Schooling Teachers: Teach For America and the Future of Teacher Education

Schooling Teachers tackles the perennial and pressing issue of how this nation will attract, prepare, and retain high-quality teachers for all students, particularly those in our most challenging classrooms. Drawing on participant voices from the inaugural 1990 cohort of Teach For America, this book situates their experiences within the larger context of teacher education and reform of the last three decades. Through an investigation of one of the more influential departures from traditional teacher preparation during this period, the authors examine the “teacher problem” and illustrate why solutions remain elusive and limited. This book moves beyond the purported dichotomy between university-based teacher education and alternatives such as Teach For America to consider their common challenges, suggesting a starting place from which to create a future of more effective teacher preparation. Book Features: Illuminates persistent issues associated with conventional practices of teacher recruitment, education, and teaching. Explores the early assumptions and experiences associated with a key reform effort designed to challenge traditional practices. Highlights why traditional teacher education and TFA have struggled to solve the problem of preparing teachers to be ready for the contemporary demands of education. Shares important stories about individuals’ personal experiences and actions that reveal the broader collective and social forces at work. Uses richly detailed qualitative data to draw insights that address larger issues of staffing and supporting urban schools.

Table of Contents:
Contents (Tentative) Foreword Michele Foster Acknowledgments Introduction Beloved Alternative: Teach For America Conventional vs. Alternative Teacher Education Studying the Inaugural TFA Cohort Structure of the Book 1. TFA and the Paradox of the 1980s 1980s Writ Large “The Sky Is Falling”: Education in the 1980s A “Kinder, Gentler Nation”: Student Idealism in the 1980s Conclusion 2. A Mission, a Lark, a Job: Choosing Teach For America Choosing to Teach vs. Choosing TFA The Right Job at the Right Time: Factors Affecting the Choice to Join TFA Conclusion 3. Preparing to Teach for America: The Summer Institute Teacher Education, Circa 1990 The TFA Summer Institute, 1990 Participant Recollections: Lessons and Implications Conclusion 4. “Multiculturalism Run Amok”: Identity Politics at the Summer Institute Multiculturalism in 1990 America: A Debate “Older than the Nation Itself” Multiculturalism and Teacher Education TFA Participant Experiences of Multiculturalism at the Summer Institute Conclusion 5. Ordeal by Fire: The 1990 Corps in the Classroom “Survival and Discovery”: The Beginning Teacher’s Experience New Teacher Challenges of the TFA Participants Participant Responses Conclusion 6. University-Based Teacher Educators in the Crosshairs: Responding to TFA and the New Reforms Teacher Education: How Did We Get Here? The 1980s: Unleashing Change Responding to New Pressures Conclusion 7. The Legacy of TFA Measuring TFA’s Impact Implications: Alumni Experiences and the Making of Teachers TFA Alumni: Influence on Education TFA Influence on Participants’ Lives Concluding Thoughts Conclusion Appendices Notes Index About the Authors