Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Where Teachers Come From
Posted by John Branston on Wed, Dec 8, 2010 at 11:41 AM
A new study by the Tennessee State Board of Education measures the effectiveness or "T-Value" of 41 of the state's teacher preparation programs. The T-Value can be statistically insignificant, positive, or negative, based on how well students perform — and how much improvement they make — on standardized tests.
Teach For America (TFA), the widely publicized program that came to Memphis five years ago and to Nashville two years ago, got the best scores in math, reading, science, and social studies. But TFA and Vanderbilt University also had the lowest retention rate, losing the majority of their teachers after their second or third year.
The colleges and universities that produce the most Tennessee teachers are the University of Memphis, Middle Tennessee State, the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, and the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga. The majority of their education graduates who went to work in 2006 were still teaching after four years. For TFA and Vandy, the number is under 10 percent.
Athena Turner, executive director of TFA in Memphis, said retention rates have been improving since the first "corps" of 45 teachers came to Memphis. It doubled in the second year of the program, but that still means that a large majority of TFA teachers left the classroom after serving their two-year hitch. Turner said nearly two-thirds of them, however, are still working with children in disadvantaged areas in some capacity including nonprofits and social service agencies. More than 250 TFA teachers have taught or are teaching in Memphis.
As someone who taught for five years after graduating from college, I would say there is a big difference between teaching in a large public school and working indirectly with children or teaching in a small charter school with a low student-teacher ratio. Somebody has to face those classrooms of 20-30 kids in Memphis City Schools on Monday morning, and my sympathies and respect are with the teachers who do that year after year.
One interesting detail of the study is that almost nobody fails the state licensing exam on professional knowledge and content areas. The pass rate for every school was over 90 percent, and several schools made a 100. Maybe the test is too easy.
Here is a sampling of the schools included in the study, using the class of 2006-2007.
Teach For America: 9% of 45 teachers stayed four years. T-Value positive all areas.
University of Memphis: 53% of 527 teachers stayed four years. T-Value insignificant or negative
Vanderbilt: 7% of 129 teachers stayed four years. T-Value positive in math and social studies.
UT-Knoxville: 55% of 303 teachers stayed four years. T-Value insignificant or negative.
UT-Martin: 55% of 119 teachers stayed four years. T-Value negative.
UT-Chattanooga: 35% of 185 teachers stayed four years. T-Value positive in social studies.
Middle Tennessee State: 63% of 333 teachers stayed four years. T-Value negative.
Austin Peay: 54% of 147 teachers stayed four years. T-Value negative or insignificant.
Victory University: 41% of 29 teachers stayed four years. T-Value negative.
Union University: 56% of 132 teachers stayed four years. T-Value insignificant or negative.
Christian Brothers: 36% of 73 teachers stayed four years. T-Value positive in math, negative in reading and social studies.
LeMoyne Owen: 71% of 14 teachers stayed four years. Insignificant data.
Comments (10)
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It says something when the most effective teachers are the ones who leave--maybe schools should focus on trying to retain talent rather than drive out young teachers with courage to challenge the failing status quo.
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I lived next door to 3 women who were TFA. They were sent to Memphis from around the country and had to put in 2 years. They taught at 3 different schools around town. They were sort of shell shocked for the first semester. Many of kids didn't show up till after labor day, no books or materials, general administrative chaos yet strict rules about speaking to the public, etc. They also explained that if they left MCS before their 2 year service was complete, they would be blacklisted by TFA. I don't think any of them stayed in Memphis after their 2 year stint.
Value added evaluations are (IMHO) a much better tool than simple test scores. No they are not perfect, but should be included in every teacher evaluation.
My daughter was a TFA teacher, teaching high school biology in Baltimore several years ago. She stuck it out for two years, despite some justified fears for her personal safety. I think she was genuinely motivated, though more to do good than to pursue teaching as a vocation. In spite of the transitory nature of her tenure, I'm sure both she and her students benefited from the experience. I was proud of her for the accomplishment.
