Why did Teach For America choose to work with Texas Teaching Fellows?
Teach For America chose to work with Texas Teaching Fellows (TTF) because both are working toward the common mission of closing the achievement gap and eliminating educational inequity. TTF is designed expressly to provide corps members with the training they need to be successful in high-poverty and high-minority Texas schools. TTF has national experience, the full support of the Texas Education Agency, and a strong track record of effective teacher preparation. As a non-profit created by The New Teacher Project, Texas Teaching Fellows draws upon more than a decade of teacher preparation experience and proven models for rigorous teacher training. Emerging research is showing that the Texas Teaching Fellows “practitioner” model of preparation – pairing relevant coursework and classroom practice – consistently produces effective teachers. In a 2009 study, teachers certified by the same practitioner model in a sister program in Louisiana outperformed even experienced teachers in raising