Founded in 1989, Teach For America (TfA) is an American nonprofit organization that enlists high-achieving recent college graduates and professionals to teach for at least two years in low-income communities throughout the United States. Over the past 25 years, TfA has successfully deployed over 40,000 bright, ambitious college graduates to the most demanding teaching posts in disadvantaged American communities. On top of that, it has inspired no less than 35 similar teaching schemes modeled after it in 25 countries in Europe and Latin America as well as in Australia, China, India, and Malaysia.
GRAPHICS FROM THE ECONOMIST
In “Teacher recruitment: High-fliers in the classroom,” an article in its February 14, 2015 issue,
The Economist of UK reports that many of the teacher programs are indeed making a big difference: “Pupils of TfA recruits do just as well in reading as those of other teachers; in maths, their test scores are better. Britain’s Teach First has been credited with helping to improve standards in London. It now provides nearly a quarter of new teachers in the country’s most difficult schools.”
The teacher programs attract ambitious youngsters aspiring to teach because of their high-energy approach and because they don’t require a teaching qualification. Many of the applicants have degrees in mathematics and science—subjects where teachers are scarce—and typically just one in ten is accepted. There have been few rigorous evaluations of their performance in their respective countries, but the programs appear to be achieving positive results. In particular, pupils of TfA recruits do just as well in reading as those of other teachers; in maths, their test scores are better; And in the case of Britain’s Teach First, it has been credited with helping to improve standards in London and now provides nearly a quarter of new teachers in the country’s most difficult schools.
Read “Teacher recruitment: High-fliers in the classroom” in The Economist now!ANOTHER INTERESTING READING:In “Authorpreneurship,” the subject of the regular Schumpeter column in its February 12, 2015 issue,
The Economist of UK wonders how a hitherto unknown novel by the reclusive and aging Harper Lee, writer of the American best-selling classic
To Kill a Mockingbird, could remain hidden for 60 years and get just published now literally from out of the blue. “For all the swirling questions, there is one certainty,” Schumpeter says. “The book will become a blockbuster without Ms. Lee so much as signing a copy. If only every author could be so lucky.” Schumpeter then proceeds to critique how in book publishing today, to stand out as a book writer requires more than just a bright idea and limpid prose: “Authors need to become businesspeople as well, thinking strategically about their brand, and marketing themselves and their products.”
Read Schumpeter’s “Authorpreneurship” in The Economist of UK now!
