Davids

Wright

It’s not only parents who feel that teacher employment statutes in Minnesota need to change. Educators in the state also believe effectiveness should be a critical part of employment decisions in Minnesota public schools. And a 2013 MinnCAN poll of the state’s non-charter public school teachers showed that more than 80 percent agreed that effectiveness should play a role in receiving tenure, and more than 70 percent agreed that lack of effectiveness should be grounds for losing it.

We believe the challenged statutes are promoting ineffective teachers, punishing good teachers, discouraging new and aspiring teachers, and most importantly, robbing Minnesota’s children of the education they deserve. With layoffs based solely on seniority rather than success in the classroom, good teachers are losing their jobs. Those in the first three years of their career are extremely prone to layoffs – just because of when they were hired – even if they’re outstanding and making a huge difference in the lives of Minnesota kids. And in an era of teacher shortages and a lack of diversity, there’s little to attract the next generation of Minnesota’s teachers with so much job insecurity at the start of their careers.

The common-sense reforms we’re advocating are about rewarding teachers with the greatest success in the classroom – whether that’s a tenured math teacher with 10 years of experience or a new science teacher with two. Such reforms would ensure the most effective teachers remain in the classroom to provide the best possible outcomes for students. A system that rewards effectiveness would attract, retain, and empower teachers motivated to ensure their students are learning and have every opportunity for success.

7-2016: Defendants’ Replies in Support of Defendants’ Motions to Dismiss

7-5-16: Plaintiffs’ Opposition to Defendants’ Motions to Dismiss

6-16-16: Defendants’ Motions to Dismiss

5-2-16: Forslund v. Minnesota Amended Legal Complaint

4-14-16: Forslund v. Minnesota Legal Complaint

NYSUT

UFT

New York State

New York City

SAANYS

BAEO

“Black parents, educators, elected officials, clergy, students and other community leaders must remain strong advocates for high-quality educational options inside schoolhouses, at school board meetings, and inside state capitals, affirms a new report released today by the Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO)- a national education advocacy organization. The release of the report coincides with National School Choice Week (NCSW) and underscores the need for more high-quality education options for Black children across the country.”

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By Nate Bowling

“I want to tell you a secret: America really doesn’t care what happens to poor people and most black people. There I said it.

In my position as a Teacher of the Year and a teacher leader (an ambiguous term at best), I am supposed to be a voice and hold positions on a host of ed policy issues: teaching evaluations, charter schools, test refusal, and (fights over) Common Core come to mind. I am so sick of reading about McCleary (Washington’s ongoing intragovernmental battle for equitable funding for K-12) I don’t know what to do with myself. But, increasingly I find myself tuning out of these conversations. As a nation, we’re nibbling around the edges with accountability measures and other reforms, but we’re ignoring the immutable core issue: much of white and wealthy America is perfectly happy with segregated schools and inequity in funding. We have the schools we have, because people who can afford better get better. And sadly, people who can’t afford better just get less–less experienced teachers, inadequate funding and inferior facilities.”

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New York Post

“It helps to be in the good graces of the king — or, in this case, the queen.

As Yoav Gonen reported in Wednesday’s Post, Carmen Fariña has spent years handing out job opportunities to Patricia Peterson, the daughter of a close Fariña friend.

Peterson got three promotions between 2002 and 2005, when Fariña was a superintendent and deputy chancellor under then-Chancellor Joel Klein. Fariña pushed two of the promotions — and created the position for the third.”

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The 74

“It’s frustrating to listen to Chancellor Carmen Farina talk about the state of New York City public schools, because the school system she talks about in press conferences is so far removed from the reality that so many kids face every day.

My son attends P.S. 289 in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, a chronically struggling school where just one in four children are passing the state’s math and English Language Arts proficiency tests. I constantly worry about his academic needs — the school’s curriculum, the lack of accountability within the classrooms, the poor quality of his teachers and the ongoing need for additional instruction time for his struggling classmates. I’m not alone in my concerns that the children in my community are not receiving a quality education. In fact, a group of P.S. 289 parents have come together to demand change.”

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Education Week

“New acting U.S. Secretary of Education John King used his first major speech, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, to call for continued attention to educational equity, even as states and school districts prepare for new flexibility on K-12 accountability.

The Every Student Succeeds Act—the latest iteration of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act—seeks to restore major control over K-12 to states and place major restrictions on federal power when it comes to standards, testing, accountability and more.

But King said Monday that the federal government retains key authority to ensure equity for all students—and he expects to use it.”

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New York Post

“The city’s infamous rubber rooms have rebounded.

In one of the ‘reassignment centers,’ 16 exiled educators sit in a city Department of Education building in Long Island City, Queens, including a dozen packed into one room — where they do virtually no work.

They listen to music, do crossword puzzles, chat — and as this exclusive Post photo reveals, doze on the taxpayer’s dime.”

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