Teach for America alum: Where TFA falls short
This post was written by Kristoffer Kohl, a former Teach For America corps member. He recently worked with a team of accomplished teachers from around the country to produce “Transforming School Conditions: Building Bridges to the Education System that Students and Teachers Deserve,” a detailed report with recommendations on what is needed to bring about effective and sustainable school reform. Teach for America is an organization that recruits top college graduates, gives them five weeks of training and then sends them into high-poverty schools as teachers for a commitment of two years. I have written before about problems I see in sending young people with little training into classrooms where needy students deserve the very best teachers. I've also published a piece by historian Diane Ravitch about problems with Teach for America. Kohl, not surprisingly, takes a different tact in this piece. By Kristoffer Kohl With alumni from Teach For
