Teach For America To Bolster Special Education Training

[Jefferson23]

* Just what they need.

By Shaun Heasley

March 25, 2014 Text Size A A

A program that places recent college graduates in teaching positions across the country after just weeks of training says it will beef up its focus on special education.

Teach for America said it will “strengthen” training that its participants receive on “ability-based mindsets and inclusive practices.”

snip* Due to shortages in the field, advocates say that special education is more reliant on alternative training programs than many other teaching specialities.

However, critics have voiced concerns about a lack of transparency in the level of expertise that Teach for America’s teachers have. Under current federal policy, rookie educators can often be dubbed “highly qualified” even as they work to complete their teaching certification.

http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2014/03/25/teach-america-sped-training/19225/

[Demeter]

1. SURE they are

I wouldn't trust these amateurs (no, they aren't even in it for the love of teaching...call them scab labor or tyros) with neurotypical kids, let alone anyone not just like them...

[Jefferson23]

2. They want an in on every aspect of education..nothing encouraging about this news. n/t

[Smarmie Doofus]

3. I taught SPED for about 30 years - public and private- and, kids, it ain't that easy.

It also takes a long time ( i.e. longer than two or three years; longer than the life of your TFA contract) before you really understand what you're doing. ( Maybe a little less time for you guys cause... you know... you're real *smart*.)

But at least YOU FOUND OUT ABOUT US! At long last! You figured out that handicapped children actually exist and ( and this is what impresses me) they are actually taught in public schools these days.

Now for the hard part.

Welcome aboard.

[Demeter]

4. I've been teaching one kid for 30 years

and I'll be doing it til I die and her sister takes over....

[Smarmie Doofus]

5. I chose *it*. It chose *you*.

Hey... let's not get too real here.

We'll scare the TFA kids off.

[Jefferson23]

6. High anxiety is what this plan has generated for me. n/t

[Squinch]

7. I have seen two Teach for America teachers

who were assigned to special ed classes. Both were completely lost, the kids lost a year of much-needed learning, and both left teaching after a year.

[Jefferson23]

8. The risks we already know, correct? Yet here we are full speed ahead.

No one can give those children back the year they lost.

[Squinch]

9. And they need that year more than anyone. It is cruel to both the kids and the teachers.

And I do have to say, these teachers were well meaning, but they knew that they were incompetent with these kids. They were pretty devastated themselves by what they were costing the kids.

[Jefferson23]

10. The kids lose big time and the teachers yes, they are not equipped to begin with so no surprise

some leave education altogether.

One would hope upon exiting they would find a public medium in which they share their
experiences..even if it is only to the local newspapers in the districts they were working.

Open letter to the school board...something.

[LuckyLib]

12. TFA "teachers" leave classrooms in record numbers after 1-2 years. That's regular grade-level or

subject matter classrooms. Wait until they face the additional challenges of children with developmental, social, behavioral, and other needs, and find they are woefully unprepared. Exit left. Guaranteed.