The TFA and Hyper-Accountability Teach for America (or TFA) has this general thought that if teachers teach in a standardized way, there will always be success in classrooms all over America. What the TFA fails to realize is that there are hundreds of students with outside issues. There are students with ADD, ADHD, poor family lives, low-income housing, etc. According to Jameson Brewer (2012), a previous TFA member, “[The TSA] argues that all student actions in and outside of the classroom are informed by their teacher 's actions. It is then student actions that cause academic success or failure.” The TFA was founded in the late 80s by Wendy Kopp. It began with seven different core values: responsibility, constant learning, achievement, efficiency, integrity, perspective, and sensitivity. Today, Teach for America has over 50,000 corps members. What started as a good idea has now become a very talked-down upon organization. Teachers are viciously evaluated and according to Brewer (2015), “its teachers are largely unprepared and fare no better than regular educators. It has a high drop-out rate, and the number of applicants has plummeted.” It’s no secret that a large sum of teachers are unhappy with the TFA. Not only are teachers greatly affected, but so are students. TFA members are hung up on the idea of generic teaching – with
All they care about is numbers, evaluations, and the revenue they receive. If Teach for America cared more about the students, they wouldn’t put inexperienced teachers with high-need students. If they want to improve their organization, they really need to start taking into account how students are performing, not based off of teacher evaluations. There are a lot of things to take into account when it comes to a students’ poor performance, like they could be more concerned with their living situations than learning in the
During Teach For America's first year of operation, the organization received applications from 2,500 candidates and chose 500 of them to become teachers for the program who began their two-year teaching commitment in low-income communities all across the cou...
The situation is worsened when students who do not speak English are thrown into the schooling system and are expected to keep up with their English-speaking counterparts. Kristina Rizga describes a situation in her article titled “Everything You’ve Heard about Failing Schools is Wrong” where Maria, a high school student, is faced with difficulty learning because English is not her first language. But despite the daunting task ahead of her, she didn’t give up. She became very proficient in English and earned top grades in all of her classes. However, once standardized tests rolled around, the story changed. Rizga states, “But on the big state tests--the days-long multiple-choice exams that students in California take once a year—Maria scored poorly” (Rizga 253). By receiving high marks in her classes, Maria was given a false sense of security. Maria attended Mission High, a school in a troubled community that was far from the best school in the state. It has been known for decades that students, such as minority students and the learning disabled, are not challenged and are often stuck in underfunded schools (Rizga 258). This explains why Maria scored poorly on the standardized tests even though she scored very well in all of her classes. She was not challenged to the same degree that other students were, and thus was not exposed to the level of
Winfield’s cross-classification system “Behaviors Toward Academically At-Risk Students.” In this cross classification system, teachers fall under four possible behavior patterns: tutors, general contractors, custodians, or referral agents. Tutors seek improvement from their students, and accept responsibility for their students’ successes and failures; general contractors believe that students can improve, but shift the responsibility of improvement onto others; custodians do not believe the students can improve, but assumes responsibility for the lack of success; referral agents do not believe students can improve, but shift the responsibility onto other members of the school
... started: low-performing school with students who do not use their full potential. Many applicants for Teach for America often ignore the consequences of Teach for America including the chance of a decrease of the child's progression, the unforeseeable outliers who remain under par, and being unprepared for the future as a teacher.
Many people can argue the fact that everyone is given the same opportunity because everyone is provided with access to public education. Yes, everyone is given an opportunity to attend school but I want to focus on the opportunities that create imbalance within the school system. According to a NAACP article, “Dismantling the School-to-Prison Pipeline”, public schools in low-income areas are being staffed with teachers and guidance counselors who are inexperienced in handling situations that the students face on a daily basis. Additionally, low-income school lack sufficient resources, affordable extracurricular activities, early intervention programs, or safe environments which are conducive for learning. These schools do not receive the same funding as middle-class schools, therefore, they are unable to provide the same quality teachers, educational material, or technology for students to use. When students are underperforming and failing rigorous tests on material they lack knowledge of, they are often labeled as having a learning disability versus identifying the individual students’ educational weaknesses and addressing those. The students are usually transferred to alternative schools and held to different standards, which are often lower and do not challenge a student to grow. Instead, these schools push children through
I have been always captivated in education. Education has always been most influential and important aspect of my life. My perspective of education has changed significantly, ever since I started my first internship during my senior year of high school. I was introduced to an organization called Teach for America, which I had no idea of what this particular organization does, what they visualize, I practically did not anything about the organization. Teach for America has successfully recognized children who are living in poverty are not receiving the quality education they deserve in comparison to high income area schools that are receiving a good education. This organization is frankly committed to making sure that every child has an
Almost state has gained federal funding from accumulating the test data from all of their schools (Ravitch 107). Data collected from multiple choice questions determines the intelligence of every student and their teachers. The test data is tracked throughout their lifetime in relation to their test scores, graduation dates and other statistics companies such as Amazon and Microsoft use to evaluate different groups (by age, ethnicity, etc) as a whole (Ravitch 107). Ravitch claims there are many problems with this, mainly, tests do not measure character, spirit, heart, soul, and potential (112). Not everyone is the same, and just because one may be weak in math or writing doesn’t mean they’re not smart, resourceful individuals with much to share with the world. For schools to be even seen with a slight amount more than just their test scores, they have to be in great standings with their students’ average test results. The government’s intense focus on test results hurts schools’ ability to be a well-rounded school immensely. In contrast to federal’s pinpoint focus on what students learn, educated consumers desire their kids to have a full, balanced, and rich curriculum (Ravitch 108). Schools need to be more than housing for test-takers. The Education Board may claim students’ proficiency in their testing makes them better people, prepares them for college, and ultimately, the workforce. What they are
