Adding to the Ranks of Our State's Top Teachers
Op-ed by Foundation President & CEO Neil D. Steinberg
Providence Journal, November 23, 2009
Chances are, if you’re a college student or recent graduate, you’ve heard of Wendy Kopp. Teach For America, the organization she founded, received more than 35,000 applications last year from young people aspiring to become entry-level teachers in underserved schools across the country. Among these applicants were 230 college seniors in Rhode Island, including 14 percent of the Brown graduating class and four percent of seniors at Providence College.
I hope we’ll all be hearing more about Teach For America soon, because the organization is considering an expansion to Rhode Island. Ms. Kopp is visiting our city this week, raising awareness of the educational disparities in our nation, where fourth graders in economically disadvantaged areas are two to three grade levels behind their peers in wealthier areas. These disparities disproportionately affect children of color, who are three times as likely to live in a low-income community. While acknowledging this grim reality, Teach For America focuses on the potential of all children to learn at the highest levels. After 20 years of recruiting, training, and supporting teachers in underserved schools, the organization is convinced that educational inequity is a solvable problem. And The Rhode Island Foundation – with our focus on improving public education in the state – believes that the time is right for Teach For America to become part of the solution in our schools.
As evidenced by its application numbers, Teach For America is building momentum and attracting some of our brightest young leaders into the education field. Today, 7,300 Teach For America teachers are influencing student achievement in 35 regions across the country. Teaching remains the single most popular career choice for the program’s 17,000 alumni, nearly two-thirds of whom continue to work full-time in education. Rhode Island students will surely benefit if we welcome Teach For America into our schools and bolster the ranks of teaching talent already working in our state.
The need is certainly great here in Rhode Island, where one in six children lives in poverty. Only 12 percent of our state’s low-income 11th graders are proficient in math, and only 53 percent are proficient in reading; these young people are about one-third less likely to perform at grade level in reading and two-thirds less likely to perform at grade level in math than their more affluent peers. Teach For America would provide our schools an additional source of gifted new teachers who enter the classroom prepared to raise student achievement levels. The positive impact of these teachers has been confirmed by research studies in Louisiana, New York City, North Carolina, and elsewhere.
In addition, Teach For America can help us retain homegrown talent and strengthen our schools over the long term. Teach For America fosters the leadership of its alumni, providing a pipeline of school and district leaders, social entrepreneurs, policymakers, and others who are committed to educational excellence and equity. Jeremy Chiappetta (New York Corps ’95), founder and head of Democracy Prep Blackstone Valley, a charter school serving low-income students, is one example of this powerful leadership in action.
On a practical note, partnering with Teach For America will strengthen our state’s chances in the competition for federal Race to the Top education funding. Race to the Top is a $4.35 billion competitive grant program that encompasses the largest amount of discretionary funding ever controlled by a U.S. secretary of education. The grants will reward states that show evidence of past progress and future plans for improvement, including increasing the number of highly effective teachers in underserved schools. With a recent grant of $75,000, The Rhode Island Foundation is supporting Commissioner Deborah Gist’s critical efforts to position Rhode Island as a contender for these federal dollars.
We have made progress here in Rhode Island; a new report by the Center on Education Policy indicates that we are narrowing the achievement gaps between low-income, African American, and Latino students and their more affluent and white peers. There are signs of hope in communities like Central Falls, where Superintendent Frances Gallo has shown extraordinary leadership and in Providence, where Superintendent Thomas Brady has hit the ground running. Union President Marcia Reback specifically noted the importance of rigorous evaluations to improving teacher quality when the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers and Health Professionals received its recent national grant of $200,000 to develop a highly demanding method of evaluating and mentoring new teachers. And state legislators had the vision to help fund new charter schools and the new Mayoral Academy.
Now is the time to build on these promising developments and partnerships by welcoming Teach For America into our highest-need classrooms. Let’s take to heart the organization’s conviction that educational equity is within our grasp, and operate with urgency and accountability to make it so. With the right commitment, investment, and community support, we can provide all of our children with the excellent education they deserve, ensuring the state’s robust economic future.
Neil D. Steinberg is president and chief executive officer of the Rhode Island Foundation, the state’s community foundation.
More on the Foundation's support of Teach for America