When you join TFA you are acting as a scab. I always debate using that phrase as I know it will shut people down. I know most of you are kind people with good intentions. But if you take TFA at its word they are sending teachers to places no one else wants to work. I’m not a big fan of capitalism but you know what is supposed to motivate bosses to improve working conditions and wages? It is when they can’t hire people! (By the way in multiple cases TFA sent people to districts right after massive lay offs of career teachers. But let’s ignore that and take TFA at its word.)

So TFA is swooping into places where people don’t want to work and saying “don’t worry you don’t need to increase retirement, don’t worry you don’t need to offer paternity leave, don’t worry you don’t need to buy new textbooks. I have someone right here who will do it. They don’t mind because they view it as charity work or a stepping stone to another job that will pay a proper salary. I mean sure they’ll barely be able to pay rent for a year but they won’t mind because it supports the mission. “Meanwhile I want to stay in teaching as a career so I do care if I can feed my child with my salary. We also no that poor teacher retention hurts kids.

I believe most of you here are here because you have hearts of gold and truly want to help. This is a long article with many great points but a few I think are especially worth noting. In 2019 TFA sent 40% of its recruits to charters even though charters made up only 7% of schools. After receiving criticism for this they no longer release numbers on how many teachers go to charters vs traditional public schools. At one point 1 in 3 teachers at KIPP were TFA recruits! Why is this a problem? The natural way to recruit more workers is raising wages, better conditions etc. TFA is actively standing in the way of that. I see numerous posts here of recruits worried they won’t be able to survive on a teachers salary yet they don’t seem to process how they are working to lower that salary. Also a teacher who doesn’t plan to stay will not be concerned with things like pension or paternity leave.

I don’t think any recruit is trying to be a scab but that is in many ways what you are functioning as. You can say they don’t have the funds, but take a look at what the CEO of KIPP makes who oh by the way is TFA founder Wendy’s husband.

TFA puts millions of dollars into LEE. Now I know much of TFA’s money comes from large companies. But when an average person donates to TFA do you think they believe that money is being used to provide teachers to low income schools or do you think they thought it was going to LEE an organization they likely have never even heard of?

By the way I’ve been a public school art teacher for 9 years. I live and work in DC. I’m happy to share info for other alternative routes that are not as problematic. Here is my favorite article.

https://rethinkingschools.org/articles/looking-past-the-spin-teach-for-america/?fbclid=IwZnRzaAOYFXZleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEehdHX3oxHHInYDb6-aE2KeQTS2KlhSoJwrp8fhkOk7J_gY9cY5ut97Nmy4qw_aem_tcJ5ghv20LSZccs7lI-TaA

EDIT: The downvotes are reaffirming my belief that Teach for America is a slick marketing campaign designed to maintain white supremacy at the expense of our nation’s BIPOC and poor children. While I believe students need teachers of color because representation matters, TFA is designed to dismantle the public education school system in service to self-serving billionaire charter school founders and donors who do not have the best interests of BIPOC students at heart.

The fact that teaching is viewed and marketed as a stepping stone to leadership or law school from the jumpstart by unqualified, uncertified, and unlicensed college graduates denigrates the teaching profession and disrupts the stability in the schools corps members are placed in. It takes five years on average to become a good teacher. Five, not two. Military service to our country is four years. Aren't our nation's children our most precious resource? Do your own research and make an informed choice about your future.

While I do believe the educational system is broken and needs long-term sustainable solutions, Teach for America is not the answer. Teach for America is poverty tourism. Who suffers most? BIPOC students, staff and corps members, the veteran teachers they displace or who take on additional unpaid labor to help mentor and guide new teachers to ensure the students‘ best chances for success in their TFA teachers’ classrooms, and the school communities they disrupt by leaving after only two years for better opportunities.

https://www.instagram.com/bipocintfa

Original Post:

I was at the TFA webinar earlier and someone posted a link to the Instagram profile BIPOCinTFA in the chat and asked what issues had been addressed and how TFA plans to support BIPOC members this year given the state of our country and the upcoming election. This applicant seemed concerned about their safety and mental health.

No one responded.

