Teach For America In Big Trouble?

After the Teach For America (TFA) has had trouble meeting recruitment goals for a while, now the organization seems to be in bigger trouble. The long-popular organization is cutting 15 percent of its national staff.

According to The Washington Post, Teach For America received millions in private philanthropy and in federal funds from the Obama administration. Now, the organization faces growing criticism of its practice of recruiting new college graduates, training them for five weeks in the summer and sending them in some of America's most needy schools.

Diane Ravitch, an education writer and activist, reports in a post on her blog some insights from a high-level TFA insider, describing some troubles in the organization. For the second year in a row, TFA did not meet its recruiting target, despite the impressive celebration at TFA's 25th Anniversary Summit held last month in Washington DC.

TFA laid off employees the first time in its history in 2015, and now it's happening again. This time around, something appears to be different. TFA is not firing just the rank and file staff employees, like they did in Spring 2015. This year the layoffs go all the way up.

The Chief Diversity Officer (OCDO) will be eliminated in September, according to the announcement made by the CEO Elisa Villanueva. Diversity is one of the TFA's core values. However, the decision to eliminate the OCDO comes only months after the new chief diversity officer was announced, despite organization's self-professed commitment to diversity.

A former TFA corps member who is now an assistant professor at the University of Colorado has questioned another aspect of TFA. Terrenda White says that the diversity gains achieved by TFA have come at the expense of teachers of color. In the very cities where the organization has expanded, the number of teacher of color has declined drastically. The article is published in a special issue of the Education Policy Analysis Archives.