Unsolicited advice for Teach for America on its 20th anniversary
This piece was written by Alexander Russo, a former Democratic Senate aide who writes "This Week In Education" blog. His book about a dramatic school turnaround effort in Los Angeles, "Stray Dogs, Saints, and Saviors," is coming out next month from Jossey-Bass. By Alexander Russo Here are five completely unsolicited ideas for Teach for America's next 20 years, on the occasion of its first two decades: 1) Tell locals to pick one or several struggling schools, stuff them with corps members and alumns over the course of two or three years, and show everyone what you can really do at the the whole school level. Rinse, lather, repeat. 2) Stop expanding to new cities and do more in the cities you’re already in. Create two or three "superlocals" to get involved in reform, short of operating schools but well beyond the current menu o