For the Record: Teach for America placement
As Teach for America's presence in Chicago grows, nearly 60 percent of teachers in the program are in charter schools.
By: Rebecca Harris / November 7, 2013
The mass teacher layoffs this year that resulted from school closings and budget cuts have focused more attention on the district’s relationship with Teach for America and the growing presence of its teachers in CPS schools.
Though some talk swirled in the broader school community that cheaper TFA teachers would replace laid-off veterans, those concerns appear to be for the most part unfounded. The majority of TFA teachers end up in charter schools and fewer than 10 percent land in schools run by Academy for Urban School Leadership. AUSL runs a majority of turnaround schools, where one can most easily make the argument that they are “replacing” seasoned teachers let go as part of the turnaround.
About 24 percent end up in other schools.
Though the number of TFA teachers remains small compared to the size of the district-wide teaching force, CPS is steadily increasing the numbers—and the size