The Baltimore school system has asked Teach for America, which sends thousands of recent college graduates into public schools around the nation, to nearly double the number of teachers it puts in city classrooms in the next two years if enough private money can be raised.
The ambitious plan would supply about 150 first-year teachers to classrooms from pre-kindergarten through high school next fall and in 2010, up from 90 this school year. Because Teach for America participants commit for two years, the number would rise from about 170 this year to 300 by 2010.
While that number still represents a tiny fraction of the 6,000-member teaching force in the city, school and Teach for America officials say the reach of the program extends far beyond the two years that the program's teachers are in the classroom. Some of those who began in the 1990s are now principals, administrators and leaders in reforming the city schools. Others from the program's teaching ranks are working in education nonprofit groups.
"I think of [Teach for America] as almost an instrument of reform in the district, in that the mission and the commitment of the partners is very much in line with the thrust of the reforms we are putting in place," said schools chief Andr?s Alonso. "We have surveyed principals that have used TFA before, and 97 percent would hire more if they could."
But the plan to bring 150 new recruits to Baltimore might be hampered by a lack of funding, said Omari Todd, director of the program's Baltimore office. The program will need $3.8 million to train and support that many first-year teachers for their two-year commitment (the city schools pay the teachers' salaries); it has raised all but $500,000, which it needs by the end of June. If the group cannot raise enough money, it will redeploy the teachers to other school systems. Alonso is taking steps to try to raise the money.
Teach for America participants come from some of the nation's best colleges. This year, 35,000 college seniors applied for 4,100 teaching jobs, making it almost as difficult to get into the program as it was to get into the college of their choice. And the work will be challenging. Teachers must complete a master's degree in education during their two years in the program.
