As metro-area schools struggle with recruiting and maintaining diverse workforces that resemble student populations, Teach for America is touting one of the most diverse pools of teachers it has ever had.
But using Teach for America teachers — at least for now — is not a solution to close the diversity gap that school districts face, and this year, the organization has teachers in fewer local districts than in the past as districts say the model doesn’t work for them.
“This is a subject many districts are looking at, ‘How do we have teachers that reflect the diversity in our classrooms?’ ” said Robyn Duran, chief of equity and communications for Adams County School District 14. “But we’re unsure that looking at TFA would translate to what we’re looking for in terms of sustaining that beyond two years.”
Colorado’s Teach for America teachers this year include 9 percent with deferred action status — a status granting deportation relief to immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally as children prior to 2007.
Twenty-three percent of the teachers are Hispanic, 41 percent qualified for Pell Grants, 35 percent are the first in their families to go to college, and 3 percent are from the military.
In 2013, Hispanics and African-Americans made up about 7.5 percent of the state’s teachers, while Hispanic and African-American students accounted for 37.5 percent of classroom kids.
Marissa Molina, a Mexican immigrant with deferred action, is one of this year’s new Teach for America instructors. She is teaching Spanish at Denver School of Science and Technology.
Just before completing her degree in political science, Molina got a job at her school, Fort Lewis College.
“I worked with a lot of students, a lot who didn’t understand the system and also weren’t ready to be there academically. They had all of these obstacles, and here I was sitting in a position where I was getting ready to graduate,” Molina said. “I knew it wasn’t because I was smarter. It had to do with the opportunities I was afforded. That’s when I realized I have a passion for working with students and helping them have the same opportunities I had.”
But Molina, like many TFA teachers, doesn’t think she will be a teacher after her two-year service.
Adams 14 and Aurora Public Schools haven’t hired a Teach for America teacher this year. The districts don’t have a policy discouraging it, but officials say those short two-year commitments are not helpful to their needs.
Nationwide, a few school districts have made headlines for their fallout with the organization. But overall, Teach for America’s reach is still growing. In the past four years, the organization added 11 regional sites across the country, and locally the organization started placing teachers this year in Pueblo City Schools.
Sean VanBerschot, executive director of the local Teach for America, admits the numbers are small, but said some day their model could help districts close diversity gaps.
“It numerically is not going to make a difference right now,” VanBerschot said. “We bring in 125 to 250 new teachers every year. But knowing that only 12 percent of teachers in Colorado identify as minority and knowing we had one of the most diverse corps this year, we’re proud we continue to show improvement.”
VanBerschot said Teach for America is constantly changing recruitment practices, collecting data on what matters most.
Patti Moon, a spokeswoman for Aurora schools, said principals have to weigh the costs and benefits.
“The finders fee amounts can be like $5,000 per teacher, and that’s just an extra expense on top of salary that schools have to budget for,” Moon said. “It’s a big expense. It just wasn’t ideal for our schools.”
Yesenia Robles: 303-954-1372, yrobles@denverpost.com or twitter.com/yeseniarobles
