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Teach for America: The Morning After

As yesterday's story on Teach for America rose through the ranks of the NYT's most e-mailed, bloggers picked up steam.\r\n\r\nAlexander Russo, of This...

Amanda M. Fairbanks
By Amanda M. FairbanksJan 07, 2010
Amanda M. Fairbanks
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As yesterday's story on Teach for America rose through the ranks of the NYT's most e-mailed, bloggers picked up steam.Alexander Russo, of This Week In Education, weighed in:Teach For America suggests study to gauge impact of participation on civic involvement, doesn't like results suggesting participants not more likely to be engaged in civic life, claims study doesn't measure real impact of the program. Ryan Sager at True/Slant pointed out that while the study is not yet available online (keep checking here), he doesn't buy the criticism:Most TFA grads stay involved in education and many stay in the classroom. We're not trying to make these folks better people; we're trying to improve the school system. And TFA appears to be doing that in a host of ways.And Gawker's rendition:A survey finds that idealistic youngsters who complete two years teaching at a poor school for Teach For America subsequently become burned-out cynics with "lower rates of civic involvement" than their non-TFA peers. Schools: Destroying American idealism since 1639.As the organization grows in size and in years, different research will become possible.How do you see Teach for America's influence unfolding?Photo via
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