Teacher deal scrutinized

BESE member: Lure educators from within state

Lottie P. Beebe

A member of Louisiana’s top school board said Wednesday that it would be a mistake for the state to spend nearly $1 million to train and place public school teachers provided by a national group.

“It is a replication of services,” said Lottie Beebe, a member of the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education who lives in Breaux Bridge.

But BESE President Penny Dastugue called the spending an excellent investment to train some of the nation’s top college graduates for work in Louisiana’s hardest-to-fill teacher jobs.

“Who doesn’t want a rich talent pool to draw from?” Dastugue said.

The $968,000 contract is for Teach for America, which recruits college students, puts them through five weeks of intense training and sends them to some of the most troubled public schools in the nation for at least two years.

The money would be used to train and place just over 500 teachers in classrooms around the state.

About 140 first- and second-year teachers work in the East Baton Rouge Parish school system or within an hour’s drive of Baton Rouge.

Nearly 900 other alumni from TFA, mostly teachers, also work in public schools across the state.

The issue, which was originally on BESE’s agenda for the Aug. 14-15 meetings, sparked controversy last week during a committee meeting, in part because of Beebe’s questions about a delay in action on the contracts.

Dastugue said Wednesday that attorneys advised the panel to put off the issue until October.

BESE is expected to approve the contract then.

Beebe, who is personnel director for the St. Martin Parish school system, said in a telephone interview that she routinely contacts the state Department of Education to round up teacher candidates.

“Why don’t we spend the million dollars within our state to entice graduates to consider teaching?” Beebe said in an email that elaborated her stance.

“Louisiana has graduates,” she added. “Why do we have to look elsewhere?”

Dastugue said TFA typically turns down nine applicants for each one hired.

She said those graduates, generally speaking, have better credentials than those who emerge from colleges of education.

The nearly $1 million represents less than 10 percent of TFA’s statewide budget, said Michael Tipton, executive director of Teach for America/South Louisiana.

He said that, while the issue is one for state policymakers, he wishes that Louisiana’s contribution was closer to that of Mississippi, which provides $6 million annually.

Beebe said local districts also pay TFA between $2,500 and $4,000 per teacher per year to help defray costs of recruiting and training.

While the key contract is nearly $1 million in state funds, two others set for BESE review would be funded by other sources and cover 65 teachers in schools run by the state.

The latest dispute is similar to one that surfaced last year when BESE considered a similar contract.

The 11-member panel approved that contract despite some complaints that the money could be better spent elsewhere, and that certified, non-TFA teachers are going without jobs.

Some educators from traditional backgrounds have questioned the credentials and commitment of TFA members.

But a report by the state Department of Education said that, during the 2010-11 school year, nearly half of Louisiana’s Teach for America teachers produced student academic growth equal to one-and-a-half years of schooling.

Comments

1) Comment by Noel Hammatt - 26/08/2012

By the way, I still haven't heard anything about anyone finding the report from the Department of Education "said that, during the 2010-11 school year, nearly half of Louisiana’s Teach for America teachers produced student academic growth equal to one-and-a- half years of schooling." Anyone else find out where this "report" is? Will, could you please give us the reference for it?

2) Comment by Noel Hammatt - 26/08/2012

"Failing Schools" are NOT failing, in most cases. They are simply starting with students so far behind that they are unable to overcome the gaps in the period of time they have the students, and this is evidenced by the incredibly powerful relationship between the percent of poverty in a school and the Letter Grade or the School Performance Score that school achieves. Over and over we find this evidence, and when people (especially the so- called reformers) claim that there are schools that are proving that they CAN overcome the challenges faced by the underlying conditions the children in these high-poverty schools deal with everyday, we find out one of two things. Either the school is practicing methods of selective enrollment or they are cheating. As evidenced by yet again another story of charter school cheating in New Orleans, and yet again there was every effort to keep this from the parents, the citizens, and the media! See http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2012/08/new_orleans_ charter_school_is.html

3) Comment by ScotB - 25/08/2012

Based on so many failing schools within our overall system, clearly our traditional teachers are not moving students ahead one and one half grade levels 50% of the time. Just measured by results, it would appear this is an effective program. Most of the TFA teachers are placed in difficult school setting, I'm told. And yet, they are apparently having dramatic success, nonetheless - assuming this datum is correct.