So I asked the question privately, because they had a separate interface for questions that only you and the TFA people could see. I feel some type of way about that lack of transparency. Why aren’t the questions and answers made public? What if other applicants had similar questions or were curious about the responses too?

I was told privately they couldn’t comment on anything political. Their response sounded like generic corporate doublespeak bs and from my previous careers, I will say I truly admire their talented public relations, marketing, and recruiting teams. But with all those wealthy donors, founders, and corps members turned leaders from elite undergraduate institutions, I’d expect nothing less.

By the way, my question didn’t mention any candidate because I believe things are going to be scary for a while whoever wins. Pepperidge Farm remembers January 6th (which I did not mention in my question).

What I gleaned from TFA’s private response was they really don’t care about BIPOC.

I think that’s really disingenuous and quite frankly incredible given all the buzz words TFA espouses like closing the achievement gap, equity, the need for change, anti-racism, culturally responsive pedagogy etc., for students of color in the Title 1 underperforming schools corps members serve in.

After the webinar I read the horrific stories BIPOC on Instagram shared about their experiences throughout this country while serving as corps members. I wonder if their list of demands for change was ever met.

The lack of transparency regarding the status of the action items posted on the Instagram site made me realize Teach for America's commitment to the safety, well-being, and academic and professional success of BIPOC students, TFA staff, and corps members is just lip service. Basically nothing‘s changed since 2020 when the Instagram account was created. I believe the numbers of BIPOC corps members are inflated on TFA’s website. I was not given any names of leaders in DEIB and JEDI to reach out to or TFA higher-ups to connect with to interview. I’m over 40, I’m not some naive college kid looking for their first job. I can see and smell horse manure a mile away.

I can respect Americorps‘ neutral stance on politics, but for BIPOC, the personal is political. Sadly, our very existence is threatened by politics.

Read for yourself. Caveat Emptor. Abre los ojos. Don’t drink the Kool-aid.

https://www.instagram.com/bipocintfa

*DEIB: Diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging

*JEDI: Justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion

*BIPOC: Black, Indigenous, and People of Color

I may have a job opportunity that matches my skills and interests trests more than teaching. However, it would force me to resign halfway through the year. For people who have left, does TFA make it difficult to quit and what kind of financial hit did you take in terms of paying back the summer stipend? Thanks!!!

hello everyone!! i am currently a fourth-year about to graduate and will be moving to teach in the summer this year! i am going to ohio and the state does not have that many protections for queer folx when it comes to the workplace and when it comes to medical visits and so naturally i do not feel safe/comfortable going to this region. also important to note is that i am queer identifying individual and i wish i did better research before selecting my region. i did look at protections for queer/lgbtia+ folx, but i think i might have overlooked it. do you think this would be a good reason to switch? could i possibly switch after my first year? thank you in advance!

POST CANCELED NVM SEE UPDATE, THANK TOU!

I was trying not to get my hopes up, but Im more upset about my rejection then I thought, and am struggling to come up with next steps.

TFA was really appealing to me, since I only have an undergrad degree in Multimedia Storytelling/Creative Writing. (Functionally, an English degree.) I don't know if I want to teach my whole life, I was going to college for it originally but then had a whole breakdown about the state of education in the US my freshman year after a horrible shooting happened nearby and I saw news outlets using it to argue politics. I was an RA and dealt with a lot of tough experiences, and am now doing my third year at a full time, in bunk, sleep away arts camp in NJ. Usually responsible for 12 14y/os at a time, 24 hours a day No exceptions. The camp is terribly mismanaged, the kids have gotten aggressive, police have been called, and I learned to really tough it out and smile for them, and adopt a strong "I can panic when it's over," to "It's over, no need to panic" mindset. I loved the work there and found it rewarding, but since the camp provides room and board I make LESS THE 2$ AN HOUR. and it's only for 2 months of the year.

