Grads flock to Teach for America
With the job market not looking so hot for recent college grads, applications for positions with Teach for America are sky high this year. Sally Herships reports.
Teacher at chalkboard (iStockphoto)
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BOB MOON: Here's a phenomenon that you might have trouble imagining: Why would some of America's top college grads be eager to head for some of the toughest classrooms in the country?
It's part of a program called Teach for America. Those accepted teach full-time for at least two years in an inner city or far-flung community. And it's very competitive.
They earn teacher salaries, and get some federal student loans forgiven. Many continue with teaching, but others use it as a stepping stone to graduate school, or a more lucrative career in another field.
But since jobs have vaporized for new college grads, Teach for America's looking more like a great opportunity in and of itself.
Reporter Sally Herships found applications to the program are sky high.
SALLY HERSHIPS: Teach for America is one tough gig. Donna Foote should know. She spent a year following four of the program's teachers at Locke -- an inner city school in L.A. She wrote a book about it. The idea came, she says, from visiting a friend's classroom at the school.
DONNA FOOTE: And there was my friend at the front of the classroom with her fingers up for each syllable of words as simple as Cat. So it would Kuh-at -- Cat. And this was not a remedial ninth-grade English class. This was ninth-grade English at Locke High School.
It's difficult work. And the pay -- a teacher's -- is low. But nonetheless Foote says Teach for America only wants to hire future leaders.
FOOTE: The secret sauce at Teach for America is this premium put on human capital. They want the best and the brightest on the bus. And they know where they're going.
This year, Foote says, it's harder than ever to get in. Applicant numbers are at record levels -- 35,000 job-seekers for just six or seven thousand spots. Eleven percent of all Ivy league seniors applied.
FOOTE: It is tough: 25 percent of the graduating class at Spelman, 15 percent at Princeton and Yale, 14 percent at Harvard.
Notre Dame grad Patrick Vassel made the cut a couple years back. The political science major wasn't sure teaching was the best career for him, but now his apartment is well-stocked with Dr. Seuss books and boxes of macaroni for art projects. His days are spent teaching special education to fourth graders.
PATRICK VASSEL: So if we count by four Cyan . . . So, just like he's separating them, right? Oh, what are you counting by, Jamal?
JAMAL: I'm counting by threes. Like, three, six, nine, 12. Each row...
Vassel says while it's the most challenging thing he's ever done, the program is also an investment in his future.
HERSHIPS: What does it mean to have this on your resume?
VASSEL: It's tremendous.
But...
VASSEL: There's far easier things to do in the world to polish your resume than to commit to teaching two years in an urban or rural underprivileged school. There's faster ways to move up whatever ladder you're trying to.
Teach for America, Vassel says, is more then just a bullet point on your resume.
FOOTE: It means good things for your future.
Donna Foote again. Employers know, she says, program grads gain skills that can be applied almost anywhere.
FOOTE: Achievement, perseverance, critical thinking.
It's these skills that attract universities and employers like Google to take the program's grads. David Stanley is a recruitment director at Teach for America. He says applicants were rising long before the job market soured.
DAVID STANLEY: I don't think that this is necessarily a passing fad and I think people are really kind of outraged. When people are losing their mortgages and their houses and all these things are happening that education is really the way to get back to the roots of all that.
Stanley says Teach for America is taking advantage of its growing popularity. One of the program goals, he says, is to get 100 alumni into political office by the year 2010. It's not just about the future though. Teacher Patrick Vassel is also focused on today.
VASSEL: The payoff is right now that we have a job, because so many people don't or are losing them very quickly.
But Teach for America recruiter David Stanley says right now people have public welfare on their minds. The Peace Corps says their applications are up 16 percent. And Teach for America is on track to double its work force by next year.
In New York, I'm Sally Herships for Marketplace Money.
Comments
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From Atlanta, GA, 08/22/2009
As an alumnae, I just wanted to note that Spelman has one "L" not two. I once looked into TFA as a college senior at Spelman, but was concerned that the focus was 100% on what to do after teaching, rather than recruiting life long educators. It seems like the program should be longer than two years if that is the case.
From Killeen, TX, 04/30/2009
Focus on the good the program does for the schools and children involved. Yes, the career educators in our schools are often woefully underpaid and not appreciated, but this has nothing to do with Teach for America. We need more programs like this to expose even more graduates to the teaching profession, along with more resources to improve schools and pay teachers a living wage. I think it would be a good idea to forgive student loans for anyone who teaches school.
From Ann Arbor, MI, 04/28/2009
This is an interesting report, and I don't mean to be petty, but I find it interesting too that this article continues a phenomenon of basic English usage problems within articles that are about problems in U.S. education. From this report:
"This year, Foote says, it's harder then ever to get in."
That would be "harder than ever." Not a trivial difference.
If I'm right in observing this general phenomenon, does it matter to U.S. prospects for competing effectively in the global marketplace? It can't help. Please help set a better example!
Thanks.
From WI, 04/27/2009
In this story Ms. Foote says, "there was my friend at the front of the classroom with her fingers up for each syllable of words as simple as Cat." Cat is a one syllable word and what Ms. Foote was describing was teaching the phonemes in the word cat. I would expect a published author to know this distinction, however, I certainly hope that those who are teaching reading for Teach for America are taught this distinction. A person who does not know the difference between syllables and phonemes should not be teaching reading to any students, regardless of their Ivy League education.
From CA, 04/26/2009
Donna Foote complains, regarding students at "an inner city school in L.A.": "there was my friend at the front of the classroom with her fingers up for each syllable of words as simple as Cat. So it would Kuh-at -- Cat. And this was not a remedial ninth-grade English class. This was ninth-grade English at Locke High School". "Cat" is a one-syllable word. Your transcript gives it as two syllables. The actual broadcast had Ms. Foote giving it as three: "cuh-a-te". I would suggest she is a little more careful in her reporting, especially given she's a published author, lest she requires "remedial ninth-grade English class".
From NV, 04/26/2009
What disturbs me about this story is the lack of acknowledgment that "real" teachers do this work day in, day out. Most do not have the luxury of an Ivy League degree to get them back out. They suffer through this "one tough gig" for poor pay, without hope of brighter futures. Are we supposed to be impressed with those who do it for a couple of years and earn some loan forgiveness, then leave? How about those who stick in it/are stuck with it, for decades? How nice that somebody is figuring out that this is, indeed, a tough gig, even for those with Ivy League degrees. Might that not suggest that higher salaries are in order, and that teachers should stop being the punching bags of failing education systems?
From Brooklyn, NY, 04/26/2009
I have a friend who investigated Teach for America. He found out that the deadline was February for classes starting this summer. This would mean that June graduates will not be able to enter the program. It seems odd to have so early a deadline.
From MD, 04/26/2009
It would have been interesting to learn how many Teach for America "grads" stay with teaching. I was dismayed by the focus on resume building, the goal of putting 100 into political office as volunteers see the leadership of the not just the participants see it as a "stepping stone to grad school, or a more lucrative career in other fields."
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