4) Comment by 8.3 - 24/08/2012

Well see, TFA's don't stay for long, they are mostly young and cheap to insure and since they will likely leave and retirement won't have to be paid. That would leave more money for tax breaks for the well connected. Even staunch free-market capitalists would agree, you get what you pay for. Look at our state government, as long as you have the money, you can get what you want. "Quality" education is not the point, capitalism and privatization is. Every man for himself.

5) Comment by nimby? - 24/08/2012

why would anyone want to be a teacher ; long hours , low pay , little if no support from spineless administrators and board members who are clueless . reminds me of the infantry . it's a thankless job where everyone is a critic ....

6) Comment by yankyny - 23/08/2012

What ever happened to research based decision making? Decisions need to be based on proven results. How does TFA compare to the traditional education certification track? Some eluded to the one-to -one and half year in gains report, but no one can find it. I read some where that some TFA representatives quit because the organization was being liberal with their statistics. I would argue that the Veterans program of Troops to Teachers is more effective than TFA and probably more effective than the traditional track.

7) Comment by iluvbtr - 23/08/2012

Is there a shortage of certified teachers in Louisiana? If not, considering the state's never ending budget crisis, why are we even considering spending a million dollars to train mostly out-of-state non-education majors to teach in Louisiana? Supt. White in his August 18th letter to the editor stated that "state agencies are collaborating on a unified system of prekindergarten GUARANTEEING every 3- and 4-year old in Louisiana an academic education before kindergarten". Today we learned the level of commitment from the Governor and the LDOE to "strengthening (funding) pre- kindergarten preparation, which is a KEY COMPONENT of the state’s reform agenda.” Superintendent John White, responding to questions about funding early childhood education stated, "the state’s current financial reality prevented additional support for those initiatives". According to the LDOE Louisiana Believes report: 48% of Louisiana children enter school without being "kindergarten ready"; 50% of students fail to begin 4th grade on level and on time; and 42% of low income students fail to score "basic or above". I have an idea, why don't use the money that is being considered for TFA and invest in early childhood education instead? According to the report, "Early Childhood Development: Economic Development with a High Public Return", a high-ranking Federal Reserve Bank official pegs the return on investment at 12 percent, after inflation.

8) Comment by Noel Hammatt - 23/08/2012

For the record, I, like Sadow, have an anecdote! One of my professors was one of the smartest people I have ever met. Top degrees from Top Universities, every award you can imagine. Great legal scholar. Lousy teacher. Unlike Sadownm, I can't really generalize from this, just wanted to get MY anecdote out there! (And, for the record, "I, like Sadow" is NOT the same as "I like Sadow." I don't dislike him, never even met him; just pointing out that how we use words, and punctuate them, is important!

9) Comment by phil - 23/08/2012

I already said this before, but check out the IRS 990 form for Teach for America, including salaries. Wish I could be the head of a nonprofit..

10) Comment by Noel Hammatt - 23/08/2012

@jeffsadow: He never ceases to amaze us! First, the personal attack on the credibility of someone not for the veracity of their statements, but because of where she works. "Let's evaluate Beebe's input for what it is--" Wait, he should have stopped there... and we could have done what Sadow suggested, but he didn't. Instead? Argumentum ad hominem, a trademark of Sadow and others who don't have facts on their side. His argument gets even better though, for he doesn't need to look at data, and research, instead, he can just ask himself: "Self, what do I believe?" And there ya go, whizz, bam, there is the answer for all. Just ask Jeff! Gotta love the generalities from an "n" of one! He even knows the "single biggest failing in LA education." Why do we bring in all this research? Just ask Jeff!

11) Comment by tradewinns - 23/08/2012

there is no shortage of teachers and our colleges are producing more every year. don't waste the money.

