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I don’t really understand the celebration for TFA over this increase. Teachers (including first year corps members) are being laid off in record numbers and their answer is to add MORE corps members in those same regions?
Well, in DCPS, Jason Kamras is going to cut some slack for the new 2nd year teachers who rated minimally effective for 2 years.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-schools-insider/post/some-teachers-more-minimally-effective-than-others/2011/06/10/AGY2iEPH_blog.html
Yeah, Andy, who cares if 5000+ smart and focused people just committed to teaching in tough schools and to pursue possible careers in education? What good could *possibly* come from that?
“to pursue possible careers in education’
Like Chris did.
^ another worthless attempt at deflection, because I’m not representative of all TFA teachers, and because you don’t know anything about me (and it continually shows)
Pro-teacher rhetoric from the New York Daily News:
New York public school students have far too much time off, often for no good reason
Brooklyn-Queens Day used to be marked in just those boroughs. But in 2006, to resolve that perceived inequity – and to find a day for teacher “professional development” – the Education Department negotiated a deal with the teachers union that expanded the holiday citywide and set 1.1 million students loose.
Smyr you do represent the career path that MOST TFA teachers take. Two years in the classroom, then on to some other education related field (usually advocating for neoliberal reforms.)
A-billion-to-one-chance-he’s-right:
No, not really, so let’s stop defending the n=1 logic. Retention numbers are similar for other new teachers in similar schools. The “neoliberal reform” part had me chuckle, though, so thanks for that.
Btw, you thanked me for my reply in the other thread over 3 weeks ago. It would be commendable of you to either say you have no response, or perhaps give one:
eduwonk com/2011/05/political-maze.html#comment-221169
I wasn’t comparing TFA to traditional teachers.
I was comparing your TFA experience to the average TFA experience and you are representative of a typical TFAer. You taught for two years and moved on to another job in education.
Merit Pay, Vouchers and Charter schools are neoliberal reforms driven by billionaire foundations with a privatization agenda.
***”I wasn’t comparing TFA to traditional teachers.”
You asserted (and continue to assert) that I’m representative of TFA, and I was gently correcting you by saying that, no, most TFA teachers teach for longer than 2 years, as their numbers are similar to non-TFA teachers in similar schools.
Not going to be gentle about it now: you’re as dense as Phillip if you think making this thread about my experiences — when you know little-to-nothing about me — is a decent response.
That you can bang the privatization drum does not make what you say any more insightful, particularly about what TFA teachers “usually” do after teaching, so bang away. You have an increasingly weird fetish for dramatizing the plight of schools at the hands of evil billionaires everywhere.