Teach for America aims to improve educational equality in Baltimore

Mayor Rawlings-Blake speaks out about education cuts in Baltimore city schools. There was a meeting in Annapolis on Feb. 28 where educators came to protest the cuts.

School districts in low-income communities face educational disadvantages compared to their higher-income counterparts. Teach for America aims to close these gaps.

Wendy Kopp founded Teach for America in 1990. Since then, the national program has enlisted the help of recent college graduates to teach in low-income schools. The program is currently present in 39 regions across the U.S., including Baltimore.

“A lot of different great organizations are tackling the problem from different angles,” said Regional Communications Director for Teach for America Kaitlin Gastrock. “There’s no one way to change public education for all kids and make sure every student is getting top quality education they deserve.”

Over 60 percent of the schools in Baltimore city are designated as Title 1, an education-funding program assigned to high-poverty schools. This title is given to a school based on its students’ poverty level, their grades and yearly progress, among other requirements.

Applying to Teach for America

Teach for America encourages recent college graduates of any major to apply. Gastrock believes it is important for TFA educators to have strong critical thinking and organizational skills as well as the ability to face challenges and come up with solutions.

Over the last five years there has been an increase in the number of applicants to Teach for America.

“It’s a rigorous process,” Craig Reinauer, a recently accepted Teach for America teacher and current student at Towson University said. “First you complete a lengthy app, if they like [it] then they invite you to a phone interview. Then they let you into a group and individual interviews.”

This year TFA has received a record amount of applications, about 48,000. Corps members are paid by the school districts they work for and typically receive the same salaries and benefits as entry-level teachers.The average salary for a Baltimore educator is $61,040, according to public information.

“A couple reasons that factor in is the general growing interest in public service,” Gastrock said. “Civically, we really think our reputation and results in low-income communities [are a factor]. They see it as a route to making a difference in urban and rural public schools.”

Members start training once they are accepted into the program and attend local observations in the classroom. Over the summer they take part in a five-week training institute, which Gastrock says is a rigorous program involving teaching summer school and receiving coaching from veteran TFA teachers. Then they head to their assigned region for more training until the start of the school year.

Accepted applicants commit to teaching for two years, but many alumni stay involved. Two-thirds of the total 20,000 past corps members are currently working full time in education.

There are currently 325 corps members working in 80 schools in Baltimore, making an impact on about 20,000 city students. Around 430 alumni continue to live in the city and work in different areas to help eliminate educational inequity in the city.

“It’s really helpful to the cause to pull in very qualified people to serve in their capacity in the classroom,” said Masharika Maddison, Regional Communications Director. “It definitely helps to have people from multiple outlets be a part of the change.”

One week each year since 1997 Teach for America has held TFA Week as a way to get citizens and interested community members engaged in the work teachers do each day. Maddison said this week allows people in government and other leaders to have the opportunity to go into classrooms and guest teach.

Education Funding Cuts

At a meeting in Annapolis on Feb. 28 Mayor Rawlings-Blake and Sen. Bill Ferguson spoke about the potential budget cuts that Baltimore City schools are facing.

Rawlings-Blake stated that enrollment in the Baltimore City school district has went up the past two years and other counties cannot say that.

“We don’t want to turn back the clock, we want to continue to move forward,” she said.

The mayor contributes funding because she has a strong belief in having top-notch teachers in the classroom and supports this program, said Sabrina Sutton, Special Assistant of Youth and Education.

Senator Bill Ferguson speaking about potential education budget cuts in Baltimore. He attended a meeting in Annapolis organized by the Baltimore Education Coalition.

Representatives from schools in Baltimore attended to show their support for the school system. Fannie Decator from Graceland Park-O’Donnell Heights Elementary is a teacher’s aide that attended. She is a continuous supporter working towards helping achieve equality for all children in Baltimore city schools.

“If you don’t have the funds you don’t have your people that work with the children, and the children we shortchange,” Decator said. “They are our future.”

She believes that people need to show interest in this cause in order to make government officials listen so they take the community into consideration.

Meeting attendees shouted, “keep the promise” in unison in between speakers coming to the podium, the promise that they believe every child should have an equal education.

“We’re in this room together because we believe in the power of what happens when we come together and we believe in what’s possible,” Sen. Ferguson and Teach for America alumnus said.

The assistant to Baltimore City Public Schools CEO Andres Alonso, Ralph Askins, said that the budget is “not completely etched in stone” and a decision about the cut will be made within the next couple of weeks.

“We don’t need education cut. You need good teachers, good staff, to work with our children and so they can be good leaders of Maryland, of the United States,” educator and representative Decator said.