Expanding the research terrain: Teach For America and the problem with one-dimensional research

Anderson, Ashlee

doi:10.1016/j.tate.2020.103080

Cited by 7 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…Overall, however, we see additional in-depth qualitative studies as vital to the continued examination of TFA (cf. Anderson, 2020), synchronous-service teachers, and teacher education programming. In particular, we would be excited to see cross-regional studies that feature ethnographic observations as a means to better understand and compare teachers' lived experiences in balancing their varied responsibilities.…”

Section: Whither Teacher Education Partnerships?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Teaching Synchronous-Service Teachers: Traditional Teacher Education at a Crossroads

Thomas

Lefebvre

2020

Teachers College Record

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Background/Context Teachers enrolled in alternative training and licensure programs may have experiences that lie outside what is considered typical for both preservice teachers and in-service teachers. This article explores the experiences of a growing cadre of “synchronous-service teachers”—including, but not limited to, Teach For America (TFA) corps members— who are teaching full time while also completing coursework in teacher preparation programs. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of the Study This study considers how synchronous-service teachers perceived the education and training they received while enrolled in traditional teacher education coursework, as well as how they interpreted their broader interactions with the teaching profession and teacher education writ large. Research Setting and Participants This research was conducted in the Midwestern United States in a major metropolitan area with a TFA regional presence. Thirty-six corps members who completed coursework at a traditional teacher education institution opted to participate in this study. They were primarily White and female, and most entered TFA immediately following completion of their undergraduate degrees. The majority had little previous exposure to the education discipline. Research Design The thirty-six corps members were interviewed about their experiences while participating in TFA, teaching at their schools, and, especially pertinent to this article, learning at a partner university where TFA corps members in the region completed teacher education coursework. Findings/Results The findings suggest that corps members held primarily negative views about the teacher education coursework they experienced. They complained that the teacher education programming failed to provide immediately applicable insights and lacked rigor and relevance. Yet they also maintained paradoxical expectations about what teacher education, particularly for synchronous-service teachers, should or should not entail. Conclusions/Recommendations The article concludes by suggesting the potential utility of synchronous-service teachers as a conceptual category, noting that these teachers should be considered distinct from others. As such, providing synchronous-service teachers with teacher education programming designed for either preservice or in-service teachers may lead to missed opportunities in terms of professional learning and exacerbate negative sentiments about teacher education. The experiences and opinions of synchronous-service teachers can have considerable significance, particularly when these teachers go on to affect education leadership and policy. In sum, teacher education institutions are at a critical crossroads concerning how and whether to proceed with similar partnerships, especially as alternative recruitment and training programs continue to grow in the United States and beyond.

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Section: Whither Teacher Education Partnerships?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Teaching Synchronous-Service Teachers: Traditional Teacher Education at a Crossroads

Thomas

Lefebvre

2020

Teachers College Record

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“…2 Although the literature surrounding TFA is considerable, this paper presents a basic introduction to the research landscape complete with select, representative citations. For a more complete literature review, see Anderson (2020). management, politics, policymaking, and in some cases, continued teaching.…”

Section: Review Of Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Additionally, TFA's operations and dispositions fit squarely within the broader, marketoriented/neoliberal aim to privatize (Kretchmar et al, 2014;Lahann & Reagan, 2011;Lefebvre et al 2022) and deregulate schools and teacher certification (Brewer & Cody, 2014). For example, TFA's organizational mission statement (Teach For America, n.d.) does not include any reference to teachers or teaching but, rather, focuses on "leadership" as an artifact of TFA's nearly singular focus on moving CMs quickly into, and out of, the classroom to enter positions of political influence (Anderson, 2020;Cersonsky, 2013). Moreover, TFA often recruits using a bait-and-switch tactic that exploits the good intentions of potential CMs (Millen, 2015), and has spent many hours and dollars seeking to marginalize critics or CMs who speak out on such topics (see Joseph, 2014;Levine & McCambridge, 2015).…”

Section: Review Of Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Implicit in her comments is a belief that traditional and veteran teachers are villainized by TFA, and arguably the inner workings of public education as a whole. Certainly, TFA would challenge this assertion, though it characteristically upholds what we perceive to be harmful dichotomies that pit teachers against one another via, for example, its over-emphasis on the literature that highlights competition structures between its CMs and other traditionally prepared, certified, and/or experienced teachers (Anderson, 2020), or recent tensions related to whether TFA CMs were allowed to join fellow teachers to participate in union action in the form of teacher strikes (Waldman, 2019). Taken collectively, then, this theme describes how non-TFA teachers perceive their TFA colleagues at the micro level (usually positive), as well as TFA as an institution at the macro level (usually negative), concerns which echoed across the interviews and which are exacerbated by teacher attrition as described above.…”

Section: Perceptions Of the Tfa Experiencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…This visibility and influence has focused the attention of policymakers, researchers, educators, and other stakeholders primarily on the organization's measured outcomes (e.g., student achievement, principal satisfaction, retention). Yet, there exists an expanding body of research that proposes more multi-dimensional understandings of the organization's theoretical mission and practical materiality (Anderson, 2020).…”

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Teach For America influence on non-TFA teachers in TFA-hiring schools

Anderson

Thomas

Brewer

2022

EPAA

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Teach For America (TFA) has left an indelible mark on education in the United States and worldwide through its expansion via Teach For All. A considerable body of research examines the impact and experiences of teachers who enter the profession via TFA and related organizations, including the ways in which they embody controversial policies and new forms of teacher expertise and professionalism. Scant research, however, has examined the experiences of non-TFA teachers who work alongside them. This instrumental case study draws on interviews with nine non-TFA teachers working in traditional public schools to explore their experiences of interacting with TFA teachers at their schools. The findings focus on the perceived inexperience of TFA teachers as well as the labor expended by non-TFA teachers in support of these novice teachers. The paper also examines experiences of TFA teacher attrition and its impact on other teachers, students, and staff at the schools. The paper concludes by discussing the significance of this study and related research across individual, institutional, and broader structural levels.

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“I knew I had to leave”: A Bourdieusian analysis of why Teach For America teachers quit early

Lefebvre,

Thomas

2024

Teaching and Teacher Education

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Expanding the research terrain: Teach For America and the problem with one-dimensional research

Cited by 7 publications

References 67 publications

Teaching Synchronous-Service Teachers: Traditional Teacher Education at a Crossroads

Teaching Synchronous-Service Teachers: Traditional Teacher Education at a Crossroads

Teach For America influence on non-TFA teachers in TFA-hiring schools

“I knew I had to leave”: A Bourdieusian analysis of why Teach For America teachers quit early

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