As a former Teach For America teacher and current UW grad student in public policy, I felt compelled to respond to Hannah Shtein’s piece “Teach For America applications too close-minded” (Nov. 11). She appears to have drawn several inaccurate conclusions about Teach For America’s selection model based upon one applicant’s answer to one question.
Teach For America’s vision is “One day, all children in this nation will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education.” About 50 percent of students in low-income communities will not graduate from high school. Excellent teachers are needed to solve this problem. This is why I joined Teach For America.
Teach For America has studied its most effective teachers since 1990 to understand the skills needed for teachers to excel in low-income communities. These qualities go beyond “a desire to remedy the achievement gap.” From this research, the organization developed a detailed selection model that chooses individuals who have demonstrated past achievement and leadership, persevere through challenges, exhibit strong critical thinking, have the ability to motivate others, possess strong organizational skills, work relentlessly to close the achievement gap and have respect for students and families in low-income communities. From 20 years of research, Teach For America created a framework for excellent teaching called Teaching As Leadership that drives all the professional development provided to me and others. All this is done to ensure that highly capable teachers perform at their highest ability, which translates to students achieving their highest level possible.
In 2007, I was placed on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota. The impact I was able to have on my students was huge. One of my students starting with basic picture book reading level in fourth grade was transitioning to chapter books by the end of fifth, something she swore she would never do. Such an impact is far from unique. Independent research shows the effectiveness of the program’s teachers in the highest-need schools. For example, a 2008 study published by the Urban Institute found high school students taught by Teach For America teachers outperform their peers, even those taught by fully certified teachers, and the positive difference of having a Teach For America teacher was two times greater than having a teacher with three or more years experience.
Spending the past two years with students who never thought they could graduate high school, let alone attend an institution like UW, has driven me to influence public education policy. My experience has profoundly changed me, as it did for my fellow Teach For America alums. That’s why nearly two-thirds of alumni are working full-time in the field of education. In addition, a growing number of alumni are pursuing politics as an avenue for change.
To me, the data concerning corps member effectiveness and the stats about alumni working for educational equity is the evidence supporting Teach For America’s selection model.
Sara Kock
UW graduate student in public policy and 2007 Teach For America alum
