CYPRUS MAIL Wednesday, August 22, 2 2012
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Education
Success for Education UK Clearing Exhibition 2012 THE British Council organised an Education UK Clearing Exhibition on Friday August 17 to give prospective undergraduate students, who had not managed to secure a place at a university, the opportunity to meet and discuss with university representatives of 19 UK universities and gain a place for studies commencing this September. The exhibition took place at Golden Bay Beach Hotel in Larnaca and was visited by hundreds of prospective students. The fact that a good number of students left the exhibition very happy as they managed to be offered a place on the spot indicates the successfulness of this exhibition. The exhibition was sponsored by Unite Group and the participating Institutions were: The University of Bolton, University of Bradford, University Campus Suffolk, Canterbury Christ Church, University of Central Lancashire, Cardiff University, University of Derby, University of East Anglia, University of Glamorgan, University of Greenwich (London), The University of Hull, The University of Manchester, London Metropolitan University, University of Northampton, Nottingham College International (A Part of South Nottingham College), Nottingham Trent University, Richmond the
Fresh graduates are able to offer different things to pupils than teachers
American International University in London, University of Salford and University of Wolverhampton. IF you’re leaving to study in the UK don’t miss the opportunity to learn all about student life in the UK before you go at the Pre-departure Briefing on Friday August 31 at 6pm at Classic Hotel in Nicosia. The British Council organises pre-departure briefings to provide students all they need to know for living and studying in the UK. The briefing is designed to provide students with practical information on preparing for their journey, tips on travelling to their destination, organisations that can help and advise them during their stay in UK as well as banking and accommodation. The briefing also covers teaching and learning information at UK institutions and assessment methods. Students currently studying in the UK will also be there, ready to share the exciting experiences they had with new students. Participation Fee is €35 per student accompanied by one family member. For more information contact British Council, 1-3 Aristotelous Street, Nicosia, Tel: 22 585000, enquiries@ cy.britishcouncil.org
Success: visitors to the Clearing Exhibition
Has Teach for America betrayed its mission? Academic gains achieved by its teachers are questioned By Stephanie Simon WHEN Wendy Kopp, just out of Princeton, founded Teach for America in 1989, she dreamed of recruiting 500 elite college graduates to teach the nation’s neediest children. This autumn Teach for America will send 10,000 teachers into classrooms. The nonprofit orgnisation boasts $300 million in assets and collects tens of millions a year in public funds. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan praises it for having “made teaching cool again.” And TFA veterans have emerged as the most influential leaders of a bipartisan education reform movement. But critics contend that policies promoted by TFAtrained reformers threaten to damage the very schools they once set out to save. They argue, too, that TFA’s relentless push to expand has betrayed its founding ideals. The organisation that was launched to serve public schools so poor or dysfunctional they couldn’t attract qualified teachers now sends fully a third of its recruits to privately run charter schools, many with stellar academic reputations, flush budgets and wealthy donors. Meanwhile, TFA has backed away from a claim that nearly half its teachers achieve outstanding academic gains with students, leaving the pivotal question of its effectiveness unresolved. Camika Royal, who taught for TFA and has worked for them in various capacities for 13 years, says she once believed the organisation’s goal was to strengthen troubled schools. Now she fears it is feeding a perception that public education is in ruins, and only an elite cavalry can rescue America’s children. In the early years, TFA nearly collapsed several times from insolvency. Then it began to land grants from cor-
porations and foundations. Among its biggest funders: the Walton family, heirs to the Walmart fortune. Kopp supervises 1,800 employees - including a small army of recruiters. Eager to bring in more low-income and minority candidates, TFA no longer sticks to elite colleges; recruiters also urge veterans and mid-career professionals to apply. The recruits are paid a standard starting salary by their school district during their two-year teaching stint. To offset costs, TFA requires each district that hires its teachers to pay it a negotiated fee, typically $2,000 to $5,000 per teacher per year. Before
study noted. Students in TFA classes did better in math than their peers, gaining the equivalent of an extra month of instruction, though they still ranked in the bottom fifth of students nationally. TFA teachers had no impact on reading. TFA says the best indication of its success is its annual survey of principals. About 90 per cent report that TFA rookies on their staff are at least as good as veteran teachers. Nearly half say they’re better. Conventional teacher training programmes require hundreds of hours of student teaching. TFA recruits teach one summer-school class a
‘I’m here to tell these kids that they have potential. They haven’t been told that before’ agreeing to send recruits to a region, TFA often lines up additional subsidies from local businesses, philanthropies or state government. Teachers’ unions and some community leaders argue that public money could be better spent at a time when schools are laying off teachers and cutting academic programmes. TFA supporters disagree. “It’s an incredibly good investment,” said John White, a TFA alumnus who now runs the education department in Louisiana. External research has been decidedly mixed. TFA touts a 2004 study by Mathematica Policy Research Inc in which nearly 2,000 students in 17 low-performing elementary schools were randomly assigned a TFA recruit or another teacher. Many teachers in the control group at these troubled schools were not well-trained, the
day for four weeks, not necessarily in the subject area or age group they will be handling in school. Veteran teachers observe from the back but do not intervene (though some can’t resist holding up notes urging the rookies to explain a point more clearly or discipline a wayward student). TFA recruits teach everything from phonics to physics to special education for the learning disabled. About 90 per cent complete their two-year commitment, TFA reports. TFA’s rapid growth has left it “scrambling for every placement,” Kopp said. Increasingly, that’s meant sending recruits to charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately managed. TFA placed 33 per cent of recruits in charters last year, up from 13 per cent in 2007-8. Critics, led by unionised teachers, find TFA’s embrace
of charters troubling. They point out that the charters with the strongest academic results often have vastly more resources than neighbourhood schools, thanks to deep-pocketed donors. They serve predominantly low-income kids, but as a whole their populations tend to be less disadvantaged and more motivated. When these charter students ring up good test scores, nearby public schools look increasingly bad by comparison, which can feed momentum to shut them down, fire their teachers, or turn them over to private management. Kopp says there was an intense debate at TFA about placing recruits in charters. She ultimately concluded it was wise. TFA refuses to accept poverty as an excuse for poor results, arguing that any kid can succeed if teachers demand and relentlessly pursue excellence. “I’m here to tell these kids that they have potential. They haven’t been told that before,” said Hsuanwei Fan, 22, who will be teaching science in Los Angeles. “When you experience success with a group of students who typically are assumed to not be able to achieve at high levels... it becomes impossible to accept when other people make excuses,” said Kevin Huffman, who taught five and six-year-olds in Houston for TFA in the early 1990s. Huffman recalls he worked ferociously, 60 and more hours a week, to boost his students’ test scores. That was possible for a driven 22-yearold who knew he would only be teaching a few years. It would be much harder, he acknowledged, for a mid-career teacher with a family. Still, Huffman remains convinced the lessons he learned at TFA can transform public education, if he can just figure out how to scale them. It is, he said, “a heck of a challenge.”