Research on Teach For America

Research over time has conclusively shown that Teach For America corps members' impact on their students' achievement is equal to or greater than that of other new teachers. Moreover, the most rigorous studies have shown that corps members' impact exceeds that of experienced and certified teachers in the same schools. The evidence of corps members' positive impact spans subject areas and grade levels, from pre-kindergarten through high school.

Click here for the Education Next report card on some of the below studies.

• Studies at the high-school level

  Making a Difference? The Effects of Teach For America in High School
  The Urban Institute/CALDER (Xu, Hannaway, and Taylor, 2008-09)
  
  Key finding: Teach For America teachers were more effective than other teachers, including more experienced teachers and those fully certified in their field.
  
  Using North Carolina end-of-course student exam data from 2000 through 2006, the authors documented corps members' positive impact in all subject areas, especially math and science. The impact on student achievement of having a Teach For America corps member was at least twice that of having a teacher with three or more years of experience relative to a new teacher. A 2009 follow-up, employing a larger sample of corps members and additional comparison groups, corroborated the initial findings.
  
  Read the New York Times editorial about this study.
  

• Studies at the elementary-school and middle-school levels

  The Effects of Teach For America on Students
  Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. (Decker, Mayer and Glazerman, 2004)
  
  Key finding: Students of Teach For America corps members attained greater gains in math and equivalent gains in reading versus students of other teachers, including veteran and certified teachers.
  
  The study used random assignment of students to teachers, a methodology widely regarded as the gold standard. The authors also found that corps members were working in the highest-need classrooms in the country, where students begin the year, on average, at the 14th percentile against the national norm.

  

  (New!) Teach for America Teachers’ Contribution to Student Achievement in Louisiana in Grades 4-9: 2004-2005 to 2006-2007
  (George H. Noell and Kristin A. Gansle, 2009)

  Key finding: Teach For America corps members in Louisiana outperformed other new teachers with the same level of experience and were as effective as veteran teachers across the state in math, science, reading, and language arts.

  This report is part of a multi-year statewide study of teacher-preparation programs in Louisiana; prior reports from the study grouped Teach For America corps members and alumni with all other participants in the Louisiana Practitioner Teacher Program, which is the program that corps members in South Louisiana and Greater New Orleans complete to earn their certification. Read the New York Times editorial about the earlier results.

  (New!) Recruiting Effective Math Teachers, How Do Math Immersion Teachers Compare? Evidence from New York City
  (Don Boyd, Pam Grossman, Karen Hammerness, Hamp Lankford, Susanna Loeb, Matt Ronfeldt, and Jim Wyckoff, 2009)

  Key finding: Teach For America middle-school math teachers in New York City were more effective than other beginning middle-school math teachers, including traditionally prepared teachers. The study, which is the latest in a multi-year examination of teachers and teacher-preparation programs in New York City, concluded that Teach For America corps members were having a positive impact relative to all other new teachers, and that this impact was stronger than the researchers had found in their previous studies.
  

  

  What Does Certification Tell Us About Teacher Effectiveness? Evidence from New York City
  (Thomas J. Kane, Jonah E. Rockoff, and Douglas O. Staiger, 2006)

  Key finding: Teach For America corps members were more effective than traditionally certified teachers in improving student learning in math and were equally effective in reading/language arts.

  Using student test score data in New York City for grades three through eight, researchers compared the impact of traditionally certified teachers with that of alternatively certified teachers, including Teach For America corps members. They concluded that a teacher’s classroom performance during the first two years indicates future effectiveness more reliably than does certification status. While this study did not use random-assignment design, it included all the standard controls of a non-experimental design to attempt to isolate the value added by the teachers.

  

  How Changes in Entry Requirements Alter the Teacher Workforce and Affect Student Achievement
  Teacher Pathways Project (Donald Boyd, Pamela Grossman, Hamilton Lankford, Susanna Loeb, and James Wyckoff) (2006) 

  Key finding: Teach For America corps members were as effective as—and at some grade levels, more effective than—their certified counterparts in math. Corps members were less effective than traditionally certified teachers in English/language arts in year one but achieved similar results by year two.

