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A former superintendent of three school districts defended the current laws for granting teachers tenure, dismissing ineffective teachers and conducting layoffs based on seniority as the defense began in the Vergara vs California trial, the lawsuit putting employment protections for teachers on trial.
Robert Fraisse, a 30-year educator who’s currently a Distinguished Educator in Residence at California Lutheran University, also criticized the use of standardized test scores to evaluate teachers, which he said would complicate efforts to recruit teachers to high-poverty schools and undermine collaboration among teachers, which he attributed to raising student achievement in districts he had led.
“I would predict schools would have trouble maintaining and recruiting a work force” if results of student test scores became the basis for determining who was hired after a probationary period and who was deemed to be effective, Fraisse said during his day-long testimony. “Teachers would not perceive that as fair and morale would be hurt.” The proceedings were streamed over the Internet by the Courtroom View Network.
Attorneys for the state and the state’s two teachers unions, the California Teachers Association
