Despite the high turn-over rate, the The New York Times reports that being hired by Teach for America is more competitive than ever. A record 46,359 applicants bid for only 4,500 positions nationwide, a 32 percent increase since 2009. Eighteen percent of the graduating class of Harvard applied for the program.
Will Cullen, who was accepted to Teach for America after graduating from Villanova, reported that a friend who was not hired instead will be a Fullbright scholar. Some students are not even trying to apply for the year following graduation, but instead try to gain related experience to boost their resumes.
Teach for America is particularly attractive in the difficult economic climate, promising a teacher’s starting salary according to the school district and two-years of job security. For Mr. Cullen, who will be working at a Dallas middle school, that’s a yearly $45,000–as much as an initial salary for a major PR firm.
The application process is lengthy, including an online application, a phone interview, a presentation of a lesson plan, a personal interview, a written test, and a monitored group discussion with several other applicants. Many students cite a desire to give back to their communities and close the achievement gap as reasons that motivated them to apply. “I feel very fortunate,” said Julianne Carlson, who will be teaching the first grade in San Antonio. “I knew a lot of people at Yale who didn’t have a job or plan when they graduated.”
posted on July 13th, 2010
by Margaret,
Tags: Careers, future of teaching, high-paid teaching, Jobs, Teach for America
Posted in Careers | 8 Comments »
October 17th, 2011 at 1:01 am
[...] walk into a classroom and pick up on what she noticed,” said Wendy Kopp, the founder and CEO of Teach For America. “Her level of standards and questions all revealed such genuine commitment to the idea that all [...]
February 2nd, 2011 at 1:29 pm
[...] Teach For America was started 20 years ago and is an organization that places recent college graduates into low-income public schools. The organization has drawn criticism from teachers unions because they place teachers with no experience in a teaching position for two years and many don’t continue teaching after that period of time. Teach For America has stated that one third of their alumni continue teaching after two years and their teachers are at least as effective as teachers who enter the teaching field through traditional methods. [...]
December 1st, 2010 at 11:59 am
The high turnover rate has nothing to do with preperation, as Bunny claims. TFA is a two-year commitment.
September 7th, 2010 at 1:10 pm
[...] Newark, New Jersey, six teachers produced by Teach for America are now in charge at Brick Avon Academy. Rather than running the school from a centralized [...]
August 18th, 2010 at 5:37 pm
[...] traveling and working hard at unpaid internships. I also am shocked the article would openly bash Teach for America, a prestigious program that is enriching America’s youth. The article is [...]
July 28th, 2010 at 6:09 pm
Teaching is a good way to consolidate a grasp of the essentials in one’s field, and this is a good way of giving back while continuing to grow. These kids will teach the teacher!
July 28th, 2010 at 5:23 pm
Teach for America IS marvelous, but they need to better prepare graduateing seniors for the inexpected challenges of teaching in underprivileged neighborhood schools. Their high turnover rate is too much.
July 17th, 2010 at 8:36 am
It used to be that many more smart women were attracted to teaching as one of the few professional categories open to them. As a consequence, truly bright teachers were attracted to our school systems. That doesn’t guarantee amazing teaching skills, but it’s a definite start. Teach for America takes us back to that starting point, with the advantage of bringing co-ed candidates to the party!