Cobb schools debate whether to hire Teach for America

By Ty Tagami

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

To some they are an eager but green elite that dabble and move on. To others, the recent college graduates who take a shortcut into the classroom via the Teach for America program are passionate workers with a track record.

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Hyosub Shin, hshin@ajc.com Cobb schools superintendent Michael Hinojosa wants to hire 50 Teach for America teachers but the school board has questions about the effectiveness of teachers from the program.

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The program, which aims to improve education in low-income communities, is under the microscope in Cobb County. Superintendent Michael Hinojosa wants to reinforce schools on the wrong side of the achievement gap with 50 Teach for America teachers.

The school board has to approve the measure first, and the debate there last week suggests that approval is uncertain. The board is scheduled to vote Thursday on the proposal, which according to Hinojosa, will cost the district no more than the normal amount to pay teachers. Although host school systems also pay the program a $4,000 annual fee per teacher for training and counseling, Hinojosa said he's got donor commitments to cover that cost.

Cobb already uses a handful of teachers from the program, but hasn't signed on to the extent of other big metro school systems. Atlanta and Clayton, DeKalb, Fulton and Gwinnett counties all use scores of them, in some cases as many as 75, said Shyam Kumar, executive director of Teach for America in metro Atlanta.

Typically, teachers get to the classroom through extensive study of teaching and an education degree. The Teach for America program offers an alternate route: new college grads who majored in other subjects get a five-week course in teaching. Kumar says studies have shown that these boot camp grads outperform traditional teachers.

But critics point out that many of the program members leave teaching after their two-year commitment ends. And Cobb school board member Lynnda Eagle noted that there are studies casting doubt on their performance. She questioned whether five weeks is enough preparation.

"They may be elite college grads," Eagle said last week during a debate over Hinojosa's proposal. "But knowing the content doesn't mean you know how to teach." Eagle said in a later interview that the timing of the proposal was bad for teacher morale, given budgetary pressure to cut teaching positions next year.

But David Morgan, who represents the part of the county where these teachers would wind up working, said the district has to try something new.

The schools there -- South Cobb High, Pebblebrook High and their feeder middle and elementary schools -- have been lagging the rest of the district, he said, in some cases performing a grade or two behind the district average on national tests.

"There's such a huge gap in learning and we're not doing anything to address it," Morgan said. "I'm not saying we're doing a bad job. I'm saying there's a long history that suggests that we need to do better."