This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Nov. 30, 2011 - Gov. Jay Nixon took time Wednesday morning to visit a science class at Soldan International Studies High School, where the students study and conduct experiments. Then he announced nearly $213,000 in help for an experiment in education that has benefited Soldan and many other schools in the St. Louis area: Teach For America.
The money, according to Scott Baier, executive director for Teach For America in St. Louis, will help the organization raise money by offering potential donors credits that will make their contributions go further.
"They allow us to get a better bang for the buck," Baier said, noting that the two-year grant is the third award the organization has received under Missouri's Youth Opportunities Program tax credits.
Nixon chose Soldan for the announcement because it has six current members of Teach For America and two alumni from the program on its faculty. Since the program began in St. Louis in 2002 with 41 members, it has grown to 190 members in 60 traditional public and charter schools in the area. Among its more than 325 alumni are seven principals in the St. Louis Public Schools.
Among the current members of the program is Andrew Goodin, last year's science teacher of the year in the city school system. As Nixon observed Goodin's class and mentioned the importance of alternative energy sources such as ethanol, the teacher quizzed the students on whether ethanol's composition made it an element, a compound or a solution.
They quickly responded that its carbon, hydrogen and oxygen made it a compound, and Nixon segued into a brief discussion of the controversy over whether the corn component of ethanol is best used as fuel or as food.
Emphasizing the need to ponder such questions, he gestured toward Goodin and told the class that "the reason I'm here is this fellow right here."
And the governor expanded his praise to all participants in Teach For America graduates and their success rate, adding:
"These are folks who are really, really smart and really, really committed."
That commitment was evident in the class of another Teach For America graduate, Kelsi Peacock, who took time from her math class to talk about her experience in the program.
She said she is in her third year, which is one year longer than the typical two-year tenure. As she shuttled among clusters of desks to offer help to students who had raised their hand, Peacock praised the experience she has gained in classroom management and the help she has received from the program's mentoring element.
"They are really great about professional development and getting someone in the classroom to give you feedback," she said. "I really believe Teach For America gives you the key elements you need to be a good teacher."
Noting that she was a music major at Olivet Nazarene University, Peacock said she has a passion for both music and math. But she acknowledged that passion isn't enough to make progress in an urban classroom, and she admitted that when she looks back on her first year of teaching, she might cringe at her inexperience.
"I think in the first year," she said, "you are really overwhelmed with so much to do. There is so much teaching and grading and learning. But if you persevere and work with others and collaborate and take advice from everyone, you get better as a teacher.
"I had to increase my teaching skills so my students could improve their learning skills."
One of the criticisms sometimes leveled against Teach For America is that teachers with little or no experience are not the right ones to send into urban classrooms that could challenge even the most veteran educators. Baier said the question is best looked at from a different angle, one of the enthusiasm that Teach For America participants such as Goodin and Peacock can bring to their job.
"The question is where is the biggest need and how can we get people who will be effective in those areas," he said. "Our teachers do significantly better than other first-year teachers."
In a statement released by his office announcing the grants, Nixon praised the program's ability to bring success to urban classrooms.
"Too often," he said, "children growing up in poverty are behind other children academically by several years. Teach For America helps address those inequities by providing carefully selected and trained college graduates to teach for at least two years in high-need schools. This organization has a proven track record of boosting academic achievement and career readiness, and I am pleased that the state of Missouri can assist these teachers and their critical mission."
The Youth Opportunities Program tax credits were among the programs targeted for phase out by the commission named by Nixon earlier this year to study the state's tax credit programs. Its report said that it and other tax credits, ranging from historic preservation and low-income housing to maternity homes and special-needs adoption, should have a sunset provision of six years.
Asked about whether the program should be phased out, Nixon said he would support its continuation, adding:
"This is a relatively small program that has provided a jump start for students."
The tax credits announced Wednesday are not connected with plans to convert the vacant Jefferson Arms building downtown into a combination residence for teachers and regional headquarters for Teach For America.
The Post-Dispatch reported recently that the building is targeted for a $106 million transformation that could begin next summer if the developer, McGowan Brothers, get the federal new markets tax credits and other public incentives they need.
The renovated building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, would not only provide economical apartment space for teachers, Baier said, but it could be used as a meeting space for the organization's conferences. The project would be modeled after one in Baltimore.