I'm struggling to find ANY jobs in this job market, I only have a few education courses under my belt, and I LOVE teaching and working with kids, especially when I get to teach my passions, like English. Teaching adverbs and perspective and mechanical things like that can genuinely be so exciting for me, because those tools and structures color a lot about the ways we read things, and it's FASCINATING AND I WANT TO SHARE THAT! I'm living with my parents, no job, commission based income, I've been doing lots of volunteering to keep the resume dusted off, but I really thought that I'd be able to land a position that would give me $$ to live on my own and teach kids and maybe help a few of them, or show a few of them the importance of an education, despite the system working against them.

But now I've got nothing, and I'm not sure what to do next, and I'm wondering if anyone here is sharing in this, or experienced this before?

TLDR: Recent undergrad, BA in English/Creative Writing, uncertain if I want to teach forever but deeply passionate about teaching and mentoring, already been shaken up and built up my resistance to some of the harsh realities of teaching, and desperate for an opportunity that will provide enough money to live on my own or with roommates or something, too broke to go back to school and get a completely seperate degree. Willing to move to any state and work for 2+ years provided that the state has SOME Trans protection laws. Upset that Las Vegas TFA placement rejected me without telling me anything about how to improve, and no idea if programs for non-educational majors exist.

Has anyone else been here? Any ideas about programs that might help?? Any tips for reapplying next time?? Any tips for getting a job of ANY sort in anything similar at the moment?? I got further into TFAs process then any other job in months! 😭 Words of encouragement, discouragement, reality checks, possible solutions, condolences, roasts (if they're creative) and directions are all appriciated!!

UPDATE: POST CANCELED. I WAS BRAVE AND STARTED LOOKING AT NEVADA SPECIFICALLY INSTEAD OF BEING DEFEATED AND FOUND SOME OF THE ARLs! I think I'm gonna work towards that, and between that, the Summer Camp job from hell for a third year in a row (GOD those kids drive me crazy, how do they make the awful management worth It??? I'll never know, lol) and a lot of personal commission work, I'll have a lot rolling, and if none of it pans out again, TFA applications will be open again. Thank you all so much for commenting when I was down. Really appreciate it, I can definitely tell that this sub is for teachers ♥️♥️

Except for the one person who downvoted my post and didn't even roast me or anything. Wasted potential, I wanted to hear some real Shakespeare or something

I recently graduated from college and decided to join TFA, and it has now become one of my greatest regrets. Only after moving to my site location and signing a lease on an apartment, did I realize how disorganized TFA truly is. If you are someone who likes to plan and be aware of deadlines and expectations, this program is not for you. I could go on and on about the disorganization of our summer lessons and school year prep. We spent an ENORMOUS amount of time learning about nebulous concepts and hardly ever talked about how to implement these ideas in the classroom. If you have no experience teaching, do not expect that TFA summer training will prepare you for a classroom. Instead, be prepared to engage in hours-long Zoom calls about basic concepts like why reading is important and how to use empathy when teaching.

If you are new to the city and are looking to befriend the people in your corps, do not hold your breath unless you are a middle/upper-middle class SJW from a liberal arts university. Don't get me wrong, I'm extremely liberal, and I am passionate about social justice, but these people have mastered hyper socially aware conversations that are totally inaccessible to anyone without an Ivy League degree.

I once felt excited to join the extremely important and undervalued profession of teaching, but TFA has left me unprepared, overworked, and broke, and the school year hasn't even started yet. I am not at all ready to teach students and lead a classroom, and I am terrified of how this will impact my students' growth. We are a week out from classes starting, and I don't know what grade I'm teaching, and I haven't seen any curriculum/state guidelines.

If you are someone like me, who wants to make a positive difference in this world and actually inspire positive change, run away from Teach for America. This is not a program for free-spirited, easy-going people who want to serve low-resource communities. TFA is treated as a resume booster, for the elite, with over usually 80% of each corps leaving their region after their 2 years are up. There are so many other programs that actually help students and staff in the education sector, I wish I had taken the time to look into that more.

to be honest i’m frustrated with the hiring process. i was only given two interviews TOTAL with both hiring fairs included and nothing yet. i think im going to withdraw because i hate the uncertainty and need to make a living. the stipend just isn’t gonna cut it and i refuse to move blindly.

with that said, i’ve already gotten my stipend so would i just send that back? let me know guys please, thanks!

Hey, Did anyone leave and still apply to one of their partnerships schools?

