Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Anti Teacher Initiative Filed

Matt David, a political consultant to Michelle Rhee’s StudentsFirst has submitted an initiative for the California ballot to remove teacher seniority as a factor in lay-off decisions.  StudentsFirst has long advocated this position and worked with EDVoice to propose  state legislation to achieve this goal.  Matt David is a former communications director for Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. 
The claim that teacher seniority protection is a major factor in school achievement has no basis in research.  It has long been a favored campaign of the Right in part because it can be used to assault teachers’ unions and because it divides teachers against each other.
Younger teachers frequently assume that their youth and energy makes them a better teacher.  These factors do indeed contribute to teaching, but there is no evidence to indicate that they balance or compensate for the skill of more experienced teachers.  This is an ideological campaign assault, not a provision based upon evidence.

See the prior posts on Michelle Rhee, StudentsFirst, and their connection to corporate assaults on public education. http://choosingdemocracy.blogspot.com/2013/12/how-wall-street-power-brokers-are.html

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