Teach For America and teacher ed: Heads they win, tails we lose

Teach For America is a program that we teacher educators love to hate. Among other things, we have argued that the program is insulting to teachers, harmful to students, and a serious threat to the viability and credibility of our own teacher preparation programs.
This paper is not another attack or another defense of Kopp’s program, nor is it an effort to assess the effectiveness of TFA teachers in promoting student learning. Instead it’s a brief analysis of the roots of TFA’s extraordinary rise as a major player in the world of educational reform and educational policy. In particular I focus on the enormous marketing advantage that TFA enjoys over teacher education programs in recruiting students into the role of teacher.
TFA is a marvel at marketing, offering elite college students a win-win option: By becoming corps members, they can do good and do well at the same time. They can do good by teaching disadvantaged students for two years, as a kind of domestic peace core stint, and then they can move on to their real life of work with high pay and high prestige. They can do well by joining a very exclusive club, TFA, where only the best apply and only the best of the best gain admission; membership will burnish their resumes by demonstrating they are highly skilled and greatly in demand while at the same time showing that they have great social concern and a willingness to serve.
TE programs are in a hopeless position in trying to compete with TFA for prospective students. They can’t provide students with the opportunity to do well, since they can offer none of the exclusiveness and cachet that comes from being accepted as a TFA corps member. Instead TE programs are cursed with a deeply rooted reputation for being the safety option (I can always teach) for college students who are less talented and less ambitious. And to make things worse, these programs require a substantial investment of student time and money just to become certified, whereas TFA corps members only need to attend an all-expenses-paid summer boot camp before vaulting into the classroom. Sure, teaching has always offered students the chance to do good, to devote themselves to public service and social improvement, but this prospect is less entrancing to prospects when presented as a lifelong career instead of two-year tour in the teacher corps. TFA’s escape clause allows graduates to do good without major personal sacrifice. More than that, it promises to be a great career booster that will pay off handsomely in future salary and status. In short, the competition between TFA and TE is a case of “heads they win, tails we lose.”
Below I examine how Teach For America has been able to market itself to students as a way to do good and do well. Then I explore some of the things about the program that teacher educators might grudgingly find to like as well as dislike. Next I examine the competitive position of teacher education in responding to TFA’s marketing appeal. And I close with some thoughts about how TFA has positioned itself in the American system of education.