More on TFA alums

A friend at Teach for America added some comments about the discussion earlier this week about TFA teachers staying "only" for two years:

-- Historically, while we only ask for a two-year teaching commitment, about half of our corps members continue teaching for a third year, almost all of them in a low-income community (and most in their original placement schools). We let our partner principals know that the commitment is a floor, not a ceiling, and they should feel free to encourage corps members to stay at their schools beyond the two-year commitment.

 

-- In addition, the majority of our alumni are still working or studying full-time in education. Of our 12,000 alumni to date (some of whom joined the corps more than 15 years ago), 60-65% are still working or studying full-time in education.

 

-- We also believe it will take committed leaders working in all sectors to effectively tackle the broader systemic issues that are contributing to the achievement gap. Most of our alumni who have branched out into other sectors (e.g., law, policy, business, medicine, journalism) are still contributing to our mission in some way.