Teach for America backers on state board

There was no applause when Gov. Brian Sandoval said he wanted to allocate state dollars to Teach for America.

I suspect legislators listening to the State of the State speech Tuesday were unfamiliar with the program, particularly the newbies.

Sandoval was unstinting in his praise: “One of the most successful programs in the country today is Teach for America, a unique corps of brilliant young leaders from America’s top universities, who give their time and talents as teachers in schools that need them most. These teachers help spur innovation and creativity in instruction that makes the entire system better.”

He is putting $2 million into the program as part of his overall focus on education. The money goes “to help recruit, train, develop and place top teacher and leadership talent in Nevada.”

The program doesn’t lack for advocates. Two new Las Vegas members of the state Board of Education both worked for Teach for America.

Allison Serafin and Alexis Gonzales-Black were pleased the GOP governor wants to put $2 million into the program, which provides opportunities for people without degrees in education to teach at at-risk schools.

Gonzales-Black was particularly pleased about the additional funding for Teach for America because her husband, Victor Wakefield, runs Teach for America in Las Vegas.

Wakefield calculated the money will help recruit and train an additional 100 teachers over the next two years. Right now there are 170 first- and second-year teachers in Teach for America in 56 schools in Las Vegas.

Gonzales-Black, 28, did her two-year Teach for America commitment in Durham, N.C., starting in 2007 teaching earth sciences and biology. She spent five years with Teach for America. She moved to Las Vegas in 2011, where Wakefield was to head the Nevada operation. She works as a Zappos college recruiter.

Serafin, 36, with a degree in political science and a master’s in social work, taught history and English in an underprivileged Houston school. Her career with Teach for America lasted eight years. She moved to Las Vegas in 2008.

Serafin now works as a special consultant to Clark County Superintendent Dwight Jones, who put expansion of the program among the district’s priorities.

Besides Serafin and Gonzales-Black, there’s a third member of the board who is keen on Teach for America – philanthropist and education advocate Elaine Wynn, the board’s new president.

Serafin calls the governor’s stances on education “all the right stuff. The Teach for America thing was like a pleasant surprise, like icing on the cake. But the stuff that resonated was all-day kindergarten, ESL (English as a second language), reading by the third grade.”

She recognizes that Teach for America is not the only solution. When she headed Teach for America in Las Vegas, “I was responsible for 100-plus teachers who were all like-minded.”

Now she works with a district with 18,000 teachers, 300,000 students and 357 schools.

After their teaching stints, Serafin and Gonzales-Black both remained in education, as do 63 percent of the program’s alumni. About half of the
63 percent continue to teach.

The Teach for America philosophy is that, if given the opportunity, every kid can achieve academic success despite extreme challenges and poverty, Gonzales-Black said. “But there is no silver bullet, no one thing that provides an impoverished kid a good education.”

Legislators will learn about Teach for America as they decide whether to approve the funding.

Critics say teachers with only five weeks of training are not experienced enough. Others say it’s just a way to replace experienced teachers with teachers making beginner’s salaries. All this will be aired in legislative hearings.

Meanwhile, Nevada’s Board of Education is already packed with at least three Teach for America advocates, two with first hand experience and one with incredibly persuasive eloquence.

Jane Ann Morrison’s column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. Email her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call her at 702-383-0275. She also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/Morrison