For my last Civic Issue blog, I decided to delve into the details of Teach For America. Teach For America or TFA, is a national organization working to tackle educational inequity throughout America. Though TFA’s mission is unarguably one that everyone should support, its means of achieving its said mission are heavily criticized. Regardless of the controversy, I fully support TFA and am hoping to partake in the organization after I graduate.

What is the TFA application and training process like?

TFA offers anyone with an undergraduate degree to apply to partake in the organization. Many who apply are recent college graduates. Those accepted must attend a training session the summer before they are scheduled to teach. After summer training, participants are sent to the area in which they will be working. Members of TFA are required to serve a minimum of two years at the school they are chosen for. Throughout their teaching experience, TFA participants must attend a training session once a month with fellow TFA members in the area.

Who does TFA aim to help?

TFA targets high need school districts. They aim to partner with schools that struggle in hiring teachers, have a high staff turnover, low academic achievement rate, etc. TFA supplies overcrowded schools with willing bodies to teach. Coming from Pittsburgh Public where many of my teachers were unfit for teaching, along with classrooms that had up to forty plus students, I experienced first-hand what it was like to be in a school district that needed additional support.

What does TFA’s impact look like on paper?

In the classroom the impact of TFA looks like . . .

• In a study from 2006, found that students with TFA teachers score 0.04 standard deviations higher in reading and 0.15 standard deviations higher in math compared to the students who received traditional teaching.
• Many student’s scores raise an incredible amount after TFA intervention in the classroom.

For TFA members the impact of TFA looks like . . .

• In an article written by Harvard scholars, it was calculated that through participating in TFA, TFA members become more faithful in America’s education, more involved in the education system, and much more open-minded, racially.
• The Harvard article also shows that TFA participants are “35.5 percentage points more likely to believe that the achievement gap is a solvable problem and 38.2 percentage points more likely to believe that teachers are the most essential determinant of a student’s success.” The article continues with enlightening readers that participation in TFA causes one to become much more likely to work for a K-12 school or in the education field in general.

Why is TFA controversial?

Like all organizations, TFA is not perfect. Those in opposition argue that TFA “parachutes” unskilled graduates into communities that are struggling educationally, for a small amount of time that does not give those parachuted enough time to make a lasting impact. People also argue that many do it just for a resume builder, insincere about their true motives. I myself was struggling with whether or not TFA was right for me given all of the controversy, but recently I met with, Joshua Branch, a PSU and Schreyer alum, TFA participant, and now Georgetown Law student. Mr. Branch told me that given all of its skepticism, he is still glad that he participated in TFA. He told me that he was surrounded by faculty that were unskilled and that his students performed incredibly after he arrived, much better than they had prior to his arrival. He also reminded me that your experience is what you make of it. If you go with ill intentions, then TFA’s impact will live to the skepticism.

Who should participate in TFA?

In my opinion, those who should participate in TFA are those that actually care about the cause. Don’t apply if you do not care about the current condition of the American Education system. Children are much too malleable and important to use as your steps to a greater resume. Teach because you know you are supplying a school that otherwise may not survive. Maybe you will inspire a child to attend college who otherwise wouldn’t have. The possibilities for the impact of TFA are endless, as long as those participating do so in a respectful and sustainable manner.

 

---

Sources:

Infographic- http://kevintame.blogspot.com/2012/01/teach-for-america-infographic-where.html

Teach For America Logo- https://uvmbored.com/event/teach-america-recruiter-tabling/

Click to access tfa_03.19.2015.pdf

https://www.teachforamerica.org/

With constant attention and ridicule towards the current state of education in America, I find it very important to look at the history of education in this county, specifically that of private schooling. In the early years of America, private schools were the only source of education a child could receive, along with private tutoring for the exceptionally wealthy. Until slavery was abolished in 1865, the only children who received an education were those of wealthy white families. It wasn’t until 1918 that every state required a child receive an elementary education. With these facts, it is interesting to look at when the spike in educating ones child through private schooling took root.

In the 1870s Jim Crow laws were created in order to legally separate whites from blacks in America. Public transportation, schooling, restaurants, water fountains, bathrooms, and more were made separate for people of color and whites. It wasn’t until the 1860s and 70s, when the Civil Rights Movement was in full force, that segregation was finally put to an end. It is during this time we see the largest spike in private school enrollment in the South, and the rest of the nation for that matter.

I know we are all familiar with the famous Brown Vs. Board of Education ruling in 1854 that declared segregation in schooling unconstitutional, further dismembering segregation from all areas of everyday life. It is no coincidence that we see the highest rise in private school enrollment during this time. Whites used private schools to further extend the life of segregation in this country, and I would argue, still do to this day.

An article by the Washington Post writes about an analysis conducted by the Southern Education Foundation. The analysis statistically shows the continued segregation of schooling through private school education. The article reads, “Private schools are more likely than public schools to be virtually all-white, defined as a school where 90 percent or more of students are white. Forty-three percent of the nation’s private school students attended virtually all-white schools, compared to 27 percent of public-school students.” Right here we see the blatant reality of what it means to send your child to a private school. Many parents would argue that the current state of public schooling in America is too weak to send their child to, and though they may be right, sending your child to a private school is a choice mainly only the financially privileged get to make. This, in return, creates an environment of primarily wealthy children who come from white families, exactly like the beginning of schooling in this country, for the white and wealthy.

