Alternative routes to teaching: The impacts of Teach for America on student achievement and other outcomes

Abstract

This paper reports on a randomized experiment to study the impact of an alternative teacher preparation program, Teach for America (TFA), on student achievement and other outcomes. We found that TFA teachers had a positive impact on math achievement and no impact on reading achievement. The size of the impact on math scores was about 15 percent of a standard deviation, equivalent to about one month of instruction. The general conclusions did not differ substantially for subgroups of teachers, including novice teachers, or for subgroups of students. We found no impacts on other student outcomes such as attendance, promotion, or disciplinary incidents, but TFA teachers were more likely to report problems with student behavior than were their peers. The findings contradict claims that such programs allowing teachers to bypass the traditional route to the classroom harm students. © 2006 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management

Improving Urban Middle Schools: Lessons from the Nativity Schoolsby L. Mickey Fenzel

“…Fenzel has proposed that getting more young college graduates involved (e.g., Teach for America); incorporating a stronger standardsbased curriculum; and reducing school and class sizes could better serve a broader range of urban children (p. 98). I do not completely disagree with some of the author's suggestions; for instance, getting young, enthusiastic college graduates involved has already shown signs of being effective (e.g., Glazerman, Mayer, & Decker, 2006). However, even if all of these policies were adopted throughout traditional public urban schools, the cohesion and dedication found with Nativity schools' students, faculties, staffs, and parents, are most likely absent without a coherent sense of school mission.…”

Does MSP Participation Increase the Supply of Math Teachers? Developing and Testing an Analytic Model

“…Meanwhile, a study by Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. found that TFA teachers were no less effective than traditionally certified teachers in terms of impacting the reading achievement of elementary school students and were slightly more effective than traditionally certified teachers in promoting student achievement in math (Glazerman, Mayer, & Decker, 2006). The difference in the two results could be a result of the different research designs.…”

Accounting for the Relationship Between Initial Status and Growth in Regression Models

“…For the present analysis, we select a threshold of approximately one month of learning, a level that splits the difference between extremes found in the school-reform literature. The Glazerman, Mayer, and Decker (2006) analysis of Teach for America participant effects on math-achievement growth provides an example of a 1-month-per-year learning gain from the policy literature. In our data generation model, with an average of 4.5 points of growth over 2 years (i.e., two 9-month periods of schooling), one month of growth is equivalent to a gain of .5 points.…”