- There is a historical context of racial discrimination against black
teachers in the United States, and “choice” systems of education have
previously been found to disproportionately affect the employment of
these teachers. One Newark appears to continue this tradition