12) Comment by 1ryben - 23/08/2012

@jeffshadow, I can agree with some of your statements. Grade inflation, at all levels, is a problem. I agree that teachers need to have knowledge of the subject they teach. That is why we are required to pass content knowledge Praxis exams for certification. Now, we can argue that the standards are not high enough (& I may agree), but that would speak toward a failure of the policy makers, not the teacher. Just knowing the content does it make one a good teacher. I can give you numerous examples from my own personal collegiate experience of professors with an obvious mastery of their content (highly published) but were terrible at teaching the content. Not just terrible, but down right awful. - ----To say Ms.Beebe does not have credibility because her district is only 'C' rated is highly unfair. Maybe I'm wrong (ok, probably, but set me straight if I am, I am a dumb teacher after all), the grading scale is on a bell curve or something pretty similar. Therefore the majority of districts will be graded average, or 'C'. Maybe that's why BESE constantly messes with the scale, it's to correct the bell curve. Jeff (may I call you Jeff?) I understand you may not want to give too much personal information here, but I will assume you teach at one of the local colleges or universities. How high does your institution rank? My guess, near the average at best. Am I to assume then that you have little credibility? Again, I'm a dumb teacher so please set me straight if I'm incorrect.

13) Comment by bourbon-soda - 23/08/2012

It is not difficult to find documentation that education majors have low entering standardized test scores and higher aggregate GPAs than most college graduates, so the curriculum cannot be that difficult (other than boredom). The question remains, how smart does a teacher have to be? Would it do any good to divert potential or actual engineers or doctors into teaching? Probably not.

14) Comment by jeffsadow - 23/08/2012

More and more recent information about Teach for America can be found at http://www.guidestar.org/organizations/13-3541913/teach-america.aspx. Let's evaluate Beebe's input for what it is -- if she directs personnel for only a 'C' rated district, it doesn't lend her much credibility to her if that's what she thinks is quality. My own personal experience of a quarter-century teaching the two basic courses for secondary social sciences education majors, as well as seeing education majors in some upper division classes, is that they are the weakest performers (science majors do the best, followed by business, then liberal arts, education dragging the rear -- although, interestingly, at my institution they have the highest average GPA). Part of the reason why TFA and some other organizations add value is because the education curricula stress craft over knowledge, whereas with these other organizations is they take more learned and probably brighter students. The single biggest failing in LA education and which still continues today is that teachers do not know adequately the subject areas they teach, as is driven home to me on a daily basis by the raw material showing up in my classroom. If they don't know it or know it correctly, they can't teach, which is also in part higher education's fault for the grade inflation it has encouraged and its deemphasis on stressing critical thinking (although neither is the case in my classroom, rest assured). TFA and others mitigate that to some degree by getting better students, so the money spent on that recruitment is well worth it, as the data also show.

15) Comment by 1ryben - 23/08/2012

"produced student academis growth equal to one and a half years of schooling." though I haven't found any study to support this, I'll take it for truth as most readers do because it's written in the paper, right? Is this in all subjects? All student population? Ok, maybe half of TfA'ers do this. So at the nod of one year a fifth grade student reading at a second grade level is now a sixth grader reading at a mid year third grader. This is a miracle? Again, taking the Advocate's word for it, where is the comparison data to the traditional teacher? That would certainly give the reader the information we truly need to be informed.

16) Comment by bourbon-soda - 23/08/2012

Australia's minister of education stepped in it lately by saying he didn't think most teachers had to be that smart. I agree. We do not need top college graduates as teachers. This is a waste of money.

17) Comment by 1ryben - 23/08/2012

I stand corrected.

18) Comment by Noel Hammatt - 23/08/2012

@1ryben: At the TFA Donor site they have a button that says "download our 990 Form." It is from 2009! They have been accruing net assets at the rate of 40 million a year, and for 2009 990 they had over $299 million dollars in net assets! Must be rough!

19) Comment by 1ryben - 23/08/2012

It seems as though there are many of us who are against welfare and government entitlement programs (I hate that phrase) yet, Teach for America is just that. It's a jobs program for the entitled disguised as a nonprofit. These graduates can't find a job on Wal Street or whatever and enter TfA for a few years until the job market improves. It gets better! Through grants, they get their student loans paid! Yes, your tax money pays TfA millions to in adequately train these kids, recruit these kids, and their student loans!!!

