Although the Teach For American (TFA) program appears to have been quite successful in terms of bringing new teachers to schools in need, the program is certainly not without its critics. In fact, many worry about the effects the TFA program is having on older teachers. Still, one thing is for certain: the program continues to grow steadily despite the lingering recession and the slowdown of new teacher hiring.

Currently, there are about 7,300 people who are expected to teach through the TFA program throughout the nation. This number is actually up from last year, at which time about 6,200 people taught through the program. This growth is largely due to the fact that the program continues to expand into other regions. In fact, it is recently grown from being in 29 regions to 35, with cities such as Boston, Dallas and Minneapolis-St. Paul getting on board. Each region is also seeing its numbers expand. Baltimore, for example, had 80 “corp members” in 2007, but 160 new members will be joining the organization this year.

Although TFA has experienced a great deal of success, critics of the program claim it is causing experienced teachers to lose their jobs. Richard Stutman, who is the president of the Boston Teachers Union, claims that 20 teachers lost their jobs in Boston and were replaced with TFA corps members. Critics of the program claim this is a common practice, as schools let go of their more experienced teachers in order to make room for TFA corp members who they can hire with at a much lower wage. To make matters worse, Stutman claims that the teachers who were replaced in Boston were experienced professionals with good evaluations who did not deserve to lose their jobs.

The fact that older teachers may be losing their jobs to the TFA is not just a matter of concern for those individuals. Rather, critics maintain that letting go of experienced teachers and bringing in new teachers with very little experience also undermines the education the students receive. According to critics, Boston isn’t the only city where older teachers are being laid off for TFA members. In fact, 18 other union presidents recently met with Stutman and claimed they are experiencing the same problems in their cities.

To make matters worse, some school districts seem to be hiding behind the program and using it as an excuse to cut jobs. In March, for example, the superintendent of Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools in North Carolina announced that he was laying off hundreds of his teachers. Yet, he was not getting rid of 100 TFA members because the district had “made a commitment to this program.” Superintendent Peter Gorman went on to say that the TFA teachers “are placed at schools with high populations of underprivileged students where the placement of personnel has proven to be difficult.”

The fact that the program is used to bring educators into low-income schools is precisely why some are opposed to the program. After all, it is these students who are in the greatest need of working with experienced teachers who know how to reach a difficult population. Supporters of the program, on the other hand, maintain that the program is beneficial to these students because it brings in teachers who are passionate about making a difference. In fact, the founder of the program, Wendy Kopp, described the goal of the program as being to “mobilize some of the most passionate, dedicated members of my generation to change the fact that where a child is born in the United States does a great deal to determine his or her chances in life.”

John Wilson, who is the executive director of the National Education Association, which is the largest teachers union in the United States does not agree that the program benefits those students who are in the greatest need. In fact, Wilson claims that the TFA has “done a marvelous job of marketing their program and branding their program – you cannot take away from their business model. But what they’re doing to poor children is malpractice.”

When the program was first founded in 1990, it received about 2,500 applicants and resulted in a total of 500 teachers. This year, the program received 35,000 applicants, with 11% of the applicants being seniors from Ivy League schools.

In theory, this sounds like TFA corp members should be able to offer students the benefit of their knowledge. Keith Johnson, who is the president of the teachers union in Detroit, does not agree. In fact, he described the corp members as being “educational mercenaries” who “ride in on their white horses and for two years share the virtue of their knowledge as a pit stop on their way to becoming corporate executives.”

Although this bitter statement may seem to make a lot of sense, the reality is that a 2008 survey found that only 4% of TFA corp members go into business. Furthermore, approximately two-thirds remain in the education field, with many taking on administrative positions or pursuing positions with political or charitable groups. 29% of the corp members choose to stay in the classroom.

These numbers aren’t far behind what is typically seen in the United State’s teaching force. According to research, about one-third of teachers leave the profession within the first few years and nearly half leave by the end of their fifth year. Overall, about 40% of those who graduate with a teaching degree never even enter the classroom.

So, the question is clear: is TFA a vital program that helps improve opportunities for needy children while getting more people into the teaching workforce, or is it a problematic program that is costing older teachers jobs and resulting in sub-standard educational opportunities for children in low-income districts? You be the judge.