Teach For America in New York City: Staffing No-Excuses Charter Schools

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

Abstract

Teach For America’s (TFA) impact on hiring practices in New York City cannot be untangled from the interconnection between TFA and “no-excuses” charter schools. Teach For America plays in key role in staffing New York City (NYC) “no-excuses” charter schools. As one of the largest TFA regions, NYC corps members have increasingly been placed in charter schools, while a declining number of corps members are teaching in traditional Department of Education public schools. A majority of these placement schools subscribe to the “no-excuses” charter model, or schools that low-income students, oftentimes by extending the school year and school day, developing an exacting focus on improving standardized test scores, and enculturating students in middle-class mores (Thernstrom & Thernstrom, 2003). Further, many of these no-excuses placements schools and charter management organizations are affiliated with TFA either through formal partnerships, and/or because they are led and heavily staffed by some of the 3800 alumni in the region. TFA, a self-proclaimed human capital development, serves key organizations that promote charter school reform (Author, 2014). The paper posits that TFA’s plays a critical role in staffing no-excuses charter schools and thus has contributed to the growth of charters in the region, often at the exclusion of traditionally certified and unionized teachers.

This study draws on Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with New York City Public Schools and six New York City charter schools and charter management organizations, interviews, NYC TFA program documents, and NYC Department of Education reports on teacher hiring, placement and retention. Using a critical policy scholarship lens, the data is situated within a social, economic, political, and cultural context (Lipman, 2011). Looking at policies within the context of the reforms they respond to and enable, critical scholars bring to the fore the specific interests and relations of power embedded in educational policy decisions (Grace, 1984; Lipman, 2011).

An analysis of the data demonstrates that TFA’s corps members play an important role in staffing the 183 charter schools in NYC. Charter schools currently serve roughly 10% of the 1.1 million students in NYC Public Schools, yet over 50% of NYC corps members were placed in charters. (New York City Charter Schools, 2014; New York City Independent Budget Office, 2013; Teach For America; 2014). In 2010-2011, one of the twenty-six charter schools TFA placed corps members in was unionized. Interview and document analysis suggests that no-excuses charter schools are seeking a particular type of teacher, often young, less experienced and non-unionized. Further, the data explicates that TFA produces teachers whose pedagogical philosophies align with no-excuses charters, and TFA’s contracts with “no-excuses” charter schools have supported the expansion of charter schools and charter management organizations in NYC. Finally, this paper looks at how the growth of TFA and no-excuses charters limits the voice and opportunities for traditionally certified and unionized teachers.

Author

• Kerry Kretchmar, Carroll University