Various Impacts Of Teach For America In Our Region

By Emma Alford, The Delta Statement

Monday and Tuesday of last week, faculty members organized and met on campus to start a research group that will take a look at the various impacts of Teach for America in our region.

About four weeks ago, a decision was made to create more opportunities for research on campus and one of the themes decided upon was Teach for America. Dean of Graduate and Continuing Studies, Dr. Albert Nylander, pushed for this topic and is leading the research group. He said the group is open to any faculty members that are interested.

“I want minds from various disciplines to participate in a study like this,” said Dr. Nylander.  Around 40 faculty members attended the meetings which were held over two days. Those that attended came from a number of different departments on campus.

This was the first time for those who wished to get involved to come together and discuss the possible aims and goals of the project.  Dr. Nylander said potential questions for the group to consider include the educational impact of TFA on Delta students, the social change it brings to the Delta, and the economical and business-related impact it has on the community. He also wishes to closely examine the program of TFA itself. Dr. Nylander said he would like to look at how it is funded and managed, how TFA recruits compare to local teachers and how its educational forces can be increased. Dr. Nylander said that TFA is very protective of its data, so coming up with the university’s own data is important in this project. He also said that many topics can be examined through the concepts of social networking and power, which they plan to do.

Although Dr. Nylander has set out a rough set of guidelines, he doesn’t wish for anyone in the study to feel confined to a particular topic.

“I want us to lead a research group in a way we haven’t done before on campus,” said Nylander.

Dean of the College of Education, Dr. Leslie Griffin, said, “Typically, faculty interests center on questions and issues that help us as a university and, more specifically, as a college, to address the needs of our region. These could range from how programs impact student learning to teacher efficacy and retention.” A close look will also be taken to analyze the short 

term versus the long term effects of the program.

Dean of Graduate and Continuing Studies

Adam Nylander, Dean of Graduate and Continuing Studies 

TFA first placed teachers in the Delta in 1991 and has had a growing number here since then. This past summer, around 600 TFA students were on campus which totaled around people 800 with their staff included. This was the first time for a TFA training institute to be in the Delta, or any rural location. The selection process into the program weeded out nearly 30,000 applicants, leaving only 4,100 chosen for the program this summer. The majority of them came from urban areas and about 11 percent of those chosen came from Ivy League schools to learn and teach in a rural environment.  The research group plans to analyze the impact of that on Delta students, the TFA recruits, and the community as a whole.

One faculty member attending the meeting said, “if Teach for America was finding incredible results, we’d be hearing more about it.”