Daily News breaks the story.
The article spells out the standard for a new lawsuit to change teacher tenure in New York:
"Brown (and Partnership for Educational Justice) has to prove inequity, inadequacy and causation — that the different legal constellation in New York causes the learning issues that we see throughout the state,” said David Bloomfield an education professor at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center."
Full disclosure, I'm not a lawyer. Here's my interpretation along with my own direct observations:
Inequity: Weak teachers are concentrated in the districts where the students come from less means. In Mount Vernon, New York, where I served on the Board of Education for five years, tenure decisions were often an after-thought. Some teachers even received tenure by estoppel. In affluent Pelham, New York, next door, nobody gets tenure without careful observation and consideration. Although tenure works better in the affluent districts, it's not perfect there, either.
Inadequacy: "You don't need to worry about the challenge words, honey." That's what my friend's kid was told in the third grade by her teacher. That teacher is inadequate. She wasn't trained properly, she was rewarded with tenure, and a generation of kids won't worry about the hard vocabulary words. Less words, lower scores, less graduation, less college, less income. Massive impact.
Causation: The inadequate training, observation and non-accountability CAUSES the inadequacy and the inequity. It's a circle. Tenure, as codified in New York State law makes it nearly impossible to rid the schools of inadequacy.
Thank you - plaintiffs, Campbell Brown, and the Partnership for Educational Justice, for making New York public schools better for everybody.
The article spells out the standard for a new lawsuit to change teacher tenure in New York:
"Brown (and Partnership for Educational Justice) has to prove inequity, inadequacy and causation — that the different legal constellation in New York causes the learning issues that we see throughout the state,” said David Bloomfield an education professor at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center."
Full disclosure, I'm not a lawyer. Here's my interpretation along with my own direct observations:
Inequity: Weak teachers are concentrated in the districts where the students come from less means. In Mount Vernon, New York, where I served on the Board of Education for five years, tenure decisions were often an after-thought. Some teachers even received tenure by estoppel. In affluent Pelham, New York, next door, nobody gets tenure without careful observation and consideration. Although tenure works better in the affluent districts, it's not perfect there, either.
Inadequacy: "You don't need to worry about the challenge words, honey." That's what my friend's kid was told in the third grade by her teacher. That teacher is inadequate. She wasn't trained properly, she was rewarded with tenure, and a generation of kids won't worry about the hard vocabulary words. Less words, lower scores, less graduation, less college, less income. Massive impact.
Causation: The inadequate training, observation and non-accountability CAUSES the inadequacy and the inequity. It's a circle. Tenure, as codified in New York State law makes it nearly impossible to rid the schools of inadequacy.
Thank you - plaintiffs, Campbell Brown, and the Partnership for Educational Justice, for making New York public schools better for everybody.
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