Standardized has become a major issue in the United States. The No Child Left behind Act made it so that regardless of reading, math, and English proficiency all children would be pushed to the next grade. The documentary showed that children across the fifty states only about 30 percent of the children were actually on grade level. Guggenheim blames teachers, but the blame truly falls on policy makers. Even though a teachers main goal is to prepare children for standardized tests it is impossible if the proper resources aren’t
In many low income communities, there are teachers that are careless and provide their students with poor quality education. These teachers are there just to make sure that they keep receiving their monthly paychecks and act in this way because they believe that low income students do not have the drive, the passion, or the potential to be able to make something of themselves and one day be in a better place than they are now. Anyon reveals that in working class schools student’s “Work is often evaluated not according to whether it is right or wrong but according to whether the children followed the right steps.” (3). This is important because it demonstrates that low income students are being taught in a very basic way. These children are being negatively affected by this because if they are always being taught in this way then they will never be challenged academically, which can play a huge role in their futures. This argument can also be seen in other articles. In the New York Times
The United States educational system is failing. This topic is in the news repeatedly. Failing schools are a problem that must fixed. However, it cannot be fixed until we figure out its real cause. Many people put the blame on the government, school officials, and teachers. Critics such as Geoffrey Canada, the founder of the Harlem Children’s Zone, say that the problem lies within the public schools. He states, “Public schools are bad, privately managed charter schools are good” (Ravitch 1). This may be a true statement but there must also be an underlying cause for low school performance. Nobody ever thinks the students may have something to do with this problem. The students are the ones who are taking the tests, paying attention in class and completing the homework. Nevertheless, from another view it may not always be the child’s fault. Maybe other factors contribute to this. Some students want to succeed but they do not always have the necessary resources to do so. These reasons are student’s determination, financial limitations, family support, insufficient housing, and poor nutrition.
...lso hire good, honest teachers who are willing to help these children succeed. The No Child Left Behind Act, which allows nonprofessionals to receive a teaching certificate at a faster rate, is a good example of those wanting to help these children succeed. States should also take into account the schools that need extra funding, and find a way to provide it to them, whether it be providing a little less to a wealthier school, or helping to hire good teachers for these less fortunate schools.
We see students learning in movies as well as television shows. We also learn ourselves by experiences. The movie Dangerous Minds is movie about the educational system and an ex-Marine. In the movie LouAnne, “finds herself confronted with a classroom of tough, sullen teenagers, all from lower-class and underprivileged backgrounds, involved in gang warfare and drug pushing, flatly refusing to engage with anything”(Smith). These students are under privileged in many was that do not involve school, but they are not in the best environment to learn. The teacher finds a way to connect to the kids to be able to keep her students engaged in the curriculum that is standard for all students. Not all teachers or educational employees are able to keep their students engaged on the top at hand without technology and other resources at hand. The lack of money because of budget cuts in school districts across the country students are learning less and not getting the supplies and the course they desire. This then leads to the loss of interests in school. School is a healthy place for kids and young adults to learn and be social. But all though students are healthy in the social aspect or most of them anyways, students are not healthy in their everyday diets. Students at high school and even at elementary level have parents that struggle to get by. Students rely on many things that the school supplies such as cheap lunches and classroom
So the most common theory that I can think of that would apply to system theories because these kids are on a system. With the way their IEP’s are set up for these students they are on a plan that is suppose to work the best for them to succeed in high school. Some of the other theories of practices that I can think of would be the anti oppressive practice. Each day I go with one of the EA’s as well as a student and attend science class. Even though this student is not at the skill level of this class his parents still wanted him to be integrated into school like any other student. When going to this class with the student I as hit competency area 5. Like state above during my month here at Korah I was able to watch how the teachers react to
Admin claim that teachers are “ underpaid or do not receive enough incentives” and it is understandable because teachers are “branded as mere instructors” and not “agents of change.” In other words today’s public school systems do not value their teachers. Teachers are often not given enough resources to properly conduct a class, are not properly respected by students and parents, and are often told to teach to overcrowded classes. With all this teachers are unable to leave a lasting impact on their students. To add to this, Lynch states, “it is time to modify teacher education to reflect the demands of the modern K - 12 classrooms.” Which makes a good point, most teachers struggle to understand the ever changing technology that is commonly present in a classroom. Also there is more of a diversity in today's classrooms than ever before. Many teachers struggle to connect with immigrant parents whose child is attending an English speaking school, and to these children, public school is a complete culture shock. On top of this, the way that lessons are taught are outdated. Students are taught for years that it is okay to be different, but when it comes to learning differently they are shunned. Students who learn by visual aids are praised, because they can patiently sit through a teacher's presentation and take their notes while sitting quietly. While those who learn by hand on activities are push
...l manifest themselves adversely in individual students. However academic success does not have to ride on the shoulders of socio economic status. As educators we are called to help poverty stricken children rise above the predicted outcomes for their lives. First, we must start with a willingness of change ourselves. Educators, “most stop using low IQ as an excuse for giving up on children and instead provide positive, enriching experiences that build academic operating systems” (Jensen, 2009, p. 65). To support the whole child, we must believe that change is possible. By being a catalyst for change, educators will provide their students with a belief that every person can succeed every day. Frank McCourt said it most eloquently in his memoir Angela’s Ashes, “You might be poor, your shoes might be broken, but your mind is a palace” (McCourt, 1996, p. 208).