Assessing the "Education Debt": Teach For America and the Problem of Attrition

• In Event: Poster Session 8
  In Poster Session: Assessing the “Education Debt”: Teach For America and the Problem of Attrition

Abstract

With this paper, I explore the impact of teacher attrition on Teach For America’s (TFA) ability to produce more long-term, systemic educational change via my application of critical race theory and Gloria Ladson-Billings’ concept of the “education debt” to TFA’s consistently high rates of attrition. I conclude that TFA’s concrete materiality falls short of its intention to “create the systemic changes that will help end educational inequity,” especially concerning the longevity of its recruits (Teach For America, 2013, p. 1), and ultimately furthers an inequitable agenda. This, I contend, suggests the need for educational resources to be equitably redistributed, in part, via high quality educators for our most under-served youth populations, including those currently taught by TFA.

Author

• Ashlee Anderson, The University of Tennessee - Knoxville