Transcripts For ALJAZAM The Stream 20140225

Resist resist hash tag has everyone under the sun engaged. Yes, it is overwhelming us. Tonight is a good problem the stream. So much Online Engagement via all of the social media tools and i will try my best to honor it. And one tweeting in i hope tonight leads to a deeper conversation. Im hundred percent hoping so too. The page has a huge debate going back and forth. Im 2012, t, and hijacked by the big money donors and let me think, tfa or not. Should be ashamed for using the poor kids. This is what tfa accomplished, decreased the teacher power and on the backs of the youths. We have a lot to talk about. This hash tag dominated twitter and poking the holes in one of the most prestige programs. They trained the Young College grads as instructors and sent into the low income schools in america and they are under fire. Leaving some to ask if the group is more about the image than the results and spear headed by the students, it is getting attention outside of twitter. Resist tfa because the students deserve more. But why now . One of the hash tags organizers is say agatha the College Students need to be better informed before signing up. We started this because the College Campuses are a recruiting grounds for the teachers. We want to students to know what they are getting into. Tfa around for a quarter of a century and not injecting new talent and leaders to innovate inside and outside of the classrooms but the teachers are like no others. There is a sense of triumph in teaching. The children i have are my kids. I get so much satisfaction telling the parents your children are my children. Do the sentiments of that teacher represent the group as a whole . Well, or has the organization lost touch in the rest of the mission. To help sort this out, jack snyder, and professor at the college of the holy cross. We have a professor of Teacher Education and the executive directser of tfa mying walk and teacher of america. You started with tfa in 1999 and working in baltimore and why did you join and what did they intend to do . I joined teach for america for a number of reasons, i wanted to be a teacher and i had an education concentration in english for a few years and would have taken me another semester to teach. I had been volunteering in schools in durham and wanted to do more for black children in particular because i felt like black children having been a black child i knew the experience of not being served. So that is why i wanted to join. Whoo did you think that the purpose was, what was their motivation . You know, i was drawn in by the idea of one working to this one day that all children would have access to excellent education and i would be a part of that and i have to say i thought i was joining an organization of like minded individuals and committed to black and brown students across the country. Maurice, you are from the milwaukee inner schools there and they are really tough and taking special people committing to work there and what are the teachers up against in those areas and how tough for the kids to learn in the deprived environment. The work is challenging. I taught in 2008 in atlanta, georgia. My day started at 5 00 a. M. And ended usually at mid night. I worked harder than i ever worked in my life. I taukt 55 juniors and many had outside challenges that are unimaginable. The girls had kids or pregnant when i taught them. It was tough to say the least. Many of the students didnt have both parents at home. It took a lot of teachers wrapping their arms and the kids and embracing the parents to make a difference. I joined because in my senior year graduated from uw madison in wisconsin and i knew i wanted to teach. I didnt want to go to law school any more and i signed up. Its been the best experience of my life. We have a tweet coming in and the challenges and whether the teachers are prepared. Putting young kids with little experience folks in the urban schools the problematic. And most are young and white. Many quit. T morgan saying i was a great teacher of hundreds of kids in the neighborhood with caring parents and teachers and mentors. When we trust the kids to a physician that went a five week program. No, but honestly what teacher gets enough training in the low income and high need schools. Every teacher struggles in year one. Tfa students are they prepared. Five weeks, going to the low income neighborhoods and challenges, are they prepared for the challenges . Two ways to answer that, is one the no and they are better prepared today then doing tfa 20 years ago. The organization is continuing to do better. One of the things it is doing well, they are learning from the mistakes, Getting Better over time and certainly very good at marshalling the fundraisers and that is why they are so visible and such a big backlash against them. People are going to debate the word effective. They have the higher retention rate for the teachers in the first year but the second and third year, the number of people leaving is astronomical and 80 are gone by the third year. Yes, they dont last. So the first answer is no. The second way is saying you cant train a teacher in five weeks. Tfa has improved the work in terms of teacher training in five short weeks and they cant extend the training period because you commit for just two years. The figures are squishy in figuring out how many stay beyond three years. The answer is that the vast majority leave and as a result tfa cant spend more than five weeks training them and that is a huge roadblock. Do you think that is preventing tfa from ultimately accomplishing what they set out to do if they cant hold on to teachers . So the attrition and not the training . Well, the attrition rate, but the five weeks training, perhaps that is part of the reason they are leaving early. I dont think that the five weeks training is the reason for leaving early. Those that leave early for the most part had no intention of staying. I have a big problem with that. I have a problem with recruiting from this place for doing it for two things and going on. I think that if the organization would rethink that and instead of positioning this is something to do