Wendy Kopp '89's senior thesis project, Teach for America, is enjoying its highest success rate in its 12-year history — but that success has not reached close to home.
TFA, a national corps of recent college graduates who commit two years to teaching in urban and rural public schools, received a record-setting 14,000 applications this year for its team of teachers, but only 22 came from the University. And of those 22, only six accepted positions. The University did not even rank among the top 25 schools to send corps members.
But Shannon Donnelly '03 is working hard to improve the University's numbers. As the TFA campaign coordinator — a position that has existed in past years but recently has become more visible — Donnelly aims to increase student awareness of the program and to recruit participants.
Last Monday, armed with the program's pamphlets and a three-panel display board, Donnelly went to the Organization of Women Leaders' first meeting of the year and delivered a presentation to a packed room in Murray-Dodge Hall.
"There is really no way other than Teach For America to make such significant and immediate impact on the world and especially on the lives of children growing up today," Donnelly told the crowd.
Donnelly emphasized that participating in TFA would prepare a graduate for any career, not just a job in education.
"Organizations like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley value the experience and leadership skills of Teach for America corps members and consider them strongly for employment," Donnelly said. She added that many graduate programs — including that of the University's Wilson School — offer a two-year deferral to students admitted to their programs who want to participate in Teach for America first.
Donnelly speculated most Princetonians overlook Teach for America because they are tempted by so many other options — both in the private sector and in public service.
"When it comes to these service projects, Princeton grads tend to gravitate toward projects like Project '55 or they pursue an SVC [Student Volunteers Council] fellowship. Many students, I think, aren't even aware of Teach for America as an option, or they have misconceptions about what it is."
John Webb, director of the teacher preparation program — an educational track unaffiliated with TFA — said he thought graduates' minimal involvement in TFA might be related to the stigma attached to the teaching profession in the eyes of ambitious Ivy Leaguers.
"Students in many of the nation's top schools deal with a certain pressure particularly from parents and, to some extent from peers, that goes like this: 'If you attend Princeton University, you should go on to do more with your life than teaching,' " Webb said.
"Unfortunately, teaching is not viewed as a job of high prestige," he added.
But Dana Guyer '02, one of the six members from last year's class to join TFA, said she thinks there is a lot of prestige in committing two years to such a worthy cause.
"I think all Princeton students know that it takes a special, motivated person to be a teacher," Guyer said.
A third-grade teacher at a school in the rural town of Leland in the Mississippi Delta, Guyer knew she wanted to take a year off before medical school.
"I wanted to do Teach for America because I knew that it would be something that I could contribute that would have immediate effect," Guyer said.
Guyer noted that many University students interested in teaching opt to teach in private schools, where salaries are often higher and the classroom atmosphere is easier to handle.
"I like my job, and I love my kids," Guyer said. "But it is tough, and it isn't for everyone, especially if you haven't gone through major elementary education classes and training. The kids are so eager to learn, but they just haven't been taught how to behave. I have kids who can't read, can't add. Sixteen out of the 25 of them have repeated at least one grade."
While TFA provides graduates with a few months of intensive summer training, students of the teacher preparation program emerge with a license to teach after they have mastered an in-depth curriculum that involves mandatory semester-long seminars, classroom observation and supervised student teaching.
"The teacher preparation program provides the new teachers with the ability to step into the classroom and then to hit the ground running, so to speak," Webb said.
In contrast, he said, Teach for America offers limited preparation in favor of placing the new members into understaffed schools as quickly as possible. He added that sometimes the least-trained teachers end up in the most complex of teaching environments.
"Princeton students are used to working hard, which is exactly what you have to do for Teach for America, so they would be perfect," Guyer said.
"These schools need teachers badly. They need math and science teachers. They need English teachers. The kids come from broken homes, and they need to have adults they can look up to."
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