Teacher Linda Robinson works on algebra with students, left, Alicia Varney and Savannah Reed, both 16, at Union County’s Porter Ridge High, one of the schools that logged a strong performance on new state ratings of teacher effectiveness. Davie Hinshaw — dhinshaw@charlotteobserver.com
Introductory Essay By Betsy L. Angert | Published at EmpathyEducates. February 7, 2014

A court case will determine what is best for our children; an experienced teacher in every classroom or one deemed “more effective.” A young one, a fun one, or perchance a Teach For America

[TFA] Fellow? There is much to be said for having powerful connections. Sure there are studies [one], that might partially substantiate the claim that TFA teachers are effective, but what do these say? It is good to be white and among the elite if you want a quality education.

When we think of Teach For America teachers, perhaps we will see that selectivity is unequal. The candidates are predominantly white and the students are persons of color. One study pertaining to the effectiveness of TFA teachers does not tip the scale. Much is missing. not balanced. [See LAUSD Human Capital Diagnostic; Understanding Teacher Effects for a read on “Limitations of Teacher Effects.”]

If we are to accurately assess a program, poverty and policies must be a consideration. After all, Research into childhood nutrition reveals that poor diet influences mental development in more ways than expected. Other aspects of poverty exacerbate the effects. .Teachers were never the problem. There is a gap, particularly in communities of color. We have More Students and Fewer Teachers. Oh could it be that we have Flawed Diagnoses and Inappropriate Cures in Education? What we see is Rhetoric Trumps Reality and that hurts our children. As do policies that ignore the effect of poverty on environment, on education and that these favor Laws That Sets Goals for Students Based on Race.

Race is a reality, as is good teaching. But neither is the simple truth that will set us free.’ Given a well-crafted message we will question what we believe; an experienced teacher is effective. A researcher aligned with Students Matters paints tenured teachers as tormentors or at least they portrayed as so comfortable as to be ineffective. Can we, as a society, accept the current situation – white students get better teachers or better test scores used to evaluate the effectiveness of Educators.

Good teachers and great management equals an excellent education – or were it not for tenure regulations, all would be well, so says Students Matter. This is an organization vested in privatization. The intent is to prove that public education is the source of discrimination rather than the great equalizer. And the plan may succeed if a judge and jurors are persuaded.

Perhaps we might ask the more poignant questions. Does 5 weeks of training make a teacher ‘highly qualified? Does a required two years of teaching make for a meaningful commitment? Do the teachers in Public School District led programs such as Career Ladder do better? Are these teachers more committed? Is poverty an issue? Will adjudicators offer context or argue only against the unionized teachers? Likely the lawyers will remind us that “Students Matter” [sic]. Teachers do too. Then there is race and poverty…What will we do?

White Students Get Better Teachers In L.A., Researcher Testifies

By Howard Blume | Originally Published at Los Angeles Times. February 7, 2014

Black and Latino students are more likely to get ineffective teachers in Los Angeles schools than white and Asian students, according to a new study by a Harvard researcher. The findings were released this week during a trial challenging the way California handles the dismissal, lay off and tenure process for teachers.

In the study, professor Thomas J. Kane concluded that the worst teachers—in the bottom 5%–taught 3.2% of white students and 5.4% of Latino students. If ineffective teachers were evenly distributed, you’d expect that 5% of each group of students would have these low-rated instructors.

A similar pattern held when Kane looked at teachers rated in the bottom half: 38.5% of white students had such an instructor; the number was 48.6% for African American students and 52.2% for Latino students.

Kane presented his findings during testimony in Vergara versus California. He appeared as a witness on behalf of nine families, who are backed by the Menlo Park-based Students Matter, which seeks to overturn several laws. The organization opposes teacher tenure decisions being made in only 18 months, layoffs based on seniority rather than merit, and a dismissal process for ineffective teachers that can prove lengthy and costly. These laws have the effect of diminishing the quality of the teacher workforce and do particular harm to low-income and minority students, advocates contend.

The teaching-quality imbalance especially hurts the neediest students because “rather than assign them more effective teachers to help close the gap with white students they’re assigned less effective teachers, which results in the gap being slightly wider in the following year,” Kane testified, according to an unofficial trial transcript.

His other notable finding was that the worst teachers in Los Angeles are doing more harm to students than the worst ones in other school systems that he compared. The other districts were New York City, Charlotte-Mecklenberg, Dallas, Denver, Memphis and Hillsborough County in Florida.

Kane’s research was used to suggest that the challenged laws are causing the disparities that he cited.

The statutes are being defended in court by the state of California, the state Federation of Teachers and the California Teachers Assn.

Attorney James Finberg, representing the unions, cited other research that blamed voluntary transfers for the concentration of more-effective teachers at schools with fewer minority students and more pupils from higher-income families. His side has contended that better management, including an effort to improve teaching conditions, could address the disparities found by Kane.

“Well-managed districts are able, within the existing statutory scheme, to give tenure only to those probationary teachers who demonstrate effectiveness, and to dismiss, or encourage the resignation of, the few ineffective teachers who slip through the cracks, or become ineffective,” Finberg said in an interview.

In cross-examination by Finberg, Kane acknowledged that the ability to win tenure rights could help in recruiting talent into the profession.

Kane’s study looked at data from the 2004-05 academic year through 2010-11. It encompassed the test scores of 1.1 million students and 58,000 teachers in grades 3 through 8. It has yet to be reviewed by peers, Kane said.

Kane’s ratings of teacher effectiveness were based only on student scores from state standardized tests that were applied to a “value-added” formula. This measurement takes into account such factors as ethnicity, family income and past performance when determining how much an individual teacher affects a student’s test results. Kane said that the best measure of a teacher’s work would include other factors in addition to scores.

L.A. Unified has joined the growing number of school systems that measure teachers through a value-added formula, which it calls Academic Growth Over Time. Elsewhere, such ratings count for as much as half of a teacher’s evaluation. Under an agreement with the teachers union, L.A. Unified can only apply the value-added results for an entire school as part of a teacher’s performance review. But an individual’s rating can be used, for example, to inform annual improvement goals.

References and Resources for Introductory Essay…