Assessing the “Education Debt”: Teach For America and the Problem of Attrition

With this paper, I explore the impact of teacher attrition on Teach For America’s (TFA) ability to produce more long-term, systemic educational change.  I do so via my application of critical race theory and Gloria Ladson-Billings’ concept of the “education debt” to TFA’s consistently high rates of attrition.  I begin with a general discussion of long-term educational change, paying particular attention to how and why teacher attrition matters.  Next, I present the four components of Ladson-Billings’ (2006a) conception of the “education debt,” after which I explore just one factor that I believe may prevent the realization of TFA’s goal of ending educational inequity (teacher attrition) in both practical and moral terms.  Using critical race theory as an additional level of analysis that is consistent with Ladson-Billings “education debt” framework, I conclude that TFA’s concrete materiality falls short of its intention to end educational inequity, especially concerning the longevity of its recruits.  This, I contend, suggests the need for educational resources to be equitably redistributed, in part, via high quality educators for our most under-served youth populations, including those currently taught by TFA.