As We are Talking about Teachers

 Update:  a great column at the Washington Post by UW College of Education professor Ken Zeichner about the issue of the issue of "highly qualified teachers" that references right with this thread.

Our federal government supports a practice of putting the least-prepared teachers in the highest-need classrooms — classrooms that are most often filled with children from low-income families, English language learners, students with disabilities and students of color.  There are powerful players in the education reform world who are advocating for the Obama administration and Congress to maintain a federal policy that promotes this practice. Parents and guardians should be accurately informed about the certification status of their children’s teachers so they can question the wisdom of the policy that has supported the disproportionate assignment of the least qualified teachers to our most vulnerable students.

You might remember that I had advocated for parents to be informed when their child was assigned a TFA teacher.

End of update.

Is this NY Times article about short-term teachers the future for teachers?  I can only say, I hope not.

As tens of millions of pupils across the country begin their school year, charter networks are developing what amounts to a youth cult in which teaching for two to five years is seen as acceptable and, at times, even desirable. Teachers in the nation’s traditional public schools have an average of close to 14 years of experience, and public school leaders and policy makers have long made it a priority to reduce teacher turnover. 

But with teachers confronting the overhaul of evaluations and tenure as well as looming changes in pension benefits, the small but rapidly growing charter school movement — with schools that are publicly financed but privately operated — is pushing to redefine the arc of a teaching career. 

“We have this highly motivated, highly driven work force who are now wondering, ‘O.K., I’ve got this, what’s the next thing?’ ” said Jennifer Hines, senior vice president of people and programs at YES Prep. “There is a certain comfort level that we have with people who are perhaps going to come into YES Prep and not stay forever.” 

And that might be true.  There may be people who have a good 5-10 years in them as teachers.  But two years?  That's not exactly a career.  

And, once again, the head of TFA, Wendy Kopp, weighs in with her inimitable style:

“Strong schools can withstand the turnover of their teachers,” said Wendy Kopp, the founder of Teach for America. “The strongest schools develop their teachers tremendously so they become great in the classroom even in their first and second years.”  

Unfortunately for Wendy, most struggling schools probably don't have great professional development.  To boot, I'll say it again - at-risk kids who need some continuity in their lives are not served by a revolving door of teachers.  (And, it's not the way to build a solid teaching corps that truly is the backbone of any school.)

The most telling line:

Mr. Dowdy, the 24-year-old teacher who is already thinking beyond the classroom, wants something more, however. “I feel like our generation is always moving onto the next thing,” he said, “and always moving onto something bigger and better.” 

Good for you, Mr. Dowdy, but that's not teaching.  People who become soldiers and cops and firefighters and yes, teachers, are not the people always looking the next big thing.  

So what is new with TFA?

Yet in Chicago

[T]he district has committed to more than doubling its investment in the TFA program that trains college graduates for five weeks then sends them into schools for two years at a time. The Board of Education voted to increase its payment to TFA from $600,000 to nearly $1.6 million, and to add up to 325 new TFA recruits to CPS classrooms, in addition to 270 second year “teacher interns.”

This information was revealed after Chicago Public Schools announced layoffs of over 3,000 school personnel due to budget cuts.
Why would CPS throw more money into recruiting recent college graduates with five weeks of training and no teaching certificates into the district when it lets go of highly-qualified, certified, veteran teachers?
- See more at: http://jacobinmag.com/2013/07/teach-for-america-mission/#sthash.9ugvpjTU.dpuf

 In Chicago, where they closed 50(!) schools, they also have committed to DOUBLING their numbers of TFA teachers.  The Board of Ed voted to spend $1.6M on TFA teachers.  And, the numbers of teachers of color has gone down (despite the repeated lofty claims about TFA about diversity).  

From WBEZ:

Yet in Chicago

[T]he district has committed to more than doubling its investment in the TFA program that trains college graduates for five weeks then sends them into schools for two years at a time. The Board of Education voted to increase its payment to TFA from $600,000 to nearly $1.6 million, and to add up to 325 new TFA recruits to CPS classrooms, in addition to 270 second year “teacher interns.”

This information was revealed after Chicago Public Schools announced layoffs of over 3,000 school personnel due to budget cuts.
Why would CPS throw more money into recruiting recent college graduates with five weeks of training and no teaching certificates into the district when it lets go of highly-qualified, certified, veteran teachers?
- See more at: http://jacobinmag.com/2013/07/teach-for-america-mission/#sthash.9ugvpjTU.dpufIn Chicago, where they closed 50 (!) schools, they first are looking for more charter schools (and charter teachers; read, TFA).  From WBEZ:

Without fanfare, the district posted an official “request for proposals” to its website Monday that invites charter schools to apply to open shop in what the school district has identified as priority neighborhoods—large swaths of the Southwest and Northwest sides.

Those heavily Latino areas have struggled with overcrowded schools.

The district wants what it’s calling “next generation” charter schools, which could combine online and traditional teaching. It also wants proposals for arts integration charter schools and dual language charters. 

The NY Times is reporting today that Chicago Public Schools made use of 1200 new employees. That would be people who are posted in dangerous neighborhoods to make sure the kids whose schools closed are safe to walk to the next school. 

The first day of school in one neighborhood on this city’s far South Side brought a parade of security workers in neon vests, police officers on patrol, an idling city fire truck and, briefly, a police helicopter hovering above. All this to make sure that students from a shuttered elementary school could make it safely past abandoned lots, boarded-up houses and gang territory to get to their new school less than a half-mile away. 

Known as Safe Passage, Chicago’s program began after the beating death in 2009 of a 16-year-old student, Derrion Albert, after he left his South Side high school one afternoon. 

But with the closing of so many schools, city officials say the number of routes has more than doubled this year and the cost of the program has also nearly doubled, to $15.7 million.

The overwhelming security presence played out along similar routes near more than 90 other schools around Chicago, the nation’s third largest school district. 

To prepare, city employees in recent weeks demolished 41 vacant buildings along the routes, trimmed 4,900 trees, removed 2,800 instances of graffiti and fixed hundreds of streetlights. “The ultimate goal of all efforts — both in the building, on the way to the building and at home — is so kids will think about their studies, not their safety,” Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who spent part of the morning along Safe Passage routes around the city, said later in an interview. 

Sure, Rahm, those kids won't notice all those people in the neon vests.