Many applicants to our program also apply to Teach for America. We love TFA. It's a great program. We frequently trade ideas on how to train and support new teachers. Admission to both programs is tough, although MTR is actually a little more selective.

Here are some distinctions that will help you decide whether you want to apply to MTR, TFA, or both:

Philosophy

TFA and MTR both have the same mission: to close the achievement gap in America. Alums of both programs often go on to take education leadership positions. 

TFA is big. MTR is small. 

TFA places most of its teachers in traditional high-poverty schools; often teachers describe themselves as trying to create an "island of excellence" in struggling schools, closing their classroom doors and doing the best they can. MTR places all its teachers in the nation’s best urban charter and turnaround schools, with a crackerjack team of workaholic teachers, all rowing in the same direction. You can/should only work in these schools if you want to be part of a team. These schools are remarkably choosy in teacher hiring, often taking just 4 or 5 out of several hundred applicants. MTR graduates jump right to the front of the line, because of our track record.  

The MTR mission is to train the best rookie teachers in America, nothing less. Measuring teachers is a tricky business, but we have some evidence that our alums are indeed the among the best rookie teachers in the nation. 

Method of Training

TFA corps members participate in an intensive five week summer institute, where they establish a vision for their classrooms and build a foundation of knowledge, skills, and mindsets.

MTRs participate in an intensive yearlong training program. This training is hyper-prescriptive and detailed regarding the nuances of great teaching. Our year of training allows for extensive practice and coaching, to the point where subtle teaching moves become automatic.

We obsess about excellence. Tom Brady recently was quoted:

“I saw a great documentary this weekend on the airplane … it was this Japanese sushi chef that I would encourage you guys to see…He’s 85 years old and the only thing he ever wanted to do was make sushi. … It was just his life-long commitment to being really great at what he loves to do. And he’s 85 and still doing it,

You think man, it’s just simple, throwing a football or making a piece of sushi, how hard can that be?” Brady said. “When it’s something that you just love to do, you think about it, you wake up in the night and think about my mechanics. I wake up in the middle of the night thinking about what I can do better: my foot stride and where my arm is and what I’m doing with the front side of the body. For some people it may be crazy to think that, but for me, that’s just what I’ve always loved to do.”

Like that.

MTRs demonstrate an uncommon dedication to “geeking out” on the fine points of great teaching.

Investing In Yourself

If you're sure or almost sure that you only want to teach for 2 years and then do something else, then TFA is likely to be a better fit. That is, it doesn't make sense to do a full year of training. 

If you could imagine yourself genuinely falling in love with the work of teaching, and the quest to become an exceptional teacher, then MTR is an investment in yourself.

Of course, the "Match Corps" tutoring year -- without MTR -- is remarkable training for a variety of jobs in education policy and program administration, and boasts hundreds of alumni who are making a profound impact on children, outside the classroom.  If you want to work more on the policy/administration side of education, but not on teaching specifically, serving full-time in Match Corps for one year is an excellent option.

Where You’ll Teach

TFA places teachers all around the nation.  

MTR places more than half its teachers in Greater Boston -- if you want to teach here, it's a no-brainer. We also have relationships with top urban schools around the nation, so MTR alumni also get hired in DC, NYC, New Orleans, Denver, Chicago, San Francisco, etc. 

Learn more about the differences between MTR and Traditional Graduate Education Programs