Paying it Forward

Tucked between a Rite-Aid drug store and an overgrown field, the converted bank building in New Orient Heights seems unremarkable to me. But the East Boston building is actually home to the Excel Academy, a charter school headed by Teach for America alumni that has played a significant role in improving middle school education since it was founded in 2003.

At that time, the one overcrowded middle school in the area had some of the worst test scores in the city. Today, Excel is one of Boston’s leading public schools. In an area where many students never even dream of going to college, Excel regularly sends its students to top high schools that feed into selective universities.

The charter school movement has been sweeping across urban public education for the past 15 years, and one of its primary drivers, at least in recent years, has been Teach For America, which recruits top college graduates for two-year stints in high-need communities. Indeed, TFA alumni are responsible for some of the nation’s most successful school networks, including the Knowledge Is Power Program and YES Prep Public Schools.

Still, TFA’s most appealing aspect—that it allows students who are unsure of their future to provide a valuable service—is also potentially its greatest weakness. Critics often question whether a short foray into the classroom can really achieve the organization’s oft-stated goal of closing the racial and income achievement gaps in education. And in locations such as New Orleans, which has become a major center of TFA activity following Hurricane Katrina, local conditions make this task even more challenging.