Announcing the Teach For America Truth Squad!

The Progressive Magazine and Public School Shakedown announce a major new initiative: the Teach For America Truth Squad.

As Beth Sondel, a Teach For America (TFA) expert and one of the founders of the Resist Teach For America Facebook Page explains in a lead piece: TFA "has done an unparalleled job of recruiting young adults, developing their passions for ending educational inequity, and training them to believe that market-based polices and pedagogies that increase standardized test scores are in the service of social justice."

But behind that idealistic veneer, Teach For America is doing real damage.

"TFA is no longer filling a teaching void, but instead replacing more experienced, veteran teachers in cities such as Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Kansas City . . . Washington, D.C., and now Philadelphia," Sondel writes.

"In addition, while TFA claims to be an apolitical organization, it is becoming increasingly clear that the organization's 'movement to end educational inequity' is fundamentally a movement towards corporate sponsorship, deregulation, competition, and the dismantling of teachers unions."

Along with Sondel's excellent overview, Public School Shakedown is publishing writing from Teach For America participants and alumni, as well as parents, activists, and school staff across the country, on the organization's impact in their communities.

The Teach for America Truth Squad is also developing a comprehensive compendium of articles, posts, news-clips and studies about the negative impact TFA is having on public education in America.

The Teach For America Truth Squad is the latest effort by Public School Shakedown to EXPOSE the threat of school privatization, nationwide, and CONNECT pro-public-school activists who want to defend this cornerstone of our democracy.

For more information, check out the web site: www.publicschoolshakedown.org

To add your narrative about TFA or suggest other materials that should be made available please contact the Teach For America Truth Squad Project at: http://publicschoolshakedown.org/contact

Current Article: 
Author: 
Intro Article: 
Video: 
Teach for America: