CCSD Prefers Teach for America over SC Grads

Does it bother you that the Charleston County School District will increase the number of Teach-for-America (TFA) hires in the district next year? It should! This program equates to bringing in an untrained, out-of-state emergency crew to replace local teachers who retire, move, or are "let go" by the district.

Evidently, CCSD prefers these graduates who have no training in the classroom, over certified graduates of our state teacher-education programs at Winthrop, USC, Clemson, the College of Charleston, and Charleston Southern. Many TFA hires will do an enthusiastic and admirable job under those circumstances; however, then they will leave, and schools such as Burke, where many of them work, will be left to the vagaries of chance for the next round.

When founded, TFA touted the ideals of Ivy League graduates who wanted to "give back" to America. It is well past those heady days when it sends graduates of Grove City College. I'm not knocking that particular school; it may provide an excellent education. The point is, why is such a graduate superior to hiring our own state graduates of our taxpayer-supported teacher education programs? Is CCSD saying that these programs are so bad that their graduates are not suitable for the district to hire?

Or, is it that those graduates know what teaching in CCSD means?

At any rate, it is painful that the P&C led its TFA story with a Burke student who cannot understand a seventh-grade math problem.  Was that deliberate?