in route to do something else. When we come back, a price tag on the teacher America Program and you are paying a chunk of the bill and the question is are the students getting a return on the investment and why the cost of the Program Going up 2,000 percent in the last dozen years or so. First, go the facebook, twitter, check out the latest. Tv is no longer one way with the stream Second Screen app. Get exclusive app content, receive graphs, quizzes, and guest information. You can be our third cohost. Vote, tweet, record video comments and well feature them on air. This literally puts you in the control room. Download it now and use it with every live stream show. Heavily armed, combat tactics every little podunk wants their tank and their bazooka. With s. W. A. T. Raids on the rise. When it goes wrong, it goes extremely wrong. Whats the price for militarizing our police they killed evan dead faul lines, Al Jazeera Americas hard hitting. There blocking the door. Ground breaking. We have to get out of here. Truth seeking. Break though investigative documentary series. New episode, deadly force only on Al Jazeera America welcome back, were talking welcome back. We are talking about the teach for America Program and whether it is fulfilling if mission to teach in the most under served classrooms and whether the cost of the program is a good use of the taxpayer money. Maurice, the cash strapped districts are laying off the teachers and programs are being cut and the program is negotiating a fee within the districts it serves for 25 thousand dollars per teacher per year and could the money be spent better some place else . I dont think so. What is not talked about in that conversation a lot of School Districts they are placed in the high need areas. There are not a lot of teachers to fill those positions. There are not a lot of teachers with that training and we are getting are recruits that do. For the record, in terms of attrition, 61 of the teachers are going into the classroom. A third of the teachers are still in the classrooms today. So i dont think it is a waste of money. It is an excellent investment. So, you know, the former Research Director is saying that the data that shows the success or failure of tfa is not reliable because about 15 of the teachers that are teaching in tfa are in grades or subjects that are subjected to standardized testing and how do we know it is worth the money, how do we know if the program is actually helping the students . Whether or not that the data is reliable, i wouldnt rely only on the test scores to rely on the teachers effective. These are the phrases that people use and meaning Different Things to all different types of people. What i thought was effective and helping the students at 21 years old is different now 15 years later with the experiences that i have. Is it worth the money, that is a hard question to answer and has a lo lot to do with the regions around the country and how the money is used and what types of positions that the people are going in. I am concerned about special Education Placement and concerned about the people that major in International Studies and teach math in the region. No matter what they are specializing in, there are metrics involved. You cant spend 200 million a year and you have to explain if it is working. Do you me to respond . Well, im making a statement there. There is a false choice, that the core members are in the classrooms whether otherwise a long term sub. That is a valid point to make. That is not the rhetoric you are hearing, you are hearing that the core members are more effective than traditionally certified teachers and the research on that is not clear. And the fact is that the tfa rhetoric that they are the most effective teachers you are getting in the classroom. That is flat out not true. The kids that need the career long educators and committed to growing are not getting those teachers. They are hardworking for a couple of years and get better in those couple years but not mattsst masters of craft. We have a lot of teachers responding. Think about it this way pay a first year 38,000 or a long time teacher 68,000. Tfa is wrecking havoc in the chicago schools. How can anyone think that low paid inexperienced teachers are better than experienced teachers with a decent salary. The problem i have expressed about teach for america and other groups is that it never allows the community to build capacity for its to teach. If you continue to assert teachers that are currently and replace them with folks that are not likely to stay the Community Never develops the talent. Has tfa marginalized the experienced teachers that are roots and tying to a local community in the sake of promoting the young and under experienced teachers . I honestly dont think that any of the veteran teachers at my school feel marginalized. We are united for Public Education and we understand where they are coming from and they understand where we are coming from and we come into the schools with humility. No we are doing it the right way and they are doing it the wrong way. We are humble. Im a first year teacher. I havent be doing this very long. If you have been doing something, let me hear it and well come together on this. Lets not just say im right and you are wrong. That is not happening at my school. What about the idea of long term commitment, are you intending to stay beyond the two years . I do. I actually work at the school that i attended and graduated from and i intend on staying in the classroom for extending period of time and i understand why you would want to leave. Right now here with i feel the power of proximity and i am close to a problem that is happening in Public Education and that challenges me to do something about it. I understand how can i . Some people might want to leave so they can have a greater impact. The point shows what we are doing in a lot of regions across the country. I work and lead the program in my town and 39 of the people of color and received pell grants and i worked to get 75 wisconsin madison seniors, people of color, people from the Milwaukee Community to apply for teach for america this year. People that look like us and come from the communities that we serve and have the experience need to be at the table too. We are trying to build sustainability and going at the 838 campuses where we do get people to join in on the movement. Here is an interesting twist, this organization starts out to reach into these incredibly under served communities and putting teachers in there to teach, a very large number of the tfa folks are going to the Charter Schools and they are doing quite well, how do you explain that turn of events . The mission was not to put highly qualified teachers into the classroom. If you read the original thesis, she says that tfa is not going to compete with experienced teachers and it is filling gaps and theyll never make claims that they can do in their program what traditional programs can do. 500 most exceptional educators and she wanted to find the best and brightest students to go in and do like a peace corps and the aim is filling the gaps and using the smart dedicated young people in a manner pursued in the 70s. Now to the Charter Schools for me. Sure, the Charter Schools effective is all over the maps. Higher highs and lows and in between. The teacher for america teachers are often used in the Charter Schools because the overall Reform Movement squares with the ethose of the Charter School movement. It is common sense approaches to school reform. Everyone involved in well intended but dont understand in order for the schools to improve you cant Silver Bullet mrash in the pan one Time Solutions from the big donors that are after the solutions. You need to make sure that the relationship that matters the most between the teachers and students is cultivated over time and the teachers know who they are teaching and they are there long term and every year they are growing. Teachers grow. But all of the research on teacher effective tells United States after three years you are finally an effective teacher and big difference between the teachers with less than three years and those with more. After that not so much. We dont need to get more inexperienced teachers in classroom, but we need the 4th, 5th, 10th year teachers in the classrooms. To the community, public money shouldnt be used to subsidize the placement program. After organizing my school, now 25 of all chicago charters are unionized and doing it as tfa alum. Higher charter enrollment, equals weaker district union. A lot more coming in. After 24 years in existence, is it time for the Business Model to change or something new better serve the students . Tweet us. Well get your thoughts in when we get back. Thoughts in when we come back. While you were asleep news was happening. Here are the stories were following. Find out what happened and what to expect. International outrage. A day of political posturing. Every morning from 5 to 9 am Al Jazeera America brings you more us and global news than any other American News channel. Tell us exactly what is behind this story. From more sources around the world. The situation has intensified here at the border. Start every morning, every day 5am to 9 eastern. With Al Jazeera America. Al jazeera america. Welcome back, were talking welcome back. We are taking about the teach for America Program and whether at 24 years in, p the Business Model is still effective. Jack, unlikely that the program is going any where any too many soon and time for a facelift or over haul . There is a place for teach in america. We have to square the rhetoric and the way we talk about teach for america in the practices. There is a place for teach in america, well, i do know why it is getting so much attention than a program like the urban teacher res sen sis, we have bun in boston and it is a Great Program and similar to teach in america but they are not attracting for just two years, they are trying to do, which is give a route for the teaching folks that wouldnt normally go for the licenses and not paying for the masters degree and help them get licensed and give them a year in the classrooms and shadowing a teacher. And after a year, those people then move into the classrooms, dedicate at least three years and most stay for much longer than that. 80 of the students that completed the boston Teacher Program are still teaching in classrooms. That is a pretty impressive figure. The community is coming in with solutions. Let the data speak for itself. Teach for america should place core members as classroom tas to support and better working conditioning for the career teachers. My vote is turning tfa into a teacher scholarship program. Make their commitment a minimum of five years and preventing those interested in law and med schools from apply. Teacher retention in high needs school is critical. How do we Work Together to solve this. You talked about working together with the experienced teachers and how do we Work Together to make it better for all of the kids . As young people we come in with energy and we are ready to work and do whatever we have to do we do it. And our inknnovations and their skills and experience can be matched up and that involves being at the table and seen as equals, not just think this is what we are supposed to but be at the table with these people and diverse way of everybodys perspective. Public education is something we cant afford to mess up. If there are avenues to improve we have to do it. Maurice, your final thoughts on the future of tfa . The future is bright. I taught at a school in southwest atlanta and most the students receiveing free and reduced lunch and not on a path to college, and 100 africanamerican and working with the parents and Community Members many became the first in the family to go to college. I will never resist the tfa. Thank you to all of the guests. Until next time see you online. So all of our guests. Until next time, waj and i will see you online. Thi welcome to the news hour. From al jazeera news centers in london, these are the main stories. The u. S. President threatens to withdraw every soldier from afghanistan by the years end for a security deal isnt signed. Is acting president issues a warning as parliament delays forming a new government. Turkeys Prime Minister cries foul over a tape said to