Partnership for Educational Justice

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    • New York Lawsuit (Wright v. New York)
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Meet Forslund v. MN Lead Plaintiff Tiffini Flynn Forslund

April 21, 2016

_Tiffini

Tiffini Flynn Forslund, a mother of three from Minneapolis, watched year after year as her children went through the public school system – yearning for a sense of community that she felt in her schools as a child. When her middle child entered 5th grade, Tiffini saw her education improve because of the powerful impact of one great teacher. This teacher was incredibly engaging: he challenged her daughter to succeed, and collaborated with parents like Tiffini to support students inside and outside of the classroom.

Tiffini was stunned to find out that this teacher was laid off due to “last-in, first-out” (LIFO) dismissal policies, which prioritize seniority over teacher quality when a school district conducts budgetary layoffs. To think that her youngest daughter would not have the chance to learn from this terrific teacher drove her to write letters to the local newspapers, the school board, and government officials. She was told, “this is just how it works.”

Tiffini believes that every child in Minnesota deserves to have great teachers. Tiffini’s youngest daughter was deprived of an excellent teacher because of LIFO policies. Her hope is that this lawsuit will allow for change to Minnesota’s LIFO laws and other teacher employment laws so that schools may prioritize effective teaching when making employment decisions.

Filed Under: Blog

Meet Forslund v. MN Plaintiff Bonnie Dominguez

April 21, 2016

_Bonnie

Bonnie Dominguez is a mother of three from Duluth. Her daughter thrived in a specialized learning program until her 5th grade year, when she began to struggle academically and socially. Conversations with her daughter’s teachers did not lead to productive solutions and, as a result, Bonnie’s daughter lost significant ground.

When her daughter entered 6th grade, Bonnie, with the help of her daughter’s 6th grade teacher, discovered that her daughter’s specialized education program was not properly implemented during her 5th grade year, prompting the struggles she experienced. By taking an active interest, her 6th grade teacher helped Bonnie’s daughter get back on track.

When Bonnie learned that her daughter’s specialized education program wasn’t implemented in 5th grade, she initially felt helpless. But when she learned that other families experienced similar problems, and that there was a community of parents in search of a solution, she realized she couldn’t keep quiet – that she needed to be the voice for her child and others to make sure no child loses a year of their education. She believes all Minnesota children deserve a great teacher, no matter their socioeconomic status or background.

Filed Under: Blog

Meet Forslund v. MN Plaintiff Justina Person

April 21, 2016

_Justina

Justina Person, a mother of two from Little Canada, suffered for years in the Minnesota public school system until a teacher recognized her dyslexia when she was a junior in high school. Justina credits that teacher for having turned her world around – because of one great teacher’s involvement, she was able to go to college.

Now as a mother, Justina finds herself watching her son face the same struggles – waiting for a teacher to come along like the one who inspired her. In 5th grade, Justina’s son was having so much difficultly understanding a teacher’s lectures that he came up with reasons to leave the classroom every day. His teacher allowed this to happen, standing by for months, instead of working with Justina and her son to find a solution.

Justina was shocked to learn that her son was assigned to the same teacher the following school year. When she voiced her concerns, Justina was told that the school wouldn’t and couldn’t make a change. Feeling dejected and powerless, Justina transferred her son to a school in a different district where teachers have made it a priority to keep him engaged and make sure he is learning. Justina’s son now remains in class, excelling in areas where he struggled before. Since beginning at his new school, he has consistently made the honor roll.

Justina Person hopes that her children will have the opportunity to grow up to be whatever they want to be and never feel limited because they didn’t have access to the education they deserved. Her dream is that they will graduate high school and enter college ready and prepared for the journey ahead.

Filed Under: Blog

Meet Forslund v. MN Plaintiff Roxanne Draughn

April 21, 2016

_Roxanne

Roxanne Draughn is a mother of two from St. Paul. After a great pre-K experience, her son entered kindergarten eager to learn. However, after Roxanne lost her job and she and her son moved to a shelter, it became more difficult for him to find reliable transportation to school and to complete his schoolwork on time. Roxanne’s son’s teacher was aware of his difficult circumstances, but was unwilling to make accommodations, subjecting him to increasingly harsh disciplinary measures. The constant reprimands wore down Roxanne’s son, made him reluctant to go to school, and even gave him nightmares. When Roxanne asked whether changes could be made, she was told that her son’s teacher was protected by Minnesota’s tenure laws. This was the first time Roxanne heard about such protections.

Roxanne has since moved her child to a new school, but still worries that her son will be placed with another teacher that discourages his love for learning. She hopes that when her youngest son, who is only 17-months old, is ready for pre-K, he’ll enter a different kind of school, one filled with teachers who inspire and motivate students to succeed – quality teachers for all kids.

