Gov. Phil Bredesen welcomes Nashville's Teach for America corps on campus

Janel Shoun | 

 

Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen came to Lipscomb University, Nashville’s Teach for America training site, Monday to welcome a group of 50 special teachers who are beginning their journey to Nashville classrooms this week.
 
The Teach For America corps of teachers for Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools is going through its induction week this week on the Lipscomb campus, and Bredesen stopped by for the opening dinner to express how happy he is to have the Teach for America corps expanding its services in Tennessee.
 
“I’m a real believer that teachers are the key to education reform,” Bredesen told the group of 50 young, motivated graduates who have come from the most prestigious colleges all over the nation to teach in Nashville’s schools for two years.
 
“Schools will succeed or fail based on what happens when a teacher goes into the classroom and closes the door,” he said.
Teach for America recruits top graduates of any discipline from some of the nation’s top universities – such as Harvard, Vanderbilt and Yale -- to pledge to become teachers in urban and rural school districts for at least two years.
 
Teach for America has placed a corps of teachers in Memphis for two years now. Nashville Mayor Karl Dean was highly interested in bringing the program to Nashville, and led an effort to raise the money needed to establish Teach for America in Nashville.
 
In February, the Lipscomb College of Education announced that it was selected as the local education partner for the Nashville Teach For America corps. The Nashville corps holds degrees from various academic majors and will begin teaching in selected high-need schools with alternative licenses. In the upcoming school year, full licensure will be earned through classes at Lipscomb.
 
Lipscomb was also selected to be one of the sites for the corps’ summer orientation. The corps is currently on campus this week and will return in mid-July after a month at the Teach for America’s training institute in Atlanta.
 
Bredesen praised the Teach for America program as one of several programs in the state bringing people who are passionate about education -- but who may not have exactly the right qualifications -- into the classroom to impact students. Tennessee is working to open school doors to mid-career professionals, retired military, talented young leaders and others who are passionate about teaching, he said.
 
“It takes passion and commitment (to teach),” Bredesen said. “I just don’t think all those people made that decision as a sophomore in college, and we need to open the doors for them to enter in other ways.”
 
According to a recent Associated Press article by Libby Quaid, the 2009 Teach for America teaching corps is the largest ever at 4,100 new recruits placed in classrooms across the country this coming fall. More than 35,000 graduating seniors applied, and at Ivy League schools, 11 percent of all seniors applied, Quaid reported.
 
 
On the front lines of education reform
 
Candice McQueen
Drew Kim
Jesse Register
Avi Poster
Richard Martin
In addition to Gov. Bredesen’s visit to campus, the Teach for America Induction Week also features a panel discussion on “the achievement gap” in low-income schools featuring panelists from all across the state. State officials will discuss if an achievement gap exists between low-income and other students, what factors affect the achievement gap and what factors make some low-income schools successful while others aren’t.
 
Expected to participate in the panel are:
  • Dr. Julie Williams – principal of Maplewood High School
  • JoAnn Brannon – Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools Board of Commissioners
  • Candice McQueen – dean of the College of Education, Lipscomb University
  • Patrick Smith – former education policy advisor to Governor Phil Bredesen
  • Drew Kim – former policy chief for Governor Phil Bredesen
  • Danielle Mezerra – director of the Nashville Mayor’s Office of Children and Youth
  • Brad Smith – executive director, Tennessee State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE)
  • Margaret Dolan – assistant vice president of community relations, Ingram Industries
  • Marc Hill – chief education officer, Nashville Chamber of Commerce
  • Michael Schulz – field representative for Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
 
And on top of that, this week on campus also included the beginning of the Summer Immersion Institute for 150 teachers and future teachers enrolled in Lipscomb’s master’s of arts in education programs. These programs – known as MALT, MASE and MATELL – are accelerated, intensive programs that meet only one weekend per month plus the Summer Immersion Institute, four weeks of intensive on-campus instruction during June.
 
These teachers began their summer studies with a panel discussion by:
  • Metropolitan Nashville Public School superintendent Jesse Register
  • Avi Poster, a member of the state board that reviews charter school applications, and
  • Richard Martin, executive director of the Tennessee Association of Independent Schools.
 
These panelists discussed their vision of the best way to prepare teachers for their respective school systems. They all discussed the importance of strong relationships with students. Register discussed his plan to establish “consulting teachers” at various schools in Nashville to provide additional support for teachers in the classroom.