment, you might encourage him to consider it after a year again. He was in the mix in the final phase (application rounds start in September) and so the odds get much tighter and with the current economic factors affecting school hiring I bet they are slowing the rate of acceptance for this cycle. Unless he started planning to go for this a year ago, he may just not have had the edge for this time around but it does not mean he should drop the dream. </p>

<p>Also, there are a variety of similar programs that have started in several cities so if he really wants to be in a classroom next year he might search for those–or simply plan to find work for a year in a situation where he would be working with kids or in schools or at least have time to volunteer doing that, all of which strengthen the application and skills for the final interview round.</p>

83

<p>ALF- if he was interested in Seattle- we have had a shakeup.
Dismissed our Superintendent, Chief Academic Officer & Chief Officer of Operations last week.
I expect that the TFA has been put on the backburner with out the superintendent to pull it through.
They may not be hiring anyone yet.
[Seattle School Board ousts Goodloe-Johnson, names Enfield interim superintendent](<a href=“http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014380889_schoolboard03m.html”>http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014380889_schoolboard03m.html&lt;/a&gt;)</p>

84

<p>That has nothing to do with it. TFA selects applicants, then places them in available school districts. Our son wasn’t selected by TFA, so never got to the point of seeing which districts were available.</p>

85

<p>So sorry, ALF. Many, many highly qualified applicants are in the same boat. Has your son considered a “Teaching Fellows” program? Some urban districts have them.</p>

86

<p>He’s looking at Masters in Teaching grad programs at UW (Washington), Evergreen, U of Puget Sound and Seattle U. Lots of choices and each of those programs are very different from each other.</p>

87

<p>Lewis and Clark has an MAT program too if he wants to be in the NW.</p>

88

<p>ALF , my daughter has recently started subsitute teaching in our area and loves it. She has been in all kinds of settings and been surprised at which ones she favors over the others. She is seriously considering becoming a teacher</p>

89

<p>Reading things like this is why I am not so excited about TFA coming to Seattle.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>It could be a great opportunity for the grads to get experience in an educational setting during a time of unemployment- but hard to say what the pay off for the schools & the students in those schools will be.</p>

90

<p>I’m not sure that I follow this last post. The Washington STEM organization gave a grant to TFA to bring Science & Math teachers into WA schools. Each school only pays $3K-$4K for each TFA teacher, which is less than 10% of the salary schools pay to ‘regular’ teachers. The WA STEM organization pays the difference to TFA, who pays the salary to the TFA Science/Math teachers. Unemployed teachers obviously aren’t going to like this plan, but at least the school benefits from having a Math or Science teacher that they otherwise could not afford to hire. </p>

<p>I’m not sure what any of this has to do with whether or not a school has the money to purchase science materials. Perhaps WA STEM could/should also give money to schools for science materials, but at least they are giving money to get Math and Science teachers into the classroom.</p>

91

<p>Thanks to everyone with tips and ideas for my son. He may try TFA again next year, and/or enter a grad program. In the meantime, he is a Montessori teacher and is trying to save a little money for his next move. Unlike myself (I taught Geology/Earth Science for 18 years before becoming a Math & Science college administrator), he is not a STEM-discipline teacher candidate, which might have made him more attractive to TFA.</p>

92

<p>An interesting article that describes a study of Teach for America participants in North Carolina between 2000 and 2006:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.urban.org/publications/901157.html[/url]”>http://www.urban.org/publications/901157.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>According to the study, TFA teachers had a greater impact on student performance on final exams, in comparison to traditional teachers. The biggest improvements were in Science and Math.</p>

<p>The Seattle Times mentioned this article in their lead editorial today, titled, “TFA Candidates Belong on School Hiring List”:
[Editorials</a> | Seattle Public Schools hiring list should include Teach for America instructors | Seattle Times Newspaper](<a href=“http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorials/2015793838_edit02teachers.html]Editorials”>http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorials/2015793838_edit02teachers.html)</p>

93

<p>maybe TFA is expanding- they just received a sizable grant.
[Walton</a> Family Foundation Gifts Teach for America $49.5 Million](<a href=“HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost”>Walton Family Foundation Gifts Teach for America $49.5 Million | HuffPost Latest News)</p>

<p>I also want to clarify this statement.
Each school only pays $3K-$4K for each TFA teacher, which is less than 10% of the salary schools pay to ‘regular’ teachers.
The $3K is paid to TFA, the TFA teacher gets the same salary from the district as other teachers.</p>

94

<p>^EmeraldK: Does this mean that typically a school district pays the regular teacher salary to the TFA teacher AND another $3000 to TFA (unless a grant is obtained to cover the TFA amount)?</p>

95

<p>Yes- the STEM grant $ mentioned, would be used to pay the TFA fee for each STEM TFA candidate who is hired- but salary will be paid by the district to the teacher.</p>

<p>But for candidates who are TFA but not STEM, it seems as if the district would be having to pay that fee- however TFA charges some districts less than $3K but not sure how they decide how much they charge. ( In Seattle it is $4K )</p>