I went through the process of applying to Teach for America about 5 years ago (I was not selected). It was a rigorous process, and seemed to select fairly well

I went through the process of applying to Teach for America about 5 years ago (I was not selected). It was a rigorous process, and seemed to select fairly well for the attributes that successful teachers should have (enthusiasm, organizational and presentational skills, etc). I believe the success of TfA stems from the fact that their teachers are distilled from a large group full of enthusiastic idealism. I'm not sure how you can replicate that other than through a cultural paradigm shift.