Teach For America's Leadership Pipeline in Louisiana's Recovery School District

• In Event: Teach For America: Local Hiring Practices and Privileges

Abstract

TFA has large presence in Louisiana, reporting 160 corps members in Baton Rouge and 400 in New Orleans (Teach For America, 2014a; 2014b). Both regions have an even larger alumni base, with 215 alumni still working in Baton Rouge and 830 in New Orleans (Teach For America, 2014 a; 2014b) Both regions claim that over 70% of their alumni still work in education (Teach For America,2014a; 2014b). Notable TFA alumni include Louisiana State Superintendent John White, Orleans Parish School Board member and founder of New Schools for New Orleans Sarah Usdin, and Kira-Orange Jones, Board of Elementary and Secondary Education member and current Executive Director of TFA in New Orleans (Schneider, 2014). With such strong representation in both Baton Rouge and New Orleans, both cities serve as exemplars of TFA’s efforts to place alumni in positions to affect education reform.

Drawing on critical theory, this paper analyzes the contract between TFA and Louisiana’s Recovery School District (RSD) signed in into effect June 2013. This paper, more specifically, examines the component that requires TFA to recruit their alumni “into areas in Louisiana with RSD schools” and to work with the RSD to provide corps members with internship, work and volunteer opportunities to “create deeper ties” and“ connections for long term leadership” within RSD schools. This paper argues that this contract affects hiring and advancement practices within the district.

Additionally, this paper situates this contract within the greater context of employment issues senior teachers had in seeking employment after Hurricane Katrina (Willie, 2014). While TFA builds leadership opportunities for its corps members within the RSD, 7,000 former employees of the Orleans Parish School District continue to seek damages from the Orleans Parish School Board and other state agencies for wrongful termination and the failure to give senior teachers priority in rehiring after the storm (Dreilinger, 2014). This paper’s analysis of the contract between TFA and the RSD will show that TFA creates an advantage for their alumni that is not enjoyed by non-TFA teachers.
This contract creates a “pipeline” for corps members seeking leadership positions within RSD that is problematic when viewed within the larger context of what has transpired for teachers in Baton Rouge and New Orleans who were employed prior to the storm and the creation of the RSD. This paper’s analysis of the contract between RSD and TFA will show why this problematic, how it affects hiring practices within the RSD today and why further investigation of this issue is warranted.

Author

• Sarah Ishmael, University of Wisconsin-Madison