P.S. If any of my teachers had looked like Doris Day (see above), I might have been a much better student. Instead I had one teacher who looked like the Wicked Witch of the West, and another who looked like Quasimodo. The result speaks for itself.
The MAT program at the University of Memphis was a joke. It took me years after I got out to learn good teaching practices since they taught me none.
I'm so glad my public school education was top notch. It's the students and the parents that make a good school. It's time to send the troublemakers packing. I know they'll end up in jail or something, but I'm not sure baby sitting them for 180 days a year is going to prevent that.
Wow - that is great news! The teachers that don't (on average) positively move student achievement in classrooms are staying longer than the ones that do!
One year folks - each kid gets ONE YEAR with the teacher in their classroom.
We're missing the point here. This report shows that we have in TN an organization that can effectively train teachers to consistently perform in the classroom. With all the blah blah blah about retention, I hope we don't totally miss the opportunity to ask, "Woah, what are they doing!? How can we replicate it!?"
Grl, one thing they are doing is not staring down a life sentence in a classroom full of screaming kids. TFA participants aren't, for the most part, dedicated teachers. They're in it for the resume boost. A more positive, hopeful outlook can make a huge difference. It's often -the- difference between an adequate teacher and a great teacher.
And I may be mistaken, but from what I've read, they often come from expensive colleges and affluent families and aren't struggling to survive on a first-year teacher's salary. So they don't have the same stresses and can focus more on the classroom. Your average first-year teacher is coming into the classroom already bearing an enormous debt burden that isn't helped by being required to work an entire semester in a classroom without a salary (student teacher). They're still there five years later because they can't afford to change professions.
Jeff: Yes, as you suggest, you are mistaken about TFA participants, maybe because your knowledge, as you admit, is based on what you've read, rather than personal experience. So, allow me to correct you.
In my daughter's case, and for most of the participants, TFA is not something they do for a "resume boost." There are a lot easier things they can do if that's all they're looking for. In fact, since most of them have their predecessors' experience to draw on, they know, going in, that their TFA experience is going to be one of the hardest, most stressful, but most personally enriching, two (or however many) years of their young lives. Most of them do it, believe it or not, to "give back," much the way Peace Corps or Vista (now Americorps) participants do. The fact that they're paid for it, or even how much, doesn't make it any less altruistic. And some of them do, believe it or not, end up as educators. One of Memphis' TFA'ers, for example, is now a teacher at East High School.
As for expensive schools and affluent families, it's true that participants come from Ivy League and other top-notch, and yes, expensive (but aren't they all, these days?) schools (which, by the way, is all the "resume boost" they need), but they span demographic and economic categories. My daughter, for example, as I did in an earlier era, paid for much of her own schooling with scholarships, work/study grants and jobs, and not because she came from affluence (I wish).
The same thing that motivates TFA'ers to participate in that frequently motivates their ultimate career choices. Many of them go into public service and other occupations beneficial to society. In my daughter's case, she is still doing "good works," working on health care policy for a government agency. She is proud of her tenure as a TFA'er (as am I), but she doesn't consider the fact she didn't choose education as her career as any sort of unfaithfulness to her TFA tenure.
Butt Marty, you just agreed with nearly everything I said. What parts did you correct? You agreed that many come from affluent families and Ivy League schools and don't go into it to become educators, and that they aren't in it for the salary.
I suppose it's the part about resume building. Certainly, there are some who do it for noble intentions, probably many. In any case, noble intentions and resume building are not mutually exclusive motivations. You can want to do good for society AND use those good works to further pad an already advantageous resume in order to land a sweet job. A Harvard degree looks good. A Harvard degree plus two years in TFA, Peace Corps or Americacorps looks better.
You may not consider yourself affluent, but as a lawyer you're probably doing better than 95% of your fellow Memphians. In any case, I'm not knocking the TFA people, even if they do cut across all economic categories - from moderately well off to filthy rich.
I suspect TFA is successful largely because its teachers have the luxury of their noble intentions.
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