Abstract

To analyze the counternarrative in the public discourse surrounding Teach For America (TFA), this paper represents the first digital ethnography in education policy. We conduct a qualitative analysis of Truth For America, an education policy podcast. We found four overarching themes that arose from conversations with respondents: (1) problematic practice, preparation, and pedagogy; (2) concerns linked to critiquing TFA and the organization’s responses to that critique; (3) issues related to race and diversity; and (4) disconcerting funding practices and political power. We conclude by discussing the implications of how individual-level stakeholder experiences inform the public discourse about TFA.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-21-2020

Notes/Citation Information

Published in Urban Education, v. 56, issue 4.

© 2020 The Authors

The copyright holder has granted the permission to post the article here.

The document available for download is the authors' post-peer-review final draft of the article.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085920953880

Related Content

The "Truth for America" podcast is available on Stitcher.

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