High Marks for Teach for America

Posted by Luke Gilman

June 18, 2008

From the Wall Street Journal’s Amazing Teacher Facts -

Eleven per cent of Yale’s senior class, 9% of Harvard’s and 10% of Georgetown’s applied for a job whose salary ranges from $25,000 (in rural South Dakota) to $44,000 (in New York City).

Hang on a second.

Unions keep saying the best people won’t go into teaching unless we pay them what doctors and lawyers and CEOs make. Not only are Teach for America salaries significantly lower than what J.P. Morgan might offer, but these individuals go to some very rough classrooms. What’s going on?

It seems that Teach for America offers smart young people something even better than money – the chance to avoid the vast education bureaucracy.

Slate’s Teach for America Grows Up: What TFA can teach the NCLB era. has more on Wendy Kopp as a social entrepreneurship success story.

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