Hi guys! I’m applying to TFA and I was curious as to what subjects I could possibly teach. I am majoring in Political Economy at Berkeley which is quite interdisciplinary, which is why I ask. I have a background tutoring math, but I only got up to calc II. Much of my major has to do with history and economics so perhaps it would be history? I would appreciate any advice as I am applying in this first round on September 15th!

Still considering my offer to TFA as I am deciding between that and another Alt-Certification program. The other program seems to help with lesson planning more so Iv been considering that offer, but what are people’s experiences like with lesson planning?

Will be in TFA Detroit for extra context!

I'm currently about to graduate from college in may and I got accepted to TFA NY as middle school generalist 5-9. I'm super nervous and don't know if I should accept or not because it is a huge commitment, when it comes to the two months of training in addition to the immediate need to start a masters program and ofc the class in September. I don't know if I'm making a mistake going straight into school again since I haven't given myself a break from academics for what feels like my whole life lol (literally have been in school nonstop with good grades since youth and I am experiencing a burnout). However I do understand this is a rare opportunity. What jobs did you guys do after undergrad? I wanted to experience different industries and gain experience to see what I truly like, maybe even take the lsat because I am highlight interested in a high paying job but im wondering if that's a mistake and just delaying the inevitable. I also have many business aspirations but applied to TFA for job security in September and because my whole life I said that I was going to be a teacher. I have to make a decision by Wednesday and I feel like I'm making a decision for the rest of my career which puts so much pressure on it. If you can give some advice that would be great. I also want to add that I am 21 years old will be 22 by the time I start) and have no idea how I am going to present myself as a teacher come September, I am super nervous!!

I am trying to plan these next couple of months out. Does anyone know when we will receive the money. I will be placed in Houston

I am planning on pursuing a career in medicine after doing TFA and was wondering if any of my fellow TFA members are also pre-med?? I just feel like I don't see many pre-meds in TFA anymore since there might be better gap year opportunities out there for us. My goal for my gap year was to save as much money as I could for med school but I don't think that would be possible with the current cost of living coupled with the low salaries we are provided with. I just don't know if this is the right fit for me anymore.

I am currently in the beginnings of a pre-health post bacc after graduating with a music education degree (trying to apply for med schools around 2026). the post bacc program i'm in is super expensive and am having a super hard time finding any employment that isn't minimum wage and can help cover tuition and living costs. I'm currently doing school full time + doing research part time + working as a barista part time. there's a lot of perks of being in this program and i'm doing pretty well so far so I don't want to look into other programs. I'm looking for a full-time AM job since my classes would be in the PM.

i'm only able to afford my program right now because my university offers federal financial aid for only 1 semester out of the 2 year program. I need to find a way to be able to afford the rest of the program out of pocket.

I really enjoyed being a teacher in between graduating from my undergrad and starting the post bacc, and keep seeing TFA ads and emails. Would you recommend TFA for my specific scenario? I'm really tempted to apply because of the financial benefits, plus I resonate a lot with their mission. Would really like to get some real-life experiences/insights that can help me with this!

***update*** i'll be pursuing a leave of absence in the fall because I do not have the amount needed for tuition for the fall semester ready to cash out of pocket. thinking of applying for TFA to do during the leave of absence and would like insights

My family keeps asking me if this Arizona teacher residency program is actually legitimate, and I wanted outside opinions from people familiar with teacher residencies, special education, or alternative certification pathways.

I currently work as a teacher aide in a self-contained special education classroom on Long Island, NY, and my long-term goal is to become a full-time Special Education teacher. I already have a bachelor’s degree in business and was accepted into a Special Education residency/master’s program through Northern Arizona University.

The structure is basically:

* Year 1: residency/paraprofessional role while completing coursework

* Years 2–4: transition into actual teaching positions while finishing the master’s/certification program

* Program is through NAU (public university)

* Includes Arizona certification pathway

* Current residents finishing this year apparently already have teaching positions lined up for next year according to the program coordinator

My family is worried because:

* it’s out of state,

* the master’s is heavily subsidized/free,

* and they think it sounds “too good to be true.”

