The EdVocate West

What’s Next for the Fix on Seniority-based Teacher Layoffs

June 8, 2010 at 12:49 am arunramanathan Leave a comment

We’ve been using a lot of ink to illustrate the impact of the teacher layoffs on high need schools.

Fortunately, we’re not the only ones creating the ruckus on the issue of the disproportionate impact of teacher layoffs. There are efforts in the senate, sacramento, courts, local districts, the race to the top process and the state budget process. We’ll see if anything sticks given the power of the California Teacher’s Association but the real hope is shifting communities of color and their representatives away from the notion that teachers unions have their interests and their kids interests at heart.

The next two months are critical. I think that too many folks are focused on the issue of existing teacher evaluations and how difficult it is to use them in this process. My feeling is that there are already evaluations that should be used in this process. No teacher with an unsatisfactory rating should be allowed to bump out a teacher with a satisfactory rating. That would be a great place to start with the issue of using teacher quality in the layoff process.

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