|
 |
|
TEACH FOR AMERICA
Brings in the Academic Reinforcements
|
By
Jim Nicholson
Inside the classroom at Bishop
Middle School in the Wellston School District, students were
already busy. A “Do Now” activity was posted at the front of
the room and they knew the results would shortly lead to class
discussion. A “Big Goal” for both 7th and 8th grade classes
was prominently displayed. Even a casual observer could tell
what each class was geared to ultimately accomplish. Teacher
Matt Picard roamed the room constantly providing simultaneous
name, behavior and academic reinforcement. He held a timer in
his hand. Each classroom activity would be provided a time frame
and a subsequent sense of urgency. Teach For America techniques
had taken hold in Wellston.
Teach For America is America’s urban and rural success story.
The teachers are highly motivated recent college graduates of
all majors. To describe them as high achievers would probably
understate their collective academic and social background.
They are the relative few chosen out of many (last year 19,000
recent graduates applied to Teach For America including 10 percent
of Yale and Washington University’s graduating class, while
only the top 2,400 were accepted) applicants for the program.
Their goal is to demonstrate what thousands of corps members
all over the country know: that when given the opportunity,
students in low-income areas do achieve. In the St. Louis area,
there are 123 Teach For America corps members teaching in the
St. Louis, Normandy and Wellston School Districts as well as
in charter schools. (Teach For America alumni have brought the
program’s techniques to a series of KIPP (Knowledge Is Power
Program) charter schools.)
Dustin Odham, executive director of the St. Louis chapter of
Teach For America enthusiastically expounds the organization’s
basic premise. “Our goal is to instill high expectations in
each student and to set a culture of achievement. Achievement
is contagious. Once the students realize this, they’re on fire.”
Teach For America does not view mere improvement as achievement.
A Mathematic Policy Research study conducted in 2004 concluded
that corps members make more progress in both reading and math
than would typically be expected in a school year and attain
significantly greater gains in math, even when compared only
to veteran certified teachers. “We’re driven by student achievement
and we’re committed to doing whatever it takes,” Odham continues.
“We know that the achievement gap can be closed and that it
is a soluble problem and we are building the movement so that
this fact is recognized and proven, time and again, in school
districts across the nation.”
A recent Gallup poll, Odham points out, attributes public perception
of the achievement gap between affluent and monetarily-challenged
districts to such social ills as lack of motivation and lack
of parental involvement. Obviously, the American public does
not perceive the achievement gap as a classroom issue. Ask the
Teach For America membership the same questions and the response
will be focused on quality of teaching, quality of school leadership
and the expectations set in the classroom. The focus shifts
from a perceived chronic social problem to an academic solution.
Teach For America Board President Maxine Clark, chief executive
bear and chairman of Build-A-Bear Workshop explains her dedication
to the organization very simply, “I am very thankful for the
quality public education I had and I believe in the public school
system, and that all children are entitled to an excellent education.
Teach For America allows me to work towards those goals as a
volunteer and as a representative in the business community.”
She also sees an immediate philosophical connection between
the organizations, “Both are about heart and soul, and being
committed to your dream of seeing a brighter future for our
young people through education and the hug of a teddy bear.”
In its 17 years of existence, Teach For America has repeatedly
demonstrated the validity of its program. Three out of four
school principals rate Teach For America corps members’ training
as better than that of other beginning teachers. 91 percent
of its alumni report that they are supporting Teach For America’s
mission through their subsequent careers, volunteer activity
or graduate study. An astounding 61 percent are working or studying
full-time in the field of education.
Odham is anything but content for the organization to rest on
its very successful laurels and has charted an ambitious program
for its future. In pursuing a policy of “smart growth,” he hopes
to embed a critical mass of Teach For America teachers (“at
least three to four per new school”) in more area schools. By
2010, he envisions over 200 corps members teaching in the St.
Louis area with over 500 alumni residing in the region. “I want
us to be the leader of education reform in the St. Louis Metropolitan
Area and the State of Missouri.” (Lest anyone in Illinois feel
slighted, only a quirk in Illinois State Law barring non-certified
teachers with less than five years of work experience from Illinois
classrooms has kept Teach For America from performing its miracles
on the East Side. The law has been amended to allow Teach For
America into the Chicago public schools, and it may well be
amended further during the next legislative session. If that
happens, the local chapter will begin exploring the idea of
potentially placing teachers on the Illinois side of the river.)
He comprehends that Teach For America alumni remaining in the
region will utilize their talents to become local business and
civic leaders. “Our recruiting, in the short run, will improve
local academics. In the long run, it will enhance the future
of the region from all perspectives.”
Maxine Clark solidly supports the vision. “In 2010, we will
have over 200 Teach For America teachers teaching in the local
school systems impacting over 17,000 students and over 500 alumni—many
of these alumni will also be teaching in our schools or be school
principals and administrators. Others will be business leaders
affecting education through their votes and their pocketbook
and valuing the public education system even more. Through Teach
For America, we are helping the dedicated teachers of our urban
schools fulfill their mission and spread awareness of what is
needed and we are hopefully encouraging the corps members to
stay on and help make our City even better. It is a win-win
situation for all.”
Odham values his “very engaged” Board membership, but realizes
that for his ambitious Teach For America vision to become a
reality the organization will need the “engagement of more of
the community.” Lip service is constantly being paid to the
obvious necessity of improving education at a local level. Teach
For America’s astounding success should target the organization
as a logical recipient of the funding needed to achieve that
long elusive goal. As Maxine Clark sees it, “The local economy
is dependent on creating future workforce talent and leaders
for our communities. In these young people are the next idea
like Build-A-Bear Workshop or a future CEO of Emerson Electric.
We must give them the opportunity they deserve to see the possibilities
that are open to them and the education to achieve their goals.
Without this valuable resource—our young people succeeding,
St. Louis will not grow and prosper. They are our future!!”
To learn more about education (K-12) in the Greater St. Louis
area, click here.
|
Beyond
the Call of Duty
|
In
the shadow of Bevo Mill, Long Middle School is a Teach For
America success story. Four active corps members and two
alumni “blend in well and complement our staff” according
to Principal Alva Blue. She praises her Teach For America
component as being “young, energetic and committed to children”
and says they “provide high quality academics. They want
to see the children succeed and to build character.”
Mrs. Blue points out that each of the Teach For America
members has assumed “some form of leadership role” in the
school and have “voluntarily taken on assignments as the
school administration has requested assistance.”
The Teach For America Corps “fit right in with energy and
interest and go above and beyond the call of duty,” Mrs.
Blue explains. “We would not mind having more of them.”
|
|
No
Child Left Behind
|
Prominently
displayed inside the classroom door is a sign proclaiming
the ‘Big Goal’ for the 8th grade classes, “Students will
research and write a strong paper about a topic or issue
that is important in their lives in order to inform a chosen
audience.” The goal, it should be noted, is multi-layered
and requires abstract thought processes. On the opposite
side of the room, the ‘Word Wall’ for the 8th grade contains
such vocabulary words as “onerous, castigate, prodigal and
emulate.”
This is a Teach For America classroom in Wellston, a district
which not that long ago lost state accreditation. Goals,
obviously, have changed dramatically.
Teacher Matt Picard teaches on multiple levels. All students
strive toward one objective, but, within his process, he
constantly checks to see that each individual student has
grasped the connecting steps necessary to reach that objective.
This is a system in which truly no child is left behind. |
|
|
|
|
|
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
|
