Message From Seattle Council PTSA: Regarding Seattle School Board Considerations

11/9/2010

Program offers intensive, ongoing training and development for recruits. One technique used is goal-setting around student achievement (this complements focus of SPS-SEA contract goals).

Unlike other new teachers, recruits are not certificated and have not understudied as student teachers. They are recent graduates with bachelor degrees. Teach for America recruits go through a five-week boot camp, then earn their certification while working as classroom teachers. The contract specifically prohibits their placement as student teachers or instructional assistants.

There are costs associated with using Teach for America; districts commit to paying an annual fee per TFA teacher to help defray costs associated with recruiting, training and professional development. In the proposed contract with Seattle, that has been set at $4,000 per TFA teacher. HOWEVER, the district has pursued private funds to pick up those costs for this contract.

While recruits placed in other areas appear to be high-caliber candidates, once these recruits are trained and certificated, they move on. According to Teach for America, 67 percent of alumni are in education-related fields. According to figures supplied by the Seattle Education Association, only 34 percent of TFA recruits stay in the classroom after 2 years; only 20 percent stay in the classroom after 3 years.

SPS would agree to hire 20-25 recruits. This year (according to SEA) there were 800 certificated applicants for 4 positions at West Seattle Elementary (a potential targeted placement for TFA recruits). There's no guarantee those 4 hired will stay longer than 2 years; HOWEVER, those 4 hired are already certificated.

There are no commitments in the contract to screen candidates for desired qualifications - i.e. recruit bilingual or minority candidates, especially from Hispanic, Vietnamese, Pacific Islander, African-American and African immigrant populations.
The contract specifically says TFA recruits will be hired for vacancies across the full range of grades and subject matters and not restricted to so-called "critical" or "shortage" subjects or grade-level vacancies.

High-poverty schools tend to have higher staff turnover. It is unclear what affect built-in, 2-year turnover would have on team-building in those schools. (Developing professional learning communities is a goal of SPS-SEA contract.)

The ongoing support that TFA recruits get is lauded by many, but it is separate from professional development that the rest of Seattle's certificated staff would get. There doesn't appear to be any built-in mechanism to share the expertise or make sure the system as a whole benefits from the partnership.

SPS agrees to share student-identiable data with Teach for America for the purposes of professional development. Normally, this would be protected information.

The contract uses a loose interpretation of conditional certification. In Washington, teachers must be certificated. HOWEVER, if they teach a subject where there are shortages of candidates, or the candidate is unusually talented, then teachers can be granted conditional certification. The state requirements are specific: WAC 181-79A-231

Seattle Public Schools would request conditional certificates for Teach for America candidates on grounds of "circumstances." Yet the contract specifically says TFA candidates will not be limited to critical or shortage areas, and it is not clear what unique talents the candidates will offer.

MORE INFO:
Teach for America
Proposed contract

Sincerely,
Ramona Hattendorf
Seattle Council PTSA

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