TFA recruiting numbers drop, U. among top contributors
Jessica LiAs the economy improves, recruiting teachers is becoming increasingly challenging for Teach for America. The idea for Teach for America, which matches college graduates with hard-to-fill teaching vacancies, came out of the senior thesis of Wendy Kopp ’89. An increasingly political conversation around public education has led to a decrease in interest for the profession, particularly for people who may have once had more idealistic expectations, Becky O’Neill ’07, senior managing director of communications for Teach for America, said. “At schools like Princeton with such competitive candidates, students are getting offers often and early from lots of great companies,” O’Neill said, adding that her group usually reaches out to individual students for recruitment based on recommendations from professors, career services offices, campus staff, student leaders, current corps members and alumni. “This year, we had 17 Princeton alums join the TFA corps," she said.