Relentless Pursuit (47 page)

TFA's largest-ever corps—more than 5,000 members—was teaching in twenty-six regions across the country. The newly admitted corps members numbered 2,900, a 19.5 percent increase over the size of the 2006 corps. They were serving more than 440,000 students.

But by TFA's own reckoning, there were thirteen million children in the United States living in poverty, the majority of whom were being educated in underperforming schools. Even with its remarkable growth spurt, TFA could never reach them all. If the organization was ever to close the achievement gap—and even some of its most ardent admirers had their doubts—it had to depend on the realization of the second part of Kopp's theory of change: its alumni, the leaders TFA had incubated and then embedded in society's professional classes, had to rise up.

In 2007, there was evidence that that was beginning to happen. The
Washington Post
called it the “TFA insurgency.” As early members of the movement were coming of age, they were assuming positions of power within the burgeoning education reform movement—and within the ranks of the rich philanthropies that increasingly funded it. They all knew one another, and some were even married to each other. Kopp's husband, Richard Barth, one of her first TFA hires, was CEO of the successful KIPP schools, which had been founded by two TFA alums. The Education Trust, an education advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., was packed with TFA alums. And the New Teacher Project, a TFA spin-off from the late 1990s, was headed by Michelle Rhee, a thirty-seven-year-old TFA alum who had taught in Baltimore as a member of the 1992 corps.

Over the years, TFA had groomed more than two hundred school principals, and had infiltrated numerous local school boards, but for the most part it had been on the outside trying to push for reform within. In June 2007, the appointment of Rhee as chancellor of the troubled Washington, D.C, school district had the potential to change all that. Her nomination was a breakthrough for TFA, a marker indicating that the young teaching mavericks had arrived. Rhee filled some key positions in her cabinet with fellow TFA alums, among them Jason Kamras, the 2005 National Teacher of the Year. TFA was determined that Rhee's ascension would be just the beginning of the fulfillment of the second half of the mission. By the end of the decade, it planned to have eight hundred school leaders and one hundred elected officials among its more than twenty thousand alumni.

In the midst of implementing its 2010 plan at home, TFA announced that it was going global: a new organization called Teach For All, in concert with Teach First, its British adaptation, would support similar TFA initiatives in India, South Africa, Estonia, Israel, and Germany. The Dell Foundation, which had contributed to the second TFA expansion plan, pledged $2.5 million toward Teach For All's effort in India.

TFA continued to have its critics, who charged that the millions of dollars raised to get high-flying do-gooders to teach poor, underperforming kids could have been better spent reforming the recruitment and training of career teachers. Although TFA kept detailed records on its corps members, its tracking of alumni was less rigorous. Of the 57 percent who responded to the 2007 alumni survey, 67 percent said they worked in education. (The definition was a broad one, as it included those who were studying full-time in the field of education.) Funders appeared to be less concerned about TFA corps members' abbreviated classroom careers than was the educational establishment. In 2006, TFA's operating campaign raised $57 million—a 40 percent increase over the previous year's effort. Wachovia alone committed $6 million over three years.

As she looks ahead to the year 2010, when TFA will be twenty years old, Kopp plans to grow the TFA corps in size, effectiveness, and leadership, making TFA an enduring American institution. Knowing that the dream of closing the achievement gap is so far from being realized, she is driven by a sense of urgency. “There is so much more to be done,” she says. “We are not yet the success we have the potential to be.” She remains in relentless pursuit.

Acknowledgments

I am indebted to so many people.

First, heartfelt thanks to Phillip Gedeon, Hrag Hamalian, Taylor Rifkin, and Rachelle Snyder for allowing me to accompany them on their first-year journey with Teach For America. Without their candor, courage, and commitment, this book would not have been possible. Not only did they teach their children well; they taught me so many things, in so many ways. I must also thank Chad Soleo, who was tremendously helpful and always forthright. And I am grateful to Dr. Frank Wells, who opened wide the doors to Locke High School for me and gave me free rein to record “the good, the bad, and the ugly.” His perspective was invaluable. I want to express my gratitude to the dozens of Locke staffers who shared their individual stories and experiences with me—and to the entire staff for their patience and generosity of spirit. And last, but certainly not least, I want to thank Locke's students for putting up with Miss Donna. Though their names have all been changed, their stories stay with me.

Of course, I am enormously grateful to Wendy Kopp and her team at Teach For America, especially Steven Farr, Melissa Golden, Brian Johnson, and Matt Kramer. Special thanks goes to Samir Bolar for giving so freely of his time and keen insights. It took a great leap of faith and a supreme act of confidence for Teach For America to grant me the unprecedented access I received. Thank you.

I am grateful to Emily Foote for introducing me to Teach For America, Liza Levine for introducing me to Locke High School, and Betsy Streisand for getting me started and keeping me going. I am indebted to Emily Yoffe for her wise counsel, Mark Miller for his wide shoulders, Patricia King for her empathetic ear, and Patty Gibson for her way with words. Big thanks to Martha Groves, Jill Cherneff, and Olga Mohan for their unwavering support; to Carol Dietz for our music; and to Lori Altshuler for our walks. I am grateful to Becky Kordones and Laurell Schweneker for their nourishment, and to my brothers, sisters, and father for their encouragement. Thanks to Ruth Tenenbaum for her research, Rebecca Dameron for her review, and Lily Evans for her editorial assistance.

I am indebted to the Mac Geniuses at the Manhattan Beach Apple store, who helped me organize my reporting and saw me through my technological meltdowns. My gratitude, too, to the staff at The Kettle, who graciously allowed me to monopolize a table during their busiest shifts, and to the crew at Noah's for my daily dose of bagels and caffeine.

I am especially grateful to Annalyn Swan for believing in this project and for introducing me to my agent, Peter Bernstein. A huge thank-you to Peter for shepherding me through this process, and to my editor, George Andreou, for bringing this book to life.

Finally, the biggest thanks goes to my husband, Jim Shalvoy, and my son, James, who endured too many take-out dinners and long absences during the making of this book—and did so with uncommon grace, love, and good humor.

A NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Donna Foote is a freelance journalist and former
Newsweek
correspondent. She lives in Manhattan Beach, California, with her husband and fourteen-year-old son.

THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK
PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF

Copyright © 2008 by Donna Foote

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.

www.aaknopf.com

Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Foote, Donna, [date]

Relentless pursuit: a year in the trenches with Teach for America / Donna Foote—1st ed.

p. cm.

1. Education, Urban—California—Los Angeles—Case Studies. 2. Urban high schools—California—Los Angeles—Case studies. 3. High school teachers—California—Los Angeles—Case studies. 4. First school teachers—California—Los Angeles—Case studies. 5. Teach for America (Project) I. Title.

LC
5133.
L
67
F
66 2008

371.1009794'94—dc22                                                                        2007034179

eISBN: 978-0-307-26939-3

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