Teach for America (TFA) applications have ‘soared’ in recent years, according to Morgaen L. Donaldson and Susan Moore Johnson in an article that appears in the October 2011 Kappan. Along with an increase in applicants has come a growth in financial support for the program. As TFA has grown, some observers express concern about purported high teacher turnover. Research sheds some light on that assertion.
The Donaldson and Johnson report analyzed TFA teacher turnover, showing that a majority (60.5 percent) of TFA teachers continue to teach in public schools beyond their two-year commitment. More than one-third (35.5 percent) teach for more than four years. Less than 25 percent remain in their initial low-income school, but many participants transfer to teach in another school or move to another position in the field of education. By the fifth year, about 15 percent continue to teach in the low-income school to which they were assigned. The researchers did not conduct a comparison of TFA and non-TFA teacher turnover in similar high-poverty schools.
A related strand of research inquiry by Donaldson and Johnson explores career paths of TFA participants. In 2007, they surveyed three cohorts of TFA teachers (2000 through 2002) and asked about their work lives since they began teaching. The survey respondents reported whether and when they left teaching and explained why (non-TFA teachers were not surveyed). Researchers report that the majority of TFA participants continue teaching after their two-year commitment, though not always in the same school. The problem of teacher attrition from low-income schools is not unique to TFA. It occurs for teachers with a wide variety of preservice preparation. But it poses issues for school leaders seeking to create a strong and stable faculty at these schools.
Survey results show that TFA participants who had an early commitment to teaching stayed longer than other TFA peers. Not surprisingly, participants who envisioned a career in teaching and those who had completed some classes in teaching or education before they were selected for TFA were more likely to remain after two years. Based on the data, researchers report that it is likely that both prior coursework and original intentions play a role in TFA participant career decisions. However, TFA participants who had deferred graduate school in order to teach for two years were significantly more likely to leave teaching after they fulfilled their commitment than those who had not deferred graduate school.
Not all of the TFA participants who left teaching within six years abandoned the field. Some were working in education, some had positions in organizations that influence education policy, and others returned to teaching at a later time. Debunking a popular misconception that TFA is simply a means to burnish a résumé, researchers found that only about 5 percent were lawyers or medical professionals after serving as a TFA teacher.
The authors conclude that TFA teachers are not “exclusively short-term in their intentions or actions.” Many appear to use the program as a path to an extended career in teaching and other professions within education.
—“Teach For America Teachers: How long do they teach? Why do they leave?” by Morgaen L. Donaldson and Susan Moore Johnson, Kappan, October 2011.
