• Proponents say program could increase quality and diversity of candidate pool.
• Opponents are concerned about turnover in high-needs schools and lack of guarantees that candidates will meet requirements for conditional certification.
• Goal is to place 20-25 Teach for America recruits in our district's high poverty schools, ideally in cohorts of at least two. 
• Each recruit would go through the normal competitive interview process.
  
• Teach for America offers an alternative path to certification. Screened recruits go through intensive five-week summer training, become teachers of record, then go on to get full certification. TFA also provides ongoing  professional development after placement. 
  
• The contract with Seattle Public Schools says TFA candidates will not be placed as instructional assistants, or serve as student-teachers.
• Candidates will be supplied for math, science, special education, English language learner, elementary, middle and high school positions.

ACTION:

If you wish to comment or testify, you can do so via email to board members or via public testimony at the school board meeting on Nov. 17. The school board meets at JSCEE in the auditorium, 2445 3rd Ave. S, Seattle, WA 98134. Regular board meetings start at 6 p.m.

Email Seattle School Board 

Signing up to address the board

• Unique skills: TFA has studied its most effective teachers over the last 20 years and says it has distilled the unique characteristics necessary to thrive in low-income schools where the achievement gap is most pronounced. It has also developed a leadership framework from which to assess corps members while they're in the classroom. (See Teaching as Leadership Framework)

• Math and science:  One third of Teach For America's current math/science candidates have indicated Seattle as their top choice region for where they would like to teach.

• Retention: The national average is 82 percent first-year retention in high poverty schools; TFA averages 92 percent. (A 2007 UW study charts Washington state and district retention over 5 years, prior to the recession: Wash. workforce characteristics)
  

• New pool of educators: Two-thirds of TFA's network of 20,000 remain committed to education full-time, despite the fact that only 1 in 10 intended on pursuing teaching as a career.

• Diversity: 33 percent of TFA's 2010 corps is of color; 28 percent come from low-income communities; 20 percent are first-generation college graduates. In 2007, citing the UW study noted above, 92.5 percent of Washington teaching corps was white. (Teach for America's UW recruitment numbers to date: 65 candidates have applied to Teach For America and 14 were accepted; 10 of these candidates highly preferred Seattle as one of their top five places to teach; and of the 10 candidates who wanted to teach in Seattle, 4 are of color.)

• Principal satisfaction:  According to the Teach For America 2009 National Principal Survey, conducted independently by Policy Studies Associates, 97 percent of principals are satisfied with the Teach For America recruits in their schools. In addition, 91 percent of principals said that TFA training is at least as good as the training of other beginning teachers, and 94 percent of principals who work with Teach For America teachers report that the corps members have made a positive impact on their schools.

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Characteristics TFA looks for in candidates

1. Past levels of high achievement
2. Organization
3. Critical thinking -- draw conclusions from data
4. Capacity to build relationships in a diverse community
5. Perseverance to fix problems
6. Influencing and motivating people -- build consensus
7. Personal responsibility -- don't blame others or the situation
   

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TFA's Five Pillars of an Effective Teacher:

1. Vision for success in a classroom (i.e., bring kids up a year and a half)
2. Create a plan to achieve the vision
3. Invest in community (i.e., home visits, genuinley like students)
4. Execute the plan
5. Reflect -- are they on track to accomplish their vision?

• TFA recruits are not needed. (No shortage of certificated applicants)

• Graduates of programs in our colleges of education have more experience and more skills than can be acquired in 5-week teacher boot camp.

• TFA recruits do not stay in classroom. (TFA and SEA quote different retention figures)

• TFA does not improve student achievement when compared to beginning teachers who have studied in colleges of education. (TFA and SEA both say data support their position; either, yes more effective - TFA; or, no, not really - SEA)
  

• TFA siphons outside funding. (SPS has lined up private funders to pay the $4,000 per TFA placement, to offset program costs.) SEA asks SPS to instead find private funders to help facilitate the new contract, provide promised mentors for new teachers, and facilitate the rollout of Professional Learning Communities, which will help all teachers develop goals around student success. (SPS did secure a federal grant to help implement new contract.)
  

• TFA agreements abuse the state guidelines around emergency or conditional certification

• (i) The applicant is highly qualified and experienced in the subject matter to be taught and has unusual distinction or exceptional talent which is able to be demonstrated through public records of accomplishments and/or awards; or
• (ii) No person with regular teacher certification in the endorsement area is available as verified by the district or educational service district superintendent or approved private school administrator, or circumstances warrant consideration of issuance of a conditional certificate.

• Nov. 18, 1:30-3:30 p.m., JSCEE, room 2700
• Dec. 14, 6-8 p.m., JSCEE, room 2750