Someone sues the schools to abolish teacher tenure ?

By Duane Campbell

Julie Watson of The Associated Press reports today in the Sacramento Bee that  nine public school students are suing the state over laws on teacher tenure and seniority which really means that the usual anti union corporate machine has launched a new front in the war on teachers.  See  https://sites.google.com/site/democracyandeducationorg/

These students ( or their parents)  want to invalidate a series of current laws which protect teachers from political interference. Their campaign foci just happen to co-inside with campaigns of a variety of the usual corporate suspects from Michellle Rhee, the Waltons, Students First, Democrats for Educational Reform, and other well financed political action committees.

However, as we learned in the campaign against bi-lingual education ( Prop.227), parent and student front groups can provide an effective campaign strategy. A law suite designed for publicity was an important element in the abolition of bilingual education for the children of California.  It will be difficult to get past the framing of the AP article to real issues.

For example, one of the parents is listed as saying that her child did not learn to read until 3^rd. grade.  Something we would all be concerned about, but it is not clearly connected to teacher tenure and seniority.

More likely, the child was disadvantaged by large classroom sizes,  California’s over crowded classrooms,  and the budget cuts of the recent economic crisis.   Or, it may have been because the child did not respond well to the tightly organized scripted reading lessons now required in most classrooms. Reading resource teachers prepared to assist children falling behind were eliminated from most California classrooms in a long series of budget cuts.

Office of Civil Rights report

Civil Rights Data Collection Minority students across the country face harsher discipline, have less access to rigorous coursework, and are more often taught by lower-paid and less-experienced teachers, according to new data from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR). A national survey of more than 72,000 schools serving 85 percent of the nation’s students illuminates gaping discrepancies among student groups related to college and career readiness, discipline, school finance, student retention, and teacher quality. The key findings include the following: Black students, particularly boys, are far more likely to be suspended or expelled from school than their peers. Black students represent 18 percent of the students in the survey sample, but constitute 35 percent of the students suspended once, 46 percent of those suspended multiple times, and 39 percent of those expelled. Sixty-five percent of high-minority high schools offer Algebra II, compared to 82 percent of high schools with the lowest black and Hispanic enrollment. Similarly, only 29 percent of high-minority high schools offer Calculus, compared to 55 percent of low-minority schools. Although black and Hispanic students make up 44 percent of the student population in districts offering gifted and talented programs, they represent only 26 percent of the students enrolled in those programs. Black students represent 16 percent of middle school students, but 42 percent of students in those grades who are held back a year. Teachers in high-minority schools are paid on average $2,251 less per year than their colleagues teaching in low-minority schools in the same district.

Is it good for the kids?

Gene R. Carter, Executive Director of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development ( which I have been a member of for over 30 years) says
"If policymakers made decisions by first asking, What works best for children?, they would redefine what a successful learner is and how we measure success. Parents know what they want for their children. A child who enters school in good health and feels safe and connected to her school is ready to learn. A student who has at least one adult in school who understands his social and emotional development is more likely to stay in school. Students who have access to challenging academic programs are better prepared for further education, work, and civic life. These components must work together. This should be the goal of everyone whose job is to create education policies and practices to adequately prepare our children for their futures.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan delivered some sobering statistics on why reauthorization of ESEA cannot wait:

27 percent of America's young people drop out of high school.
Recent international tests in math and science show our students trail their peers in other countries.
Just 40 percent of young people earn a two-year or four-year college degree.
The U.S. now ranks 10th in the world in the rate of college completion for 25- to 34-year-olds.

Duncan urges us all to "roll up our sleeves and work together and get beyond differences of party, politics and philosophy." ASCD members agree that reform of our nation's education law cannot wait. We stand ready to do our part. We advocate for the federal government to play a leadership role in equity and access for disadvantaged and special-needs student populations, support the development and training of highly effective educators, promote effective education policies and services for every stage of a student's development, and promote innovative strategies and programs for 21st century students to be successful.

ASCD members across the United States deserve an answer from each of their elected officials to the following question: Where do you stand on education?"

Response by Duane Campbell
Well, Duncan is mostly correct.
The claim that recent tests reveal that U.S. students lag behind students in other countries is partially correct and partially distorted.
As Gerald Bracey points out in Education Hell: Rhetoric Vs. Reality , Transforming the Fire Consuming America's Schools. (2009)
If you remove the schools serving the lowest income 25% of U.S. students, then the remaining students perform as well or better than schools anywhere in the world.
Why remove this group? Because the U.S. has one of the highest poverty rates for children in the world and some of the weakest supports for using the schools to combat this poverty.
See other reviews of Arne Duncan's Race to the Top on this blog.