Highmarks

Education | Teach for America is growing, but union-influenced policies keep it from doing more | Alisa Harris

Elizabeth Venechuk in Washington (AP/Photo by Brendan Hoffman)

It is morning at Community School 211 in the Bronx, New York, and teacher Sarah Brickley is talking to her third-grade students about taking pride in their work. Chattering in a mix of Spanish and English, they're enthusiastically suggesting motivational tools—including ice cream, remote control cars, and "30 hours of free time."

"Thirty minutes," she corrects. But free time doesn't start now. She assigns them to tables and sits with a reading group, keeping the kids—two wriggling boys and one shy girl—firmly engaged with questions that build their English vocabulary.

Brickley, who got her bachelor's degree in journalism and Spanish at New York University, is part of a program called Teach for America (TFA), which recruits elite college graduates to spend two years teaching public-school students in high-poverty communities. The program has burgeoned from 2,500 applicants in 1990 to 35,000 applicants last year.

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June 06, 2009, Vol. 24, No. 11

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