Editorial: Program deserving of support

Monday, Jan. 19, 2004 | 8:53 a.m.

It's generally accepted that public schools need help, but just how to make improvements can be incredibly divisive, as proved by last year's battle to raise taxes in Nevada so more money could be spent on education. Sadly, political gridlock often stymies efforts to improve education. One nonprofit program that we've recently come across, however, merits support whatever one's ideological or partisan stripes. Teach For America, which started in 1989, is the domestic teaching equivalent of the U.S. Peace Corps program. The program takes some of the nation's most talented college graduates -- students who are experts in their chosen field of study but don't have a teaching degree -- and places them in schools where they're desperately needed, typically impoverished urban and rural areas.

Teach For America, as the Sun reported last week, is talking with the Clark County School District about placing 100 students here in at-risk public schools at the beginning of the next school year. The successful program already operates in 21 school districts in the nation. Represented are major cities -- such as Los Angeles, Phoenix, St. Louis and New York -- and rural areas, such as the Mississippi Delta. What's also impressive about the program, which requires the teachers to make a two-year commitment, is that it's highly selective. Last year about 16,000 college graduates applied but fewer than 2,000 were accepted. Teach For America isn't looking to get applicants who, as students, only were obsessed with getting great grades and making high salaries once they graduate. The program wants students who are passionate about making a difference. Those a ccepted also have to demonstrate that they have what it takes to be a success as a teacher.

There is a price tag to get that program here. The Clark County School District will pay the new teachers' salaries, but Teach For America will require $2.8 million in private donations to cover the other costs of the program, including an intensive teacher-training session during the summer before they arrive and continuous professional training during their two-year commitment here. In order to get this off the ground locally, it will require financial support from Las Vegans. Businesses especially have noted a lack of quality graduates from our local high schools. Well, contributing to this cause is one way they can make an important, positive change. Teach For America by itself won't turn around our public schools, but it's the kind of progressive approach that we need to improve education in Clark County.