Rapid response unit aims to counter criticisms of Teach for America
A nonprofit group has begun a public relations campaign to defend Teach for America against critics of the program that places newly minted college graduates in teaching jobs in some of the country’s most challenging classrooms.
The new campaign, called Corps Knowledge, is an offshoot of the New York Campaign for Achievement Now (NYCAN), a network that supports public charter schools and school choice and wants to weaken teacher tenure laws.
Derrell Bradford, NYCAN’s executive director, said the campaign aims to counter attacks on Teach for America’s image, which some people loyal to the program think has been damaged by “a few disgruntled alumni” and other critics.
Several TFA alumni have written negatively about their experiences, saying that TFA’s five-week training session did not adequately prepare them for teaching in struggling schools and that the two-year commitment that TFA requires adds to the teacher churn in high-needs schools.
“Some of the best people I’ve ever known have worked for TFA — great, caring, smart — and it’s tough to see your friends get dragged through the mud,” said Bradford, who has $500,000 for the campaign and is aiming to raise an additional $1 million to expand it.
The campaign has one full-time employee, has hired an external public relations firm and will focus initially on social media and on publishing opinion pieces.
The Corps Knowledge campaign is run independently of TFA, although many of those involved in NYCAN and TFA know each other. Matt Kramer, a former co-chief executive of TFA, sits on the board of NYCAN’s parent organization, 50CAN. Kevin Huffman, a TFA alumnus and former Tennessee education commissioner, sits on the board of Corps Knowledge.
“We certainly talk, but this is separate from TFA,” Bradford said. “TFA is letting us take her sister out, and we said we would bring her back on time.”
The campaign plans to highlight the positive stories of TFA, which turns 25 this year. The program is designed not so much to groom career teachers as to inspire recruits to work on the larger issues of urban education in varied ways. And they do: TFA alumni run charter schools and traditional school districts, make state and federal education policy and fill the talent pipeline for an education reform movement that promotes school choice, merit pay and tougher accountability measures for teachers.
But the new campaign also is answering Teach for America’s harshest critics.
One of them, Gary Rubinstein, writes a blog about education that frequently Rapid response unit aims to counter criticisms of Teach for America - The Washington Post:
Campaign Song to Defend Teach for America
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