Duluth News Tribune

“The Duluth school district was added as a defendant this week in a lawsuit alleging the state’s lowest-performing teachers are concentrated in schools serving the highest percentages of poor and minority students.

The district joined three other Twin Cities-area districts in being added to an amended civil complaint filed in State District Court in Ramsey County. The lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of certain state teachers’ laws that plaintiffs say protect ineffective teachers and perpetuate achievement gaps.”

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Camille Artemus | Medium

“Public school parents across New York City are angry, frustrated and fed up because we see an ongoing injustice — the best teachers are sent to the wealthier neighborhoods and the low performing ones come to neighborhoods like mine in Bed-Stuy. We call for action from City Hall, but after all the promises this Mayor made to fight inequity and bridge the tale of two cities, it’s the most vulnerable kids who still suffer. The latest injustice is the City’s attempt to reduce spending by sending ineffective teachers stuck on the City payroll into low-income classrooms. Parents are demanding details and we’re demanding action, but our calls are falling on deaf ears.”

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The Wall Street Journal

“One goal of launching New York City’s high-school choice system more than a decade ago was to help poor teenagers escape the troubled options in their own neighborhoods.

But many of them are unprepared for selective public high schools with good graduation rates, and some find it difficult to navigate the application process, making it hard to grab opportunities across the city.

A new study that maps graduation rates by where students live—rather than by schools—highlights the challenge of cutting the link between the socioeconomic status of a student’s home community and his academic achievement.”

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The New York Times

“A New York State court on Tuesday threw out a teacher’s evaluation for the 2013-14 school year, based on a controversial state rating system, saying that it had been ‘arbitrary and capricious.’ But the court stopped short of ruling on the evaluation system more broadly because the state has already begun replacing it.

For the 2012-13 school year, Sheri G. Lederman, a longtime teacher in the high-performing Great Neck public school district, on Long Island, received what was known as a growth score of 14 points out of a possible 20; the score was meant to calculate student progress over time. Her students scored substantially higher than the state average on annual standardized tests in English and math, and her score put her in the ‘effective’ range.”

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New York Post

“Fresh cause for city parents to fret: For the second straight year, the share of teachers winning tenure has ticked up.

Some 64 percent got the OK this year, meaning they’ll be nearly impossible to fire as long as they want to keep their jobs.

That’s only slightly higher than last year’s 60 percent rate — but a marked jump from the 53 percent figure the year before, Mike Bloomberg’s last year as mayor.

Bloomberg wanted to be able to oust teachers who can’t teach. That’s a key reason why, on his watch, the tenure-approval rate fell steeply from the days when nine out of 10 teachers got lifetime protection.”

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Twin Cities Pioneer Press

“Four Minnesota mothers have recently taken on our state’s education system. They filed suit, challenging the constitutionality of laws that keep ineffective teachers in the classroom and keep effective teachers out.

Like most parents, they value education and want their children to be on track, graduate, and go to college. And like most parents, they advocate for their children’s needs and take action when their concerns are ignored. They did that by filing this lawsuit, and Students for Education Reform Minnesota (SFERMinn) is proud to support their efforts.”

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Chalkbeat NY

“New York City teachers were more likely to earn tenure last school year than at any point in the previous five years, but approval rates remain far lower than they were just a few years ago, when virtually every eligible teacher won the job protection.

Sixty-four percent of the 5,832 eligible teachers were granted tenure during the 2014-15 school year, up from 60 percent the year before, according to data released Thursday to Chalkbeat. Another 34 percent had their decisions deferred, and 2.3 percent were rejected, effectively ending their teaching careers in the district.”

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Tenicka Boyd | Education Post

“A couple of months ago, the mayor of New York City snuck out a press release about his failure to rid the city of some its poorest performing teachers.

What his administration has done instead is allow some of these teachers, many of whom have been out of the classroom for years collecting full salaries, to seep back into schools and teach our city’s most vulnerable children.

A devastating reality of this city’s broken public school system is the fact that our most vulnerable children too often are taught by the least effective teachers. With 75 percent of New York City’s 1.1 million public school students being children of color, you would think that Mayor Bill de Blasio would ensure high-performing teachers reach the halls of every school.”

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The Nation’s Report Card

In comparison to 2013, the national average mathematics score in 2015 for twelfth-grade students was lower and the average reading score was not significantly different.

In comparison to the first year of the current trendline, 2005, the average mathematics score in 2015 did not significantly differ. In comparison to the initial reading assessment year, 1992, the 2015 average reading score was lower.

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Anthony Lonetree | StarTribune

“Nekima Levy-Pounds, who as president of the Minneapolis NAACP has been active in several high-profile causes, has joined the legal team challenging the state’s teacher tenure laws.

She will serve as co-counsel representing four mothers in a lawsuit that claims the laws protect teachers who are ineffective and in turn deprive children of a high-quality education.

In a statement, Levy-Pounds said ‘parents are the best advocates to stand up against a public education system that is failing Minnesota children, especially our children of color.'”

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