Grads apply in record numbers to Teach for America

Grads apply in record numbers to Teach for America

By LIBBY QUAID
AP Education Writer


WASHINGTON (AP) -- When school starts next fall, Teach for America will send an unprecedented number of college graduates to teach in poor communities across the country - but not as many as the group would like.

Teach for America this year chose 4,100 recruits from more than 35,000 applications, an increase over last year's class of 3,700 recruits. While the group has never accepted every applicant, this was the first time it had to turn down people who met all its rigorous criteria.

"For the last nine years, really the only constraint on our growth has been recruits, just finding enough people who we really believe are ready for this," said Wendy Kopp, the group's founder and chief executive.

"This is the first year when we've had to turn away people who would have met our admission bar in any previous year," Kopp said.

The constraint is the economy. Tighter budgets have forced some school districts to cut back on hiring, though overall 500 more spots for Teach for America are available this year. Also, those who give to nonprofits like Teach for America are either holding the line or cutting back on their charitable giving, which pays for training and professional development for the recruits.

Despite the belt-tightening, some communities expect an influx of new teachers from the program, especially in rural areas. South Louisiana and the Mississippi Delta will have more than double the number of recruits this year.

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not only because of the economy, but I can see how the economy must surely affect that.

sure to benefit many kids. Win/win. And I didn't know it was competitive. I wish someone with deep pockets would throw some money at this very worthy endeavor.

I seem to remember that grads who are accepted get help with grad school later on. Ivy League grads regularly apply. My daughter, who graduated with a stellar grade point average and a lot of volunteer work, applied twice and was rejected.

She cried! ;-) She had pictured where she might teach. But she's doing well now.

The program isn't going away, from my semi-educated guess.

But they're laying off teachers in droves here. :(

They rock. I don't know was Teach for America does to prepare its recruits, but I'm consistantly impressed by the caliber of teaching and commitment to the students and the profession that I find in the TFA kids. They rock my socks. Maybe all the best future teachers are automatically joining TFA in college now, but wherever they come from, we need tons more of them.