Patrick Riccards on Teach for America: “Well-Trained Teachers?”

Patrick Riccards

Last week, Teach for America celebrated its 20th anniversary in our nation’s capital. Part political convention, part educator conference, part tent revival, the TFA reunion brought together nearly 10,000 TFAers, TFA alums, and a slew of policymakers and talking heads that joined together to celebrate the successes of the program, all noting that TFA is the cure for all that ails public education in the United States.

As those 10K were arriving into town, The Washington Post published a story on the continuing budget resolution offered by the Republican leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives. In the piece, the Post notes a number of the programs targeted for elimination by the House GOP in the FY2011 CR. One of those was TFA.

This should come as no surprise, as the U.S. Department of Education also called for the elimination of TFA’s current federal funding stream in its version of the FY2011 Budget (as well as its version of the FY2012 budget, released this week). Of course, the Obama Administration did so so that TFA could compete for greater dollars in a larger competitive process. Who knows what issue the House may have with Wendy Kopp and company.

But I digress. In the Post coverage, the reporter describes TFA as “the popular Teach for America, which puts well-trained teachers in needy schools.” No, it didn’t quote anyone. And it wasn’t in a commentary piece. The A section of the Washington Post described TFAers as “well-trained teachers.”

Don’t get me wrong, I am a fan of TFA. The organization plays an important role in our K-12 infrastructure. It builds interest in serving as a school teacher. It directs smart, motivated students into the classroom (even if only for two years). It has encouraged multiple generations to take an interest in school improvement and commitment themselves to education reform. It has gotten enthusiastic young teachers into communities that haven’t seen much classroom-based enthusiasm in some time. And the TFA movement has done more to focus on the need for education reform than just about any other group in the past 50 years.

But well trained? I realize it is part of the TFA marketing materials, but it is hardly free from debate. Before entering the classroom, a TFA teacher receives five weeks of intensive training. We expect more training than that for the mechanic working on our car, yet we deem a five-week intensive program results in “well-trained teachers?”

Yes, TFA has data demonstrating their teachers are effective in the classroom (and sometimes even more effective than other teachers in the school). But we also know that the education field can’t even agree on what a preservice teacher should know and be able to do before entering the classroom. If we still can’t agree on what goes into effective teacher training, can we declare TFA’s training methods so successful?

In describing itself, TFA declares “Teach For America is the national corps of outstanding recent college graduates of all academic majors and career interests who commit two years to teach in urban and rural public schools and become leaders in the effort to expand educational opportunity.” Every single word of that is true, and should be celebrated. But before we rush out and declare a five-week boot camp the mark of a well-trained teacher, we need to take a much closer look at effective teacher preparation.

Patrick is recognized as one of the leading education communications and advocacy strategists in the field. Having lead national efforts on topics such as reading instruction, high school reform, STEM, teacher quality, early childhood education, and digital learning, Patrick has helped change education policy at the federal, state, and local levels.

The author of the nationally recognized and award-winning Eduflack blog and of a leading education policy Twitter feed (@Eduflack), Patrick serves as vice chairman of a local school board in Virginia. More importantly, he is the father to Michael and Anna.