New Book Details Teach For America’s Failures Through Essays Written By Alumni.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal (9/8, Cepeda) reports the new book “Teach for America Counter-Narratives: Alumni Speak Up And Speak Out” is a collection of 20 essays written by Teach for America alumni that tell stories about the program’s failure to adequately prepare teachers for working in classrooms. Book editors T. Jameson Brewer and Kathleen deMarrais said that part of Teach for America’s problem is a recent shift in mentality from “addressing teacher shortages” to replacing “traditionally trained teachers [who] are not as qualified or as intelligent as they should be.” The essays paint a picture of a program that does not do enough to prepare recent college graduates to be effective teachers.