Vergara Decision Blames Teachers, Ignores Injustices for Students in Poorest Communities | janresseger

Vergara Decision Blames Teachers, Ignores Injustices for Students in Poorest Communities | janresseger:

Vergara Decision Blames Teachers, Ignores Injustices for Students in Poorest Communities

Posted on June 12, 2014 by janresseger

Earlier this week California Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu struck down tenure and seniority protections for California’s K-12 school teachers.  This is the case of Vergara v. California.  The plaintiffs have said they will appeal.  According to Stephanie Simon, writing for Politico, “Judge Treu has tentatively decided to let the laws stay in effect pending that appeal… Judge Treu’s ruling is preliminary; he will take comments from both sides into account before issuing a final ruling within the next month.”

Nobody wants bad teachers in California’s classrooms or the classrooms in any other state.  On this particular issue Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers, declared she agrees with Judge Treu: “He argues, as we do, that no one should tolerate bad teachers in the classroom.  He is right on that.”

Treu’s decision explains that tenure protects bad teachers, that bad teachers are more often assigned to the schools serving California’s most vulnerable and disadvantaged students, and that the assignment of bad teachers (protected by tenure and seniority rights) violates the students’ civil rights under the equal protection clause of the state constitution. “Substantial evidence presented makes it clear to this Court that the challenged Statutes disproportionately affect poor and/or minority students.”

In his decision, Judge Treu quotes expert witnesses whose numbers are stunning. In one case the judge seems to have extrapolated from what he heard—from expert David Berliner, who is described to have “testified that 1–3 % of teachers in California are grossly ineffective.”  Treu continues, “Given that the evidence showed roughly 275,000 active teachers in this state, the extrapolated number of grossly ineffective teachers ranges from 2,750 to 8,250.”  The exact number of ineffective teachers is, of course, speculative.  Treu also quotes Harvard economist, Raj Chetty, who has authored an econometric report on the impact of bad teachers on students’ lives.  Treu writes, “Based on a massive study, Dr. Chetty testified that a single year in a classroom with a grossly ineffective teacher costs students $1.4 million in lifetime earnings Vergara Decision Blames Teachers, Ignores Injustices for Students in Poorest Communities | janresseger: