TFA Selection Criteria Linked To Student Gains

Education Week:

Certain aspects of Teach For America's selection process appear to be linked to student achievement gains--a sign that it's possible to recruit candidates who are more likely to have an edge in the classroom, a new study concludes.

The study, by Will Dobbie of Harvard University, shows that the information used to select TFA candidates predicts a degree of student achievement during the candidate's first year of teaching. To give an example, students assigned to a teacher with a one standard deviation increase on the group's leadership metric score, on average, .054 standard deviations higher in math.

Read the whole story: Education Week

Comments

[Teacheronthemic]

01:34 AM on 08/04/2011

Really? This is some egg headed nonsense. If these kids are serious about teaching, get a master's degree like the rest of us and make a sincere commitment to the profession. I don't buy the argument that are smartest, most talented people make our best teachers. To be a great teacher you need to know what it's like to struggle, to b marginalized. You can have your data, Mr. Harvard researcher. Gimme some empathy, love & commitment.

[Winkandanod]

04:58 PM on 08/03/2011

.054 standard deviations? Talk about grasping at straws.