Students First, Facts Later
On Wednesday, Michelle Rhee’s new organization, Students First, rolled out its first big policy campaign: It’s called “Save Great Teachers,” and it is focused on ending so-called “seniority-based layoffs.”
Rhee made several assertions at the initial press conference and in an accompanying op-ed in the Atlanta Constitution Journal (and one on CNN.com). At least three of these claims address the empirical research on teacher layoffs and quality. Two are false; the other is misleading. If history is any guide, she is certain to repeat these “findings” many times in the coming months.
As discussed in a previous post, I actually support the development of a better alternative to seniority-based layoffs (as does the public), but I am concerned that the debate is proceeding as if we already have one (most places don’t), and that there’s quite a bit of outrage-inspiring misinformation flying around on this topic. So, in the interest of keeping the discussion honest, as well as highlighting a few issues that bear on the layoff debate generally, I do want to try and correct Rhee preemptively.
First, she claims that seniority-based layoffs hurt the least advantaged students most (she made this assertion