Posts Tagged ‘policy’

It’s the Enthusiastic Youngsters Who Will Be Fired First

Friday, May 13th, 2011

teachers-union.jpeg
(credit: kevindooley)

New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg just announced a budget that will require 4,100 public school teachers to be laid off. That’s pretty tough news for a city with a challenging (to say the least) public school system. But what’s even tougher is the way those unlucky teachers will be chosen.

We’ve written about the last-in-first-out rule before (LIFO). In New York, the law says that teachers must be fired in reverse order of when they were hired. That means that an idealistic 24-year old with enough energy to start her career in an overcrowded, underfunded public school in the Bronx is more likely to be fired than an underperforming veteran.

What’s interesting is that many of the young teachers who are set to be laid off are actually participants in programs (like Teach for America and NYC Teaching Fellows) designed to bring new energy and drive INTO the public schools.

Well, there goes that idea. How do you think the public education system can be improved?

Is education a favorite cause of yours? Do you know what is? Visit Your Causes to start figuring it out!

North Carolina Schools Attempt to Modernize Educational Integration

Friday, March 4th, 2011

little-rock-school-integration.jpg
(photo credit: The U.S. Army)

The Wake County school system has led the nation in fighting educational inequality for forty years. But a series of challenges have forced leaders to be creative when it comes to integration that pleases parents.

  • The system’s race-based attempt at integration was deemed unconstitutional in 2001, so it switched to school assignment based on socioeconomic status (wealth and income). But keeping schools balanced between high- and low-income families meant students were frequently bumped from school to school.
  • In 2009, a new conservative school board decided that students should be sent to the schools closest to their homes, ensuring that the racial and economic barriers in the broader community would be repeated at school. The decision sparked outrage throughout the country.
  • As a compromise (and a nod to the results-oriented business community), a new proposal suggests that students be permanently assigned to schools based on achievement. That way, no student is forced into a low-achieving school simply because of their race, class, or location, and school shuffling will be kept to a minimum.

Facts & Figures

  • Under the current integration plan, each school has 40% of students qualifying for free lunch and 60% who do not qualify
  • Under the new proposal, each school would have 70% of students at grade level or higher, and 30% performing below their grade level

Best Quote

“What’s the use of living in a gated community if my kids go to school and get poor all over them?” – Stephen Colbert, Fake News Reporter

What do you think?

How will students be labeled as high or low-achieving? And what happens if a low-achieving first-grader becomes a highly successful third grader?

Get to it!

Does educational inequality get you riled up? Make a statement.