Competitive program seeks teachers at U. for needy schools

While obtaining a quality public education may be little more than a dream right now in many communities across the country, one group is recruiting Penn students who will work to change that situation. Teach For America recruiters Simon Glaser and Carrie Boatman hosted about 50 students at an information session Thursday to discuss the program and answer any questions. Each year, about 3,000 college graduates apply to join Teach For America, a program started in 1989 that places about 500 men and women from all different backgrounds in under-resourced public schools to teach. About 80 percent of applicants are no more than two years out of college, yet there is no age limit for the program. The recruits also made it clear that TFA applicants have a wide variety of majors. Applicants fill out an extensive application, then participate in a day-long interview process which includes a sample teaching lesson, group discussion on a current education issue and a personal interview. Accepted applicants then spend five weeks training to learn the most effective ways to teach. Active members teach for two years in regions ranging from the Manhattan's Harlem neighborhood to the rural Mississippi Delta. About 56 percent of TFA members choose to stay at least a third year. Members can teach at the elementary or secondary level in a wide range of courses, although there is a specific need for math and science educators. Glaser, an English teacher at West Philadelphia High School, recalled teaching math to seventh-grade students in New Orleans. "I was amazed in how much I learned," Glaser said. "My career is worth much more than a paycheck." Members are paid directly by the school districts in which they teach, with salaries ranging from $20,000 in some rural regions to $35,000 in some urban regions. Boatman, working as a fundraiser in Philadelphia, worked in the same New Orleans corps as Glaser and remembered vastly changing her teaching style to reach her elementary special-education children. By removing all of the desks in the room, she worked to create "a community for the children to exist." Allison Rogovin, 25, a 1995 Penn alumna, taught in Houston and called the experience "phenomenal," adding that she "learned much more [there] than during her four years at Penn." "It's an absolute tragedy, the underestimating of the abilities of these kids," she said. 1995 Penn alumnus Jeremy Chiappetta also worked for TFA for two years, teaching in Harlem. "I was looking for something really meaningful to do," Chiappetta, 25, said. "This combines everything I wanted out of a first job." While TFA is a program not suited for everyone, Rogovin said she thinks the reward is well worth the risk. "We have a larger responsibility," she said. "I never had any thoughts that this wasn't the right thing to do."