Nationwide and here at Penn, members of the class of 2010 applied to Teach For America in record numbers — more than 46,000 applicants nationally for this fall’s class of 4,350 teacher corps members. As a future corps member who will be teaching in Philadelphia this fall, I am looking forward to being part of a community of talented individuals collectively working toward ending educational inequality in this country. As a campus campaign coordinator for TFA, I’m especially excited that 218 of my fellow classmates at Penn applied to the program.
That’s why I’m troubled by a new federal budget proposal that would dim future TFA admissions prospects for college seniors and derail the organization’s long-term goal of ending educational inequality.
Due to its strong track record of providing high-quality teachers and leaders, Teach For America has received federal funding for the past 10 years. This year, Teach For America requested $50 million from Congress to meet demand among college students and communities. However, under a new proposal currently before Congress, TFA’s federal funding for 2011-2012 would be eliminated.
Without federal funding, TFA would be unable to hire more than 1,350 teachers who would reach 86,000 students in the 2011-12 school year. This scenario severely limits opportunities for recent graduates at Penn and others universities to make a difference in our public schools. More importantly, it limits the educational opportunities for thousands of students.
The proposed federal funding cuts income at a time when our nation’s public schools need reform more than ever. More than 14 million children living in low-income communities are performing below grade level on standardized tests and are falling further behind their more affluent peers each year. Fifty percent of students in low-income communities will not graduate from high school by the time they’re 18. Those who do graduate on time perform, on average, at an eighth-grade level. We need programs like TFA to bring about increased educational opportunity in our public schools.
A growing body of independent research demonstrates the positive impact TFA corps members have on student achievement. According to a 2008 Urban Institute study, TFA corps members achieved, on average, two to three times the results in math and science than teachers with three or more years of experience. Because of this track record of success, there is a long waiting list of communities that want to hire TFA corps members.
Also, TFA corps members continue to fight for children in low-income communities after their two-year commitments end, with many alumni leading the movement to reform education nationally. Michelle Rhee, a former corps member in Baltimore, currently serves as the Chancellor of the District of Columbia Public Schools systems. 1991 Penn alumnus Mike Feinberg, a former corps member in Houston, co-founded the very successful Knowledge Is Power Program — a nationwide network of charter schools that serve low-income communities. And, with thousands of alumni coming from the program each year, the organization’s impact on future education reform is sure to increase.
With an annual $50-million appropriation from Congress, TFA would be able to double in size over the next five years. At this scale, the organization would be able to provide nearly 17,000 corps member positions each year and reach more than one million underserved students in nearly all 50 states. And by 2016 TFA will have more than 50,000 alumni who will create a powerful leadership force for meaningful and bold education reform.
My students this fall will not have had the same educational opportunities that I and many other Penn students enjoyed growing up. However, we can ensure that students in low-income communities have these opportunities in the future. As college students, we can make our voices heard in Congress on today’s most urgent civil rights issue-education. If Congress fully funds TFA, more children will be equipped with the high-quality educational opportunities they deserve. I hope you’ll join me in a grass-roots campaign to call and write Senators Arlen Specter and Robert Casey, Jr.
George Donnelly is a College senior and a campus campaign coordinator for Teach For America. His e-mail address is george.a.donnelly@gmail.com.