Filed Under: Blog

Education Reform: Why America Needs a David Cameron

October 16, 2015

By Campbell Brown | The Daily Beast

The vision and courage needed to take on the crisis of failing schools has surfaced during our presidential campaign—just not in this country.

Last week, addressing his party for the first time since re-election in May, U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron called for an end to the country’s traditional public school system, endorsing instead a nationwide conversion to academies, which are essentially the British equivalent of charter schools—publicly funded, but with greater freedom over what they teach and how they are run.

Read More

Filed Under: Blog, In the News

StudentsFirstNY Alerts Parents at 100 Poorest Performing Schools

September 21, 2015

StudentsFirstNY kicked off the 2015-2016 schools year with a massive citywide grassroots effort across New York City’s 100 lowest performing schools. The goal: to alert parents in each of the 100 worst schools in New York City as measured by proficiency on the New York state math and ELA tests. All of these schools had proficiency rates below 10%, meaning that at least nine out of ten students failed to pass the tests. Many of these 100 schools are part of Mayor de Blasio’s Renewal and Community schools that did not show sufficient progress last year. This comprehensive action is the latest effort by the leading education reform organization StudentsFirstNY to empower parents in traditional public schools to speak up, take action and advocate for improving school quality and expanding parent choice.

Read More

Filed Under: Blog, In the News

De Blasio’s Vision Isn’t Nearly Radical Enough to Fix New York’s Schools

September 17, 2015

By Campbell Brown | New York Post

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a number of worthy education initiatives on Wednesday — expanding computer science programming, increasing college readiness and pledging that every child will read at grade level by third grade.

On the face of it, all good. All the research shows that third-grade literacy is the critical indicator of future success. That’s why every big-city school superintendent around the country makes it a core priority from the start.

Read More

Filed Under: Blog, In the News

6 NYC Education Realities from “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”

March 20, 2015

In Netflix’s new original series “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”, Kimmy comes across a tenured teacher who has no interest in teaching students, but instead is focused on getting into the “rubber room” (Absent Teacher Reserve – ATR).

1. “FIRED? I can’t get fired, I’ve got tenure!”

kimmy-fired

 

 

 

 

New York law requires school administrators to decide whether or not a teacher will be granted tenure after just three years on the job — and 97% of teachers get it.

This basically means they have a job for life, regardless of how well their students are learning. Thanks to complicated disciplinary procedures in New York, it’s virtually impossible to fire an ineffective, tenured teacher.

 

2. “If you’re too incompetent to teach, they send you here…the union calls it the ‘rubber room’.”

kimmy-rubber room

 

 

 

 

While the common name has become the “rubber room”, it’s actually called the Absent Teacher Reserve (ATR). And while there are several different reasons a teacher may be sent there, an underperforming teacher will be kept there — with pay — while his or her individual case is being reviewed.

Currently NYC is spending $144 million a year on the ATR, paying for teacher who aren’t in a classroom.

(Read a story about NYC’s ATR in WorldMag and NY Post)

 

3. “You get paid to sit around all day until they figure out what to do with you. It takes YEARS!”

kimmy-years

 

 

 

 

A teacher who is involved in a teacher dismissal hearing may be laced in the ATR. These teacher dismissal hearings can take as long as 830 days and cost as much as $313,000.

 

4. “They’re not gonna replace you. The school’s broke. They’ve been renting out the lockers as hotel rooms for Japanese businessmen.”

kimmy-konichiwa

 

 

 

 

Though we haven’t heard of any Japanese businessmen sleeping in school lockers, it’s definitely true that when budget deficits result in job cuts, teacher layoffs are based on seniority, not job performance — by law.

New York’s ‘Last In-First Out’ (LIFO) statue allows senior, tenured teachers — regardless of their ability to teach students — to remain on the job while junior, even high-performing teachers must be laid off.

 

5. “You complain, I win. You fail, I win.”

kimmy-complain

 

 

 

 

Kimmy’s teacher knows that no matter what happens, he won’t be fired and will continue to earn his salary. A win for him, but a loss for Kimmy and every other student.

Three in five teachers in New York’s ATR didn’t even submit a single job application to the city’s online hiring system in 2013 that would have put them back on the job. Maybe they don’t want to go back to a regular teaching job?

(Read more in the NY Post)

 

6. “Well, I’m not giving up!”

kimmy-not giving up

 

 

 

 

…and neither are we. We’re right there with you, Kimmy, fighting for our children’s education!

Filed Under: Blog

Campbell Brown: Political attacks on Common Core are driven by pandering

February 27, 2015

Washington Post
By Campbell Brown

Campbell Brown is founder of the Partnership for Educational Justice and a former CNN and NBC News anchor.

At the Conservative Political Action Conference this week, the supposed evils of the Common Core educational standards were front and center. So, too, was an unmistakable case of pandering.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) declared, “We need to remove Common Core from every classroom in America.” New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) blamed his predecessor for forcing his state to adopt the standards and said that he is now deeply concerned about “”

Both now preach this opposition message with the zealous conviction of converts — because they are converts, having carried until recently a very different message. And their explanations for their flip-flops border on the absurd.

In April 2013, I interviewed Jindal at an education conference in Baton Rouge. Back then, Jindal was a passionate proponent of Common Core, whose development was driven by the nation’s governors and which had been adopted by most every state, including Louisiana. Jindal made a strong case that day for how vital the standards were to improving education in his state.

His big reversal came when he began openly exploring a presidential run. Now he calls the standards a top-down, meddlesome approach that is terrible for public education. His beef, like that of many Republicans opposed to Common Core, is that the Obama administration ruined a good idea when it tied federal dollars to the voluntary standards. Jindal has gone so far as to sue the federal government for offering financial incentives to states that sign up.

A basic lesson in recent history shows why Jindal’s conversion appears so disingenuous. The Obama administration announced in the summer of 2009 that federal dollars would be available to states that embraced Common Core, yet Jindal remained a champion until late 2013. Did it really take him more than four years to discover that the federal government was involved? Maybe that alone should disqualify him from being a serious presidential candidate.

Christie’s inartful attempts to disguise his flip-flop have been no better. In 2013, he was also a big Common Core proponent, saying, “This is one of those areas where I’ve agreed more with the president than not.” Last year he blasted other Republicans for opposing the standards, saying they “care more about their primaries than they care about anything else.” Yet, lo and behold, Christie has developed “grave concerns,” as he told Iowa voters last month, because the federal government is tying federal funds to the initiative. He has even asked a commission to reexamine New Jersey’s implementation “in light of these new developments from the Obama administration” — developments that were announced five years earlier.

All this, of course, is not about education. Or facts.

Jindal and Christie are running from Common Core with an eye on the presidential primary, where attacking any intrusion into local affairs is an applause line for conservatives. And they are not the only Republicans backtracking all over themselves.

How about Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker? He was an early supporter of implementing Common Core in his state but, during a tough reelection campaign in 2014, he abruptly called for its repeal. Now his position is mush; he says he supports high standards but wants school districts to know they can opt out if they want.

Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee has also flip-flopped. In 2013, he was still willing to admit that high standards across the states were a good thing but suggested a name change to solve the standards’ branding problem. Now he, too, is withdrawing his support and blaming the feds.

Indeed, some states such as Arizona have dealt with the backlash against Common Core by keeping the standards but changing the name. We are reduced to sleight of hand. Meanwhile, former Florida governor Jeb Bush has become a target for standing by Common Core as a voluntary minimum level of rigor for all states. His message to governors: Go ahead and set your own standards if you want; just make them at least as rigorous.

Let’s be clear about what Common Core is. It spells out what students should know at the end of each grade. The goal is to ensure that our students are sound in math and literacy and that our schools have some basic consistency nationwide. But the standards do not dictate a national curriculum, and teachers are not told how or what to teach.

The unpopularity of the initiative with segments of the public has been caused by rough implementation in some states and the tests linked to the standards. That frustration is legitimate and can be addressed. But abandonment of the initiative for political reasons is craven.

Those running from Common Core may find that the political risks have been overstated. A recent NBC/Marist poll of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina Republicans found that the number of people willing to back a pro-Common Core candidate was greater than the number who said support for Common Core was a deal-breaker.

Education never quite gets the attention it deserves in presidential campaigns, but monster flip-flops surely do. So here’s some advice for people running for office: If you want to campaign against core standards, perhaps you should try having core standards of your own first.

Read the full story here.

Filed Under: Blog, In the News

RealClear Radio Hour Podcast: The Future of Education — Teacher Tenure Reform

February 1, 2015

Reshma Singh, Executive Director of the Partnership for Educational Justice (PEJ), tells how century-old tenure laws give ironclad job security to teachers, regardless of performance, at the cost of children’s education and rights. Many teachers and states are pushing for reform similar to the lawsuit PEJ has undertaken, representing nine New York families advocating for tenure reform as an important tool for improving failing schools.

Full Podcast here

Filed Under: Blog, In the News

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  • About Us
    • Our Mission
    • Our History
    • FAQ
    • Contact Us
  • Teacher Quality Lawsuits
    • New York Lawsuit (Wright v. New York)
    • Minnesota Lawsuit (Forslund v. Minnesota)
    • New Jersey Lawsuit (HG v. Harrington)
    • Permanent Employment
    • Other Initiatives
  • Legal Filings
    • Wright v. New York Legal Filings
    • Forslund v. Minnesota Legal Filings
    • HG v. Harrington Legal Filings
    • DACA Amicus Brief Filings by PEJ
    • Partnerships
  • Media
    • Press Releases
    • Blog
  • Action
    • Donate
    • Share your Story
    • Sign up for our Email List
    • Follow Us on Social Media
    • Read the Research on Teacher Quality

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