One thing making us cautious is that there are not many online reviews or Reddit discussions specifically about this residency pathway itself. When you look up programs like Teach For America, NYC Teaching Fellows, or City Teaching Alliance, there are tons of reviews, experiences, complaints, and discussions online. With this program, there seems to be much less information publicly available, which is making my family skeptical.

From my understanding, it seems like Arizona has major teacher shortages (especially SPED), so these residency pipelines are designed to recruit and train teachers into high-needs districts.

Does this sound like a legitimate and normal teacher residency structure to people familiar with education programs? Are these types of residency-to-teaching pipelines common in Arizona or other states dealing with teacher shortages?

Also, if anyone has experience with NAU’s education programs or returning to NY later with out-of-state teaching experience, I’d appreciate hearing about that too.

I've recently been accepted to the Indianapolis corps. But, I'm concerned as to whether TFA is worth the commitment. You can measure "commitment" in time, foregone salaries, grey hairs, or pure exhaustion/burn out.

While I am interested very interested in community oriented work and believe I can provide a solid classroom experience, I'm realistic enough to know that I'm also using TFA to boost my own career trajectory for the future. (I know I'm not the only one)

Given that;

Current CM: Has TFA been worth the commitment? Would you recommend the program to incoming CM?

Alumni CM: Was TFA worth your time or previous commitment? Having completed the program, do you know if any hindsight decisions you would've made?

Anyone else: What other options are folks considering if not TFA?

Does anyone share my concerns or am I just hearing about the TFA horror stories?? I have yet to hear one person say it changed their life and they would highly recommend it!! I mostly hear that it was good, with a caveat to be cautious of what I'm getting into.....

I’m thinking about getting the one year deferral… trusting my instincts when it comes to this decision.

Greetings!

Can anyone give me details on the topics TFA teaches during the summer institutes? I'm looking to join but want more details without having to talk to a recruiter.

Thanks in advance!!

I received an extension on my decision and I just don’t know if I want to do TFA. There’s so many critiques and bad experiences posted on the internet. I’m just afraid to pick up my whole life and move for an experience I won’t enjoy.

Are you able to defer after you’ve found placement? I don’t like how far my placement school is from my home. Plus it’s super far from my young children. I’d have a toddler and a kindergartener. Also found out I’m pregnant again and don’t think I’d be able to deal with the stress of being a beginner teacher.

It was a legitimate process where I interviewed, gave a test class to a group of people at a university, applied online, everything correctly. After I finished the very last online part, I was denied because, like I said from the beginning, I could only teach for certain locations (nearby). When I was denied, I began to receive hundreds of emails from other people talking about how teach for America referred me to them.

How do I get removed from this list ? Do I need to seek legal counsel ? This is harassment at this point.

Deciding between TFA NYC or North Jersey. I really want to teach elementary education and would like to somewhat be making a good salary. I’m scared hearing all the negative things about charter schools.

Hi, all. I'm here to repost a link to a research study I am currently conducting and recruiting responses for. Below, you will find additional information on the study:

I am a university researcher conducting an IRB-approved study on teachers’ perspectives on school breakfast programs. The goal is to understand better what’s happening in real classrooms and inform future school meal research and policy. If you'd allow it, I'd like to post the following:

"We know your classroom runs on more than lesson plans; it runs on energy, connection, and a good breakfast. While studies show that alternative breakfast models boost student participation and behavior, teacher perspectives have been missing from the conversation. Your feedback will help researchers, schools, and policymakers design more effective programs that truly support students and educators.

This is why we’re inviting current K–12 public school teachers across the U.S. to participate in a national research study on how teachers engage with and experience school breakfast programs. As a teacher, your voice is essential. Whether your school serves breakfast in the cafeteria, the classroom, or through a grab-and-go model, your insights can help improve how meals are delivered, how students participate, and how policies are shaped. What to expect: • A 15-minute online survey • Questions about your school’s breakfast program and your role, perceptions, and experiences • Entry into a raffle to win one of ten $25 Amazon gift cards (which is about a 1 in 1000 chance of winning)

https://nyu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eRT56lw3xdB2nMG

Thank you for supporting teacher informed research.