'Teach for A While' makes a mint from philanthropists

Speaking of Teach for America -- or, as I call it, Teach for A While -- Washington Post education reporter Valerie Strauss highlights a study from the University of Georgia in today's edition. The study looked at where the big billionaire foundations funding so-called education reform spent their money during the past fiscal year.

Guess who collected the most?

One organization was the big winner in the money giveaway, according to the University of Georgia researchers who did the analysis, and given all the attention it has received from school reformers, including Education Secretary Arne Duncan, it should come as no surprise.

Teach for America, the nonprofit organization that recruits newly graduated college students to commit to teach for two years in high-needs schools, was tops on the list of recipients, with $213,444,431, or 31 percent of the total. This doesn’t include at least $150 million it received from foundations and the U.S. government in the past year, which is outside the scope of the report.

The direction of the donations underscores the current trend in school reform to bring teachers into schools through alternative certification models that bypass traditional years-long teaching programs, with the 20-year-old Teach for America leading the charge.

The organization’s model is controversial: It gives its recruits five weeks of summer training and then places them in urban and rural schools that are often the most troubled in the country.

Critics say that five weeks is hardly enough to train a truly qualified teacher, and that the program, which initially only accepted recruits from the Ivy League but now has greatly expanded its pool, has higher attrition rates than the already high attrition rates of traditionally trained teachers. While many traditional teacher prep programs are indeed inadequate, critics say that Teach for America is the wrong solution.

Like a kid with a sweet tooth trick-or-treating on Halloween in a cul-de-sac full of childless senior citizens, Teach for A While made out like the original gangster, didn't it? It collected $213 million from charitable foundations, plus $150 million from federal tax dollars and other private sources, for a grand total of $363 million.

Wonder how TFA spends its money? Perhaps it might invest a bit more in training its recruits in Atlanta not to cheat on standardized tests to inflate test scores...

With that kind of money, South Carolina could afford to fully fund its Education Finance Act.

Strauss offered an insight that tells me the full University of Georgia report may be worth reading:

The focus on teachers is hardly a new one; foundations have been investing in improving teaching and developing teachers for decades.

In fact, some of the same strategies being pursued by foundations today are the same as those supported in the 1950s, including strengthening teacher training with clinical experience and institution performance pay (which was never seen as especially successful).

The authors of the report don’t say it — and in fact seem supportive of the reform movement — but the fact that reformers keep trying strategies that have failed in the past raises questions about just how smart some of these investments really are.

"Survivor: The Classroom"

After referring to a couple of columns published in the New York Times recently, I wanted to make sure my reading was fair and balanced, so I checked out the last few days of opinions from the Washington Post. And I found a gem there.

Veteran educator reporter Valerie Strauss (say, when was the last time anyone referred to a South Carolina journalist as a "veteran education reporter"?) publishes a blog called "The Answer Sheet," and her note in yesterday's edition is priceless. She writes, "This was sent to me by several people, and it has been published in a few different forms on a number of Web sites. The most relevant version to education reform today is the one below. If anybody knows where it came from, let me know. This is one television show that just about every public school teacher in America would love to watch. It would make them laugh, and cry."

Have you heard about the next planned “Survivor” show?

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, New York City Schools Chancellor Cathie Black, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Florida Gov. Rick Scott and Bill Gates will be dropped in an elementary school classroom for one school year.

Think maybe there's room for Governor Nikki Haley and Superintendent Mick Zais in that classroom?

Each will be provided with a copy of his/her school district’s curriculum and a class of 20 to 25 students.

Each class will have a minimum of five learning-disabled children — three with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, one labeled gifted and two who speak limited English. Three other students will be labeled with severe behavior problems.

Each of them must complete lesson plans at least three days in advance with annotations for curriculum objectives and then modify, organize or create their materials accordingly. They will be required to teach students, handle misconduct, implement technology, document attendance, write referrals,correct homework, make bulletin boards, compute grades, complete report cards, document benchmarks, communicate with parents and arrange parent conferences.

They must also stand in their doorway between class changes to monitor the hallways. In addition, they will complete fire drills, tornado drills and [Code Red] drills for shooting attacks each month. They must attend workshops, faculty meetings and curriculum development meetings.

They must also tutor students who are behind, and they must strive to get their two non-English speaking children proficient enough to take standardized tests. If they are sick or having a bad day, they must not let it show.

Each day they must incorporate reading, writing, math, science and social studies into the program. They must maintain discipline and provide an educationally stimulating environment to motivate students at all times.

If all students do not wish to cooperate, work, or learn, the teacher will be held responsible.

These people will only have access to the public golf course on the weekends, but with their new salary, they will not be able to afford it. There will be no access to vendors who want to take them out to lunch, and lunch will be limited to 30 minutes, which is not counted as part of their work day.

They will be permitted to use a student restroom, as long as another survival candidate can supervise their class.

If the copier is operable, they may make copies of necessary materials before, or after, school. However, they cannot surpass their monthly limit of copies. They must also continually advance their education, at their expense and on their own time.

The winner of this season of “Survivor” will be allowed to return to their job.

Pass this to your friends who think teaching is easy, and to the ones who know it is hard.