From Wendy Kopp’s HuffPo essay, a figure lower than you might think:
…Teach For America is working hard to be one significant source of the leadership we need. More than two-thirds of our 24,000 alumni are working full-time in education. Although few of them intended to enter the field at all before their involvement with Teach For America, today a third of them are teaching, 600 are serving as principals, and many others are working as district leaders. Of the remaining third of our alumni, half have jobs related to low-income communities or schools, and only three percent are working in the private sector — hardly the “corporate” stereotype Ravitch is so fond of perpetuating. This growing alumni force is working, together with many other dedicated teachers and leaders across the country, to fundamentally change things for the better…. [Bold added]
Disc – new Bellwether partner Rex Varner was a VP at TFA, he still works with the organization.
It probably is how you define private sector, as it does seem absurdly low for any service organization with more than 10,000 alumni in 21st century America.
Yeah, right Wendy. Ravitch has you nailed and you know it. TFA is not to be trusted http://garyrubinstein.teachforus.org/2011/05/07/two-out-of-three-aint-bad-but-is-it-true/ And even if we go with “half have jobs related to low-income communities or schools” how many of those are in well-funded non-profits pushing the business model for reform? How related is related to…anyway? Wiggle speech from the politician Wendy is morphing into.
[citation needed]
Hi Wendy,
It’s noticeable sheer dedication and being serving itself is an achievement. The number is alarming too.
Thanks for sharing.
TFA is definitely corrupt. It hurts the districts that need them the most by forcing them to pay for the teachers TFA services on top of salary. It is a BUSINESS that insists on making money rather than helping their so-called cause.
TFA isn’t the only things corrupt in the US education system.
Although few of them intended to enter the field at all before their involvement with Teach For America, today a third of them are teaching, 600 are serving as principals, and many others are working as district leaders. Of the remaining third of our alumni, half have jobs related to low-income communities or schools, and only three percent are working in the private sector
They work in administration because they KNOW they cannot add value in the classroom. Many graduated in LIBERAL ARTS, the soft stuff, and lack the CRITICAL SKILL SETS needed to foster innovation in the 21st century. Many of them know things that an enlisted Marine in Afghanistan would never NEED TO KNOW.
We need the an ethos of WORK PRODUCT. We do not need more REFORM LEADERS. They are UNACCOUNTABLE, but they relish the opportunity to hold OTHERS ACCOUNTABLE.
So, what is NOT corporate about edu-leadership? What is NOT corporate about the high pay of a principalship. These kids are paid FOR THEIR OPINIONS AND NOT FOR STUDENT OUTCOMES.
We pay more now to OPINION MAKERS than we do to those who produce a product. What has happened to us?
NAME ONE PLACE IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR where a graduate in women’s anthropology and english literature can make that kind of bank?
Name one!
today a third of them are teaching, 600 are serving as principals, and many others are working as district leaders. Of the remaining third of our alumni, half have jobs related to low-income communities or schools, and only three percent are working in the private sector
Good try Wendy.
Why did TFA’rs LEAVE THE CLASSROOM after ONLY TWO YEARS?
Please answer that question. And if your answer is that they could ADD MORE VALUE OUTSIDE the classroom, then WHY did YOU let them in the there to begin with?
The screening process at TFA needs brutal scrutiny. It has over promised and under delivered.
Right now we have a crisis in math and science. We lack the manpower to get the job done. So why are we adding MORE OVERHEAD?
We do not need MORE chiefs. We need MORE INDIANS.
Here is a novel idea: Let’s FLATTEN the hierarchy as the Marine Corps has done.
Lance Corporals plan and lead missions.
IMAGINE THAT!