Category: Education
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Vergara v. California Panel Discussion with Leadership for Educational Equity
Leadership for Educational Equity (LEE), Teach For America’s (TFA’s) partner organization that focuses on alumni leadership development, held an online panel for members interested in learning more about Vergara v. California on June 26. I was excited to receive an invitation to speak on the panel – I enjoyed talking…
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Informed Student Advocates Pursue Reforms that, Unlike Vergara v. California, Actually Address Inequity
Judge Rolf Treu just ruled in favor of Students Matter in Vergara v. California, deeming teacher permanent status (commonly called “tenure”), due process protections for teachers with permanent status, and seniority-based layoffs unconstitutional. Treu’s opinion unfortunately reflects a misunderstanding of education research and teacher employment law’s effects. His decision also…
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The Problem with Outcome-Oriented Evaluations
Imagine I observe two poker players playing two tournaments each. During their first tournaments, Player A makes $1200 and Player B loses $800. During her second tournament, Player A pockets another $1000. Player B, on the other hand, loses $1100 more during her second tournament. Would it be a good…
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Teachers Unions: What We Do and How Students Benefit
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recognized the Northwestern University football team’s right to unionize in February and the players just held a unionization vote. Quarterback Kain Colter began the program’s union movement primarily to address player safety, but supporters of the team’s efforts believe unionization will improve college athletes’…
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Student Advocates Oppose Both Bad Teaching and Bad Lawsuit
Note: A version of this piece originally appeared in Valerie Strauss’s column in The Washington Post. ————————————————————————————————- Vergara v. California, a lawsuit challenging three components of teacher employment law in California’s Ed Code that began on January 27, has garnered considerable media attention. The plaintiffs’ legal team contends that due process…
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Students Matter. Teachers Do, Too.
Imagine reading the following statement on a website: We think it’s simple: reward…passionate, [successful students] and hold those accountable who are failing… [S]triking down the following laws…will create an opportunity for lawmakers, teachers, administrators and community leaders to design a system that’s good for teachers and students… [Law 1: As…
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Vergara v. California: The Agendas, the Facts, and Recommendations for California Law
Ted Boutros believes corporations that destroy lives with reckless policies should suffer minimal financial penalties in court. Boutros’s partner, Marcellus McRae, proudly defends white-collar criminals. Eli Broad pretended to support Proposition 30, a ballot initiative designed to prevent massive cuts to public education, while secretly funding the No on 30…
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Approaching Education Data the Nate Silver Way
My girlfriend’s very hospitable and generous family gave me some great gifts for the holidays when I stayed with them in upstate New York. As I rocked my new Teach For America T-shirt in the Rochester airport on Christmas Eve, my cursory overview of Nate Silver’s new book, The Signal…
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Working Together for Educational Equity: What’s Missing from the TFA Debate
Teach For America (TFA) articles are all the rage right now. Over the past month and a half, the four articles linked below have received particular attention: “I Quit Teach for[sic] America” by Olivia Blanchard (The Atlantic, September 23) “Remember the ‘I Quit Teach for[sic] America’ essay? Here’s the counterpoint.…
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TFA Effectiveness
Several people have sent me articles discussing Mathematica’s recent research study that examined Teach For America (TFA) math teacher effectiveness. This study is significant because, to my knowledge, it is the first large-scale study on TFA to randomly assign students to classrooms. Its experimental design provides fairly convincing support for…
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