Rep. Reuven Carlyle on Teach for America

Rep. Carlyle, out of Seattle's 36th legislative district, had a pair of posts here and here looking at a potential future for Teach for America in the Seattle Public Schools.

I'm not anti-TFA. Good for them for wanting to make a difference. The issue I have is that right now the certification process is far too onerous on everyone--ProCert is a damned nightmare--and it's fundamentally unfair to say that one group of teachers can come into the schools with only 5 weeks of training while another has to play the games that the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the State Board of Education, and the Professional Educators Standards Board have set up.

Part of this is on the feds, too--remember HOUSSE?--and this national schizophrenia we seem to have over what we want a teacher to be.

It'll be an interesting legislative session.