  Using data on students and teachers in grades three through eight in New York City, researchers investigated whether teachers who entered through alternate routes, including Teach For America, were more or less effective than traditionally certified teachers at improving student achievement. While this study did not use random-assignment design, it included all the standard controls of a non-experimental design to attempt to isolate the value added by the teachers.

  (Note: In both NYC-based studies listed above, NY State reading tests are given in January and therefore only capture student growth through that point in time.)

  

  Does Teacher Preparation Matter? Evidence about Teacher Certification, Teach for America, and Teacher Effectiveness
  (Darling-Hammond, Holtzman, Gatlin, and Vasquez Heilig, 2005)
  
  Key finding: Uncertified Teach For America corps members in Houston were less effective than certified teachers though equally effective as other uncertified teachers. Certified Teach For America corps members in Houston performed about as well as other certified teachers. (The majority of Houston corps members are certified by the beginning of their second year.)

  Concerns about the study methodology spurred formal responses from both Teach For America and Mathematica.
  

• Studies at the pre-K level

  Achievement Levels and Growth in D.C. Preschool and Pre-K Classes Taught By Teach For America Teachers
  Westat, Inc. (Nicholas Zill, 2008)
  
  Key finding: Pre-K students of Washington D.C. Teach For America corps members made significant progress in vocabulary, letter recognition and early math skills.
  
  By the end of the year, the students exceeded national averages in letter recognition and while their vocabulary and early math skills remained below national norms, they were behind less than they had been at the beginning of the school year.
  
  Read an article published in Education Week about this study
  

• Studies on corps member qualifications and retention

  The Narrowing Gap in New York City Teacher Qualifications and Its Implications for Student Achievement in High-Poverty Schools
  The Urban Institute/CALDER, (Donald Boyd, Hamilton Lankford, Susanna Loeb, Jonah Rockoff, and James Wyckoff, 2007)
  
  Key finding: Teachers recruited through Teach For America and the NYC Teaching Fellows significantly reduced the gap in teacher qualifications between the city's high- and low-poverty schools and contributed to student achievement gains that were most substantial in the city's highest-poverty schools.
  
  Teach for America Teachers' Careers: Whether, When and Why They Leave Low-Income Schools and the Teaching Profession
  The Project on the Next Generation of Teachers, Harvard Graduate School of Education (Morgaen L. Donaldson, 2008)
  
  Key finding: Sixty-one percent of Teach For America corps members continue to teach beyond their two-year corps commitment.
  
  This retention rate is similar to retention estimates for other new teachers in low-income communities¹. The study also found that 44 percent of corps members remained in their placement schools beyond their two-year commitment.
  
  Teach For America National Principal Survey
  Policy Studies Associates, Inc. (2009)
  
  Key finding: Principals report that Teach For America corps members are well prepared and have a significant and positive impact on their schools and on student achievement:

  • 95 percent of the principals rated corps members as effective as other beginning teachers in terms of overall performance and impact on student achievement; 66 percent rated corps members as more effective than other beginning teachers.
  • 94 percent of the principals reported that corps members have made a positive impact in their schools.
  • 91 percent of the principals reported that corps members' training is at least as good as the training of other beginning teachers; 63 percent rated corps members' training as better than that of other beginning teachers.
  • 87 percent of the principals said they would hire a corps member again.

  ¹ National Commission on Teaching and America's Future, "No Dream Denied: A Pledge to America's Children" (Washington, D.C., 2003). Analyses by researcher Richard M. Ingersoll in the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future's 2003 report "No Dream Denied: A Pledge to America's Children" suggest that retention rates for teachers in high poverty schools are about 20% higher than teachers overall. This would suggest that approximately 60% of teachers in high poverty schools return for a third year.

Education Next Report Card
The education policy journal Education Next recently issued a report card analyzing and grading the most frequently cited studies on Teach For America released before 2008. While the studies varied widely in methodology and findings, only a 2004 study from Mathematica Policy Research which found that Teach For America corps members outperformed other teachers in math, earned an A for its methodology.

Source: Education Next, spring 2008, vol. 8, no. 2.