Thoughts: A few months after I quit.

A friend, Sidik, from the fellows program asked me a few questions for an article he was writing for source magazine and here's my response:

I think success in this program has a lot more to do with the luck of getting a job at a nice school with supportive staff, etc. I'm not so sure the training was effective, because it was rushed, not because its quality. It comes down to the fact that some people have a natural ability to connect with this unique population and other people are better suited for other professions with other sets of challenges. The fellows might have more success if they did a better job of screening people, than trying to improve the training. What I felt was beyond my control was the sentiment that a lot of the students had toward the fellows program and the stereotypes they associate with young female white teachers, who are natural targets to middle school students. They were playing a game with me the whole time I was there and they won because I quit. I'm not sure that hiring teachers through those alternative certification programs would improve the achievement gap. It may help, but the problem is more complex than that. There are too many issues within the school and the community. Some of these students lack a lot of structure in their home life, and I don't think that teachers are the solution to every problem these kids face. Schools need to adopt better more consistent school wide disciplinary protocols and have more counselors on staff. It would also help to get the community and the parents involved, so the kids have plenty of support and they know that they are expected to achieve.