A U.S. news article speaks on the segregation within schools in our nations capitol. The article writes about many white families fleeing the city for the Virginia and Maryland suburbs during the Civil Rights Movement and the decision of Brown Vs. Board of Education. This left the city predominantly of black Americans, until a flip in the trend when the opposite occurred. By 2012, the black population in D.C. had decreased by forty percent. The article continues to point out that the shifts in D.C.’s populations had no impact on public school demographics in the area. Why you may ask? Because of private schooling! Instead of fleeing the city like many whites did during the 50s and on, private schooling gave parents the ability to bring the separation of suburb life to the city. The article writes, “During the 2011-12 school year, private schools, the researchers found, served only 15 percent of the city’s students but almost 60 percent of its white students,” the article continues with, “. . . private schools serve a disproportionate number of the city’s white students . . . As a result, even if public schools were totally integrated, black and Hispanic public school students would still be separated from over half of the city’s white students.” It is clear that economic and racial segregation haunt the city of D.C..

Thus, we see how private schools play a major role in separation, making it a perfect example of the epidemic of school segregation throughout the entire nation. The sad reality of our nations current state of education ties into my last blog about the impact these facts have on higher education institutions. The students who are receiving public school educations, which are constantly ridiculed as poor quality, are time and time again predominantly students of color. And still we question why our universities are lacking in diversity. Maybe if we gave children a fair opportunity at receiving an education, regardless of ones financial or racial identity, we would see this lack of diversity spike like that of private schooling in the 50s.

---

Sources:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/education/wp/2016/03/29/the-overwhelming-whiteness-of-u-s-private-schools-in-six-maps-and-charts/?utm_term=.bb10bda4578e

http://www.uscourts.gov/educational-resources/educational-activities/history-brown-v-board-education-re-enactment

http://www.southerneducation.org/PubliclyFundedPrivateSchoolSegregation

http://www.southerneducation.org/Our-Strategies/Research-and-Publications/Race-Ethnicity-Landing-Pages/A-History-of-Private-Schools-Race-in-the-American.aspx

https://www.britannica.com/event/Jim-Crow-law

11 Facts About the History of Education in America

It’s 2018, we’ve had a half white president, segregation was abolished over fifty years ago, and biracial marriage is legal. The racial divide in America is a very distant thing of the past, right? Absolutely not. Education in America is a perfect platform to speak on the blatant segregation that is impacting every single American. The current state of our school systems, public, charter, or private for that matter, are impacting each and everyone of us, regardless of if one wants to believe it or not. I come from Pittsburgh, a city that has been labeled as one of the most segregated cities in the country. I find that Pittsburgh is a perfect example of how the segregation of our American cities and suburbs impacts directly the divisiveness, racially and socioeconomically, of our schools.

The reality that your zip code will almost entirely influence your future, for the better or worse, is terrifying. We, as Americans, have allowed for the construction of a system that determines the quality of ones education primarily based on property taxes and financial stability. Without a quality education, public school students are left to fend for themselves and are given practically none of the benefits that private school students and students attending public school in wealthier neighborhoods are handed. I believe firmly that if nothing is done to improve the condition of America’s public school system, the systematic oppression towards minority and lower income students will only continue.

An article written by the Tribune, investigates the inequality of education, healthcare, jobs, and more in Pittsburgh, specifically in relation to race. Larry Davis, director of the Center on Race and Social Problems and lead author of a report on race-related disparity in Western Pennsylvania, speaks on the inequality all across Pittsburgh and American cities as a whole. The article reads, “The divide in quality of life between black and white metro Pittsburgh is so wide, Davis said, he can’t assume his teenage sons won’t become a statistic — one in three black men in the United States stands a chance of serving prison time, compared to about a 6 percent chance for a white man.” The article also includes the statistic that in Pittsburgh the graduation rates are 58 percent for Black men and 69 percent for black women. If one does not see the direct correlation between race and quality of education in Pittsburgh, the numbers are there to dispel any doubts. As my educational career continued, I witnessed the unfair reality of the state of education in this country.

The graph above outlines the wealth gap between white citizens compared to minority citizens in our country. The graph supports the impact that financial status has on overall quality of neighborhood schools across our nation’s cities. If you live in a predominantly white neighborhood, you can almost guarantee your child’s neighborhood school will be of better quality than the “ghetto” neighborhood next door. The level of rigor and academic quality go hand in hand with the location of each public school, private schooling being an entirely separate issue.

I believe the first step in tackling this crippling issue head on is recognizing its existence in the first place. I can’t even count the number of conversations I’ve had with my peers and elders who do not agree that there is still segregation in America, especially in the form of education. Either they are blind, ignorant or in denial of the facts.   The data supports that our education is failing and that we racial segregation in American is real. An article written by the Guardian about racial segregation in America speaks to the fact that we choose to segregate ourselves, “If our social worlds were more integrated, perhaps we would see it trickle down to the way we govern and the way we dispense justice.” The article also includes facts about the reality of segregation in America and the tendencies that individuals have to spend time in monochromatic places. We are so much more comfortable if we are around people that look like us and share similar backgrounds. The article writes, “Having some sort of connection, a shared experience is the only way I believe that we can get politicians, police officers, and everyday citizens…to truly understand race,” and I couldn’t agree more. If we continue to segregate our schools, close-minded individuals will only continue to be products of our society, forever solidifying the realities of what it means to be a minority in this country.

---

Sources:

http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/7531048-74/pittsburgh-report-black

Click to access REPORT.pdf

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/apr/03/21st-century-segregation-divided-race