Gary Rubinstein questions the data undergirding Teach For America’s contention that two thirds of its alumni remain in education, with half of those continuing as teachers. He calculates that the number of TFA alums who, like himself, remain in teaching is probably something more like 10 to 15 percent—which he believes is still pretty impressive. The concern is that the higher figure—tantamount, Rubinstein contends, to “PR spin"—can have the effect of swaying education policy against other teachers:
Politicians often believe it and then make policies based on it, like "those TFA teachers keep teaching so we can solve the education crisis by firing all the overpaid veterans and replacing them with these TFA teachers."