20) Comment by 1ryben - 23/08/2012

Teach For America is a nonprofit supposedly dedicated to improving education. They receive millions in donations every year. That "Teachers Rock" program a few days ago on television, yup, fundraiser for TfA. TfA is sitting on nearly $40m in profit from last year. I know, it's a nonprofit, call it something else, but they have $40m sitting in a bank doing nothing to help education.

21) Comment by 1ryben - 23/08/2012

Teachers in many districts haven't been given a raise in years. School districts have laid off personnel. School infrastructure is crumbling. Yet our TfA alum State Superintendent can find millions to support his special interest group. Hmmm....

22) Comment by 1ryben - 23/08/2012

BETTER CREDENTIALS?!? You have to be kidding! Someone who has a political science degree but can't find a job in his field taks a five week course is a better hire than someone who studied education for four years? Let's say you have two applicants to choose for an accountant position, one studied accounting for four years and has a degree in accounting and one took a five week crash course, which would you hire? Oh, your company is broke and you heve to pay $1m to the crash course provider plus over $5k for the recruitment plus the actual salary of the accountant. It gets better, in two years, you have to do the same.

23) Comment by Noel Hammatt - 23/08/2012

Imagine the outcry if your local district was paying $5250 to recruit each new teacher, and they only stayed two years! In research you CAN find, that IS listed at the TFA website, this is what it says about TFA: " analyses were also conducted to examine the persistence of TFA corps members in teaching beyond the first year. Across samples, new TFA teachers’ 5- year persistence in teaching ranged from 4% to 20%. In comparison, the 5-year persistence of new teachers with standard teaching certificates for these cohorts ranged from 62% to 65%. So, revolving door, or jobs for Louisiana's families? In fairness, the same report by the Louisiana Department of Education reported that: "Comparisons were made against all teachers, new teachers, and experienced teachers. In all cases, coefficients for TFA were positive and in 4 of 5 content areas they were statistically significantly different when compared to new teachers." But never could find ANY statements suggesting the kind of gains that Sentell reported.

24) Comment by Noel Hammatt - 23/08/2012

Overall, this is a "puff-piece" for Teach For America, masquerading as balanced journalism. One might think, from the article headline, and the numerous quotes from Lottie Beebe, member of BESE, that there was some balance in the article, yet one would be quite mistaken. As usual, Sentell carefully scripts the entire article to support the "reformers." See if you can see the pattern. By the way, compare this article to the article he wrote last year where BESE approved the contract, even after it was pointed out that Department of Education records indicated at least 600 teachers, (Louisiana teachers, often with families to support) had been laid off due to the budget cuts forced by the states cuts in support to school districts. Article can be found at http://theadvocate.com/csp/mediapool/sites/Advocate/assets/te mplates/FullStoryPrint.csp?cid=1120655&preview=y and you might have to remind yourself that it actually IS a different article. The names have changed a bit, but otherwise, it IS the same article!) Ah, the questions that arise. Nothing about the fact that Superintendent John White is a former Teach for America alumnus. Nothing about the fact that one of the current BESE members is an Executive Director for Teach For America. Nothing at all about the reason that attorneys recommended putting off the vote. Perhaps Will Sentell could enlighten us as to the title of this phantom report by the Department of Education which he reports on both years, in almost the same words. In this article Sentell writes "But a report by the state Department of Education said that, during the 2010-11 school year, nearly half of Louisiana’s Teach for America teachers produced student academic growth equal to one-and-a-half years of schooling." Last year he said "During the 2010-11 school year, nearly half of the state’s Teach For America teachers produced student academic growth equal to one and a half years of schooling, according to a report by the state Department of Education." See how he actually changes word order? Here is what is funny. Teach For America doesn't appear to highlight this report anywhere in their massive website, nor do they ever make such claims as this. I'm not saying this "report" doesn't exist, it is just that I don't seem to be able to find this claim anywhere else? Perhaps Sentell will enlighten us!!

25) Comment by spqr - 23/08/2012

TFA teachers last, at best, two to three years in the classroom before getting frustrated and quitting. I know three who resigned last year who fell into that category. There are many more. TFAs learn the hard way they are not special and cannot change the world. They learn like the veterans that teaching is a thankless job heavily scrutinized by those who have never taught. Being young, they move on... What is it about BESE that they must hire everyone from out of state? Support your own! Too much to ask?