Arne Duncan said TFA founder has done more to identify good teachers than anyone in the country.

[madfloridian]

Here are Arne's words from September.

I don't think anyone in the country has done more over the past 15 to 20 years than Wendy Kopp to identify the talents and characteristics that lead to great teaching. This is complicated stuff—there is no easy formula. And no one has done a better job of tracking the impact that their graduates and alumni are having in the classroom. Wendy is relentless in looking at that data and honestly self-reflecting on what is working and what's not working in their program. Teach for America has been a great movement for our country, so thank you, Wendy, for your leadership and commitment here.

A New Approach to Teacher Education Reform and Improvement

No one? Really? What a slap at educators throughout the country. He just insulted universities, colleges, professors in education, researchers of education, principals, teachers. He elevated Wendy Kopp to a godlike level for forming a company that charges thousands to districts to recruit their trainees with 5 weeks training.

He should never have been Secretary of Education. I will not forget those remarks.

I missed that speech by Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education, back in October. That is quite an awful thing to hear him say...after all he is in charge of public education in this country. And TFA teachers are now in the process of taking jobs away from laid off experienced teachers.

On top of failing to make a dent in poverty, Teach for America actually detracts from social justice by hurting real teachers. Teach for America students take low, entrance-level pay while also receiving a government subsidy for their salary in the form of Americorps stipends. Schools lay off teachers and then hire Teach for America teachers to fill positions that real teachers would otherwise be filling. Teach for America teachers are undercutting the wage needs of real teachers and causing them to be laid off as a result.

..."Last summer, Boston Teachers Union President Richard Stutman met with 18 local union presidents, “all of whom said they’d seen teachers laid off to make room for TFA members,” according to an article in USA Today. “I don’t think you’ll find a city that isn’t laying off people to accommodate Teach for America,” Stutman said.

TFA gets big money from school districts just for the honor of recruiting the teachers so the districts don't have to go to the trouble of hiring local laid off teachers. From Huntsville, Alabama.

You see, the contract doesn’t actually say that Huntsville City Schools will pay TFA $5,000 per teacher. What the contract actually says is on page 9 is:

With respect to each Teacher whose employment by School District is to commence in the 2012-2013 academic year, School District shall pay Teach For America an annual amount of $5,000.00 for each year in which such Teacher is employed by School District, up to two years from the date such employment is to commence

In other words, we’re not paying Teach for America $5,000 per TFAer. We’re actually paying them them $5,000 per TFAer per year for up to two years.

The actual cost of the Teach for America contract is $1,700,000 for four years, not $850,000 for four years.

And no one in the Superintendent’s office, nor on the board has done anything to correct this misconception in 19 days. Perhaps they didn’t notice it themselves?

Teach For America Costs Twice the Reported Amount

The NYT once referred to Wendy Kopp and her husband, Richard Barth, as "young social entrepreneurs seeking to reshape the US educational landscape.”

Wendy Kopp, the founder of TFA, is married to Richard Barth, the founder of KIPP charter schools. They are the couple referred to as the "young social entrepreneurs." And they ARE reshaping the education system in the United States with the blessing of this administration. In the process traditional public education and experienced teachers are being left behind.

Crossposted at Twitter

[rpannier]

1. Arns the major reason why I have trouble with voting for Obama

I don't even live in the US and my kids don't go to school in the US
But when I cast my absentee ballot, I may just leave that vote blank

[madfloridian]

2. He infuriates me.

I have tried not to let it get to me, but what is being done to education here is sickening.

[madfloridian]

3. Matt Damon and Mom refuse nomination from NEA ....union head closeness with TFA head.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/01/05/1052038/-Matt-Damon-and-Mom-refuse-NEA-award-nomination-over-coziness-of-union-head-with-TFA-founder-?detail=hide

Good for them.

[Me.]

4. Duncan & Rhee Are Termites Eating Away Our Education System

[KoKo]

5. Thanks MFL....another excellent post from you keeping us informed!

:hug: Glad you are still posting here "until the lights go out."

[countryjake]

6. Kick!

.

[Jakes Progress]

7. The usual excuse given

for Obama's corporate love fest is that the republicans were too powerful, that the numbers would let him enact decent health care, that he couldn't appoint who he wanted, that the republicans were pushing their agenda on him with their wins, that the blue dogs were sabotaging his wonderful progressive ideas.

That bullshit is ruled out by his education program. No republicans forced him into that. What he is doing is entirely his desire. It proves that he is using the politics of blaming the republicans for the rightward surge of the country when the reality is that he is actually an integral part of bringing about the neocon dream.

He cannot claim to support progressive or liberal ideals as long as he supports asses like arne duncan. He will not receive my vote or my money or my campaign efforts this time unless he repudiates this nasty attack on American education. I can work for real Democrats with a clear conscience and a good heart. The election of Barack Obama has been a death knell for our schools.

On edit: This is a pretty strong post from a lifelong Democrat, but I cannot be silent or complicit in what Obama's administration is doing about education. Every fresh attack on schools cuts like a fresh knife wound when I consider how I helped get him elected. I have never been as disappointed in a politician, never felt as betrayed, never been as ashamed. I may not be an expert in world affairs or health care or finance. But I know education. If he is this wrong and wrong-headed about schools (and I know he is) then I cannot give him a pass in other areas. Sorry if this offends, but I really don't see how an educator can support Obama as he is going now.