Perspectives on TFA in Its 20th Year
In its two decades, Teach For America has dispatched more than 20,000 young teachers to work in some of America鈥檚 poorest schools and communities. The nonprofit organization, which sprang from a thesis that founder Wendy Kopp wrote in college, now provides teachers for some 500,000 urban and rural students each year and is a major employer of recent graduates of elite colleges and universities. TFA is celebrated by many as an innovative force in K-12 education. But critics question its short-term teaching commitments鈥攖wo years鈥攁nd say its recruits, though well educated and well intentioned, aren鈥檛 sufficiently prepared for the classroom. In 2011, TFA boasts of ever-more-intensive work in teacher preparation and development and of what it sees as the organization鈥檚 long-term impact on policy and practice. To mark TFA鈥檚 20th-anniversary year, 2010-11, Education Week鈥檚 Commentary editors sought out a variety of perspectives on Teach For America and its effects on teachers, students, and schools. For more on TFA, read Education Week鈥檚 news coverage of the organization.
