The Daily Tar Heel
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The Daily Tar Heel

Letter: ?Teach for America deserves more credit

TO THE EDITOR:

Teach for America is not an uncontroversial program. With research pointing in opposite directions, the verdict on TFA is certainly not out. However, the article published in this newspaper cited the Heilig  and Jez literature review that found that Teach for America employees outperformed noncredentialed teachers.

If TFA teachers really are outperforming public teachers, it’s hard to pass it off as a “flawed system” as the opinion article attempted to do.

Moreover, Teach for America is valuable in another important way. ?The United States has lagged behind other developed nations in education for some time. In the United States, teachers are not viewed with the high regard that is given to doctors, lawyers and the like. But this is not the case in countries who have had greater success in education.

Teach for America has finally found a way to draw the best and the brightest to education, and while its employees may not stay at the same school for extended periods of time, the website holds that 67 percent of alumni continue to do work in education post-program. Drawing America’s best minds to one of our greatest problems can only pay dividends for the country as a whole.

Adam Golden

Junior

Economics, mathematics

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