Teach for America on hot seat; CPS concerned about attrition rate of a noted national program

Fewer than half of the teachers hired in Chicago Public Schools through the national program Teach for America stay on the job for three years, the commitment required of teachers in other alternative certification programs.

Data from Teach for America show that 43 percent of its teachers who started in CPS in 2001 stayed on the job in 2004. Of those who started in 2000, 39 percent stayed for a third year.

Those statistics raise concerns for CPS, which is looking to cut teacher attrition and is planning to track the retention of teachers in all its alternative programs. As a result, district officials have asked Teach for America, which recruits graduates from some of the …