Derrell Bradford | The 74

“When you work to change public education, people who don’t want change will try to reduce what you’re doing to a cliché. Then they’ll attack the cliché.

Here’s an example. If you publicly argue that merit should play a role in a teacher’s career — in compensation, job security, or advancement — your likely destination is a box labeled “Anti-Teacher.” Before long, you’ll also be cited in an article about the ‘war on teachers.’

Being in the box implies several things: You don’t understand schools or how hard teachers work and you think you can fire your way to improvement. The box implies the inverse as well: improving teaching is not necessary and an effort at reform, anywhere, is an attack on teachers everywhere.”

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Matt Barnum | The 74

“The nation’s 12th-grade students did slightly worse on national math and reading tests in 2015 than high school seniors did in 2013, according to National Assessment of Educational Progress results released today, even as high school graduation rates got better.

The overall score decreases were quite small — roughly two points in math and a single point in reading — but continued a trend of lackluster 12th-grade performance on the national test. The change in the 2015 results registered as statistically different in math compared to two years ago, but not in reading.”

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Kate Zernike | The New York Times

“The average performance of the nation’s high school seniors dropped in math from 2013 to 2015, but held steady in reading, according to results of a biennial test released Wednesday.

The results, from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, also showed a drop in the percentage of students in private and public schools who are considered prepared for college-level work in reading and math. In 2013, the last time the test was given, 39 percent of students were estimated to be ready in math and 38 percent in reading; in 2015, 37 percent were judged prepared in each subject.”

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Andrew J. Rotherham | US News & World Report

“I’ll see you in court!

Is this the new default position for education’s flashpoints?

Earlier this month a California appeals court overturned a high-profile lower court decision invalidating several state laws about teacher tenure rights. The laws might be damaging, the court said in Vergara v. California, but that doesn’t make them unconstitutional. That case now heads to the California Supreme Court.

Also this month a lawsuit aimed at the same kind of tenure laws was filed in Minnesota. Similar litigation is ongoing in New York. Students in Massachusetts are suing over that state’s charter school cap, saying it denies them access to good schools.”

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Ralia Polechronis | The Huffington Post Blog

“Last week another group of parents joined the fight against unconstitutional laws that prevent their kids from getting the education they deserve. They filed a lawsuit in Minnesota, just as parents have done in California and New York, challenging teacher employment statutes that keep ineffective teachers in schools. These Minnesota parents are now part of a growing national movement. Parents across the country are demanding a better—at least, an equal—public education system for children.

But on the same day these parents went to court to enforce their children’s rights, an intermediate California court reversed a trial court victory for parents in that state. And now some are asking whether this latest California ruling will derail the cases of parents in New York and Minnesota.”

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Daniel Weisberg | The 74

“Last week, a California appeals court restored the state’s teacher tenure laws, which had been ruled unconstitutional by a lower court two years ago. But the ruling was hardly a ringing endorsement of California’s approach to tenure.

Here’s what’s not in dispute in the case, Vergara v. California, even after the appeals court’s decision: Thousands of teachers in schools across California — a small percentage but still a huge number — are not up to the job. These grossly ineffective teachers are derailing their students’ academic futures. Poor and minority students are more likely than others to be assigned to one of these teachers. And all of this is happening because of state laws that make it practically impossible for schools to replace the relatively few teachers who shouldn’t be there.”

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Jeremiah Kittredge | New York Post

“Violence has become a routine part of life for many students in New York City schools.

There’s ample data to prove it, but even more powerful are the stories of the students affected by this epidemic of violence — the 8-year-old boy who stabbed his ear with a pencil to block out his peers’ taunts, the 11-year-old girl who eats lunch in the bathroom to avoid her longtime bully and the 13-year-old boy who was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder after years of abuse.

These three stories — along with thousands more that haven’t yet come to light — have something in common. In each of these cases, school administrators and city officials knew that violence and harassment were taking place but did nothing to fix the situation, endangering the victims over and over again.”

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New York Daily News

“A California appeals court has struck down a landmark ruling declaring that state’s restrictive teacher tenure laws to be unconstitutional. Students who brought the case will now appeal to the state’s top court.

The plaintiffs in Vergara vs. California must be vindicated, and the statutes in question must be struck down.

The same should be said for similar laws on the books in New York State, where the worst teachers are typically foisted on the neediest kids, and where a lawsuit inspired by Vergara is currently in the courts.”

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Alejandra Matos | Star Tribune

“A group of mothers supported by local and national education reform groups filed a legal challenge Thursday to state laws that protect teachers’ jobs, saying they prevent thousands of students from receiving a high-quality education.

Meanwhile, the California tenure lawsuit on which the Minnesota case is closely modeled was dealt a severe setback late in the day.”

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Alejandra Matos | Star Tribune

“Minnesota laws protect teachers who should no longer be in classrooms, thus preventing thousands of students from getting a high-quality education, claims a lawsuit to be filed Thursday by national and local education reform groups.

The suit — only the third of its kind in the country — could reignite the battle over union protections for Minnesota teachers.

‘When we look throughout the country at places where there are harmful teacher employment statutes and significant achievement gaps, Minnesota was one of the first states that popped up as a place that could use this kind of help,’ said Ralia Polechronis, executive director of Partnership for Educational Justice.”

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