The White Fit | EduShyster

The White Fit | EduShyster:

The White Fit

 Recruiting more minority teachers is essential—after we drive out all of those who are already teaching…

Today’s high-stakes question involves the demographics of our nation’s teaching force. When and where is it appropriate to discuss the urgent need to diversify the nation’s teaching force whilst failing to acknowledge what’s happening to the ranks of minority teachers who are already teaching? The answer: in whatever city Arne Duncan’s *bigger rigor* bus tour happens to have landed. You see, even as a much-needed conversation about the vital importance of having teachers of color in front of an increasingly diverse student body is taking place, a bouquet of reform policies is effectively pushing out existing teachers of color. Bundle up reader, because we’re headed to Boston where the nip of fall is in the air and minority teachers are being *reformed* right out of the city’s public schools.

Needs improvement
Our destination today is Boston Latin Academy, one of the city’s exam schools, and home to the latest installment in our series: The Incredible Shrinking Veteran Minority Teaching Force. If you’re only just now tuning in, let me bring you up to speed. Two years ago, the Boston Public School rolled out a new evaluation system to provide *more rigorous oversight of teachers and administrators.* And there was great news—for administrators, who received rigorously robust ratings. As for the city’s minority teachers? Not so much. A rigorous review of school department data found that black and Hispanic teachers, along with older teachers, were more likely to score poorly than their *brighter,* *whiter* and *lighter* experienced colleagues.

Assessment assessment
Following so far? Good—or rather, bad—because here’s where an already troubling tale takes an even more troubling turn. At Boston Latin Academy, minority teachers (who were a decided minority), appear to have been singled out for an especially rigorous evaluation process at the hands of white administrators. [Note: if you have your assessment assessment rubric handy, check off *stepped up* classroom observations, *nuanced* The White Fit | EduShyster: