Deasy Encourages Myth That Teachers Cause School Failure
The Los Angeles Times had a piece last week about the 1,000 tenured teachers who have been displaced as a result of restructuring at some of LAUSD’s worst performing schools. Known as reconstitution and offered as one of several options for low scoring schools under No Child Left Behind (NCLB), several LAUSD schools have opted to fire all or most of their staffs under the delusion that hiring 80-90% new people will somehow bring up test scores.
Why anyone buys this malarkey is inconceivable. It is difficult to hire the best candidate for just a single position at a school or any business, let alone 50-100 positions simultaneously. Furthermore, one of the most important in-school factors for student success is the development of meaningful and supportive relationships with adults, something that is undermined when the vast majority of teachers are given the boot. Also, low academic performance is tied much more closely to out-of-school factors, particularly students’ familial wealth, than to the quality of teachers. It is no coincidence that every one of the schools being