National Affiliation or Local Representation: When TFA Alumni Run for School Board

Abstract

Historically power to govern public schools has been delegated to local school boards. However, this arrangement of power has been shifting over the past half century and increasingly, local school boards are targeted as ineffective and antiquated. Teach For America (TFA), typically examined for its placement of teachers, also seeks to develop educational leaders and TFA now encourages and supports its alumni to run for local school boards. The involvement of a national organization, like TFA, with its own national education agenda in local school board elections may reflect the next step in the demise of local control. To investigate whether TFA's involvement in local elections represents the spreading of a national agenda at the expense of attention to local issues, this research examines campaign messages for both TFA alumni candidates and their opponents. Results indicate that TFA alumni candidates incorporate significantly more messages aligned with TFA than their opponents (35 vs. 11), but they also maintain a focus on local issues as measured by the number of local issue messages they also incorporate into their campaign literature. epaa aapeEducation Policy Analysis Archives Vol. 22 No. 69 2 Rather than debating whether school boards have lost power, this research points to the need to better understand how local politics is changing and expanding as new voices enter the arena. Keywords: school board elections; Teach For America; representation; politics of education Afiliación nacional o representación local: cuando ex-alumnos de TFA son candidatos para los consejos escolares. Resumen: Históricamente la autoridad para dirigir las escuelas públicas fue delegado a los consejos escolares locales. Sin embargo, esta disposición ha ido cambiando en el último medio siglo y cada vez más, las juntas escolares locales están siendo atacadas por ser ineficaces y anticuadas. Teach For America (TFA), ha sido analizada por su tarea en cuanto los docentes, pero también busca desarrollar líderes educativos y TFA ahora alienta y apoya a sus alumnos a postularse para los consejos escolares locales. La participación de una organización nacional, como TFA, con su propia agenda educativa nacional en los sistemas elecciones para los consejos escolares puede reflejar el próximo paso en la desaparición del control local. Para investigar si la participación de TFA en las elecciones locales representa la difusión de una agenda nacional en detrimento de la atención a los problemas locales, esta investigación analiza los mensajes de campaña de candidatos tanto exalumnos de TFA y sus oponentes. Los resultados indican que los candidatos ex-alumnos de TFA incorporan significativamente más mensajes alineados con TFA que sus oponentes (35 vs 11), pero también mantienen un enfoque en temas locales, medido por el número de mensajes locales que en aparecen en la literatura de campaña. En lugar de debatir si los consejos escolares han perdido autoridad, esta investigación apunta a la necesidad de comprender mejor la forma com...

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“…absenteeism, discipline). Moreover, while the reasons are likely obvious, TFA does not generally include information on critical research where the conclusions strongly contradict TFA's rhetoric and marketing (see, for example, Crawford-Garrett, 2013; Darling-Hammond, Holtzman, Gatlin, & Vasquez, 2005;Jacobsen & Linkow, 2014;Kovacs & Slate-Young, 2013;Kretchmar et al, 2014;Vasquez Heilig & Jez, 2014;Veltri, 2008). Yet, the organization does dedicate a portion of its site to responding to some reports and research that are critical of the organization in an attempt to undermine the conclusions as "misguided" (Chovnik, in press).…”

“…The political campaigns of TFA alumni are managed by LEE in an effort to increase TFA's footing in the policymaking process by installing alumni into policy decision positions (Cersonsky, 2012;Simon, 2013). Moreover, recent research suggests that TFA alumni who enter into elected policymaking positions largely support pro-reform policies more than non-TFA alumni officials (Jacobsen & Linkow, 2014).…”

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“…While it may be of little surprise that like-minded organizations (often founded by TFA alums) remain in close connection with TFA, the growing connections to the U.S. Department of Education are a cause for concern. A growing body of evidence has started to provide a glimpse into the impact that TFA alumni have once they move from the classroom to policymaking decisions (Brewer, Kretchmar, Sondel, Ishmael, & Manfra, 2016;Jacobsen & Linkow, 2014;White, 2016;Williams, 2016) but little has been done surrounding the implications of their infiltration into the U.S. Department of Education. Alumni of TFA are actively encouraged and aided by TFA to transition from the classroom into policy making positions like those at the U.S. Department of Education.…”

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“…The fourth finding regarding the pathway to leadership is particularly significant in light of current research which suggests that TFA alumni who enter into school leadership and policy making positions are more likely to support market-based reform agendas (Jacobsen & Linkow, 2014;Trujillo & Scott, 2014). We are only beginning to understand the manner in which the latter result likely reinforces the former ones.…”

“…To date, the extant research on TFA has focused primarily on the impact of TFA corps members on student assessment data (e.g., Boyd, Grossman, Lankford, Loeb, & Wykoff, 2006;Darling-Hammond, Holtzman, Gatlin, & Vasquez Heilig, 2005;Kane, Rockoff, & Staiger, 2008;Vasquez Heilig & Jez, 2010 and their retention rates (e.g., Brewer, 2014a;Donaldson & Johnson, 2011). More recently, researchers have begun to investigate TFA within the context of larger trends towards market-based education reform (e.g., Jacobsen & Linkow, 2014;Kretchmar, Sondel, & Ferrare, 2014;Lahann & Reagan, 2011;Trujillo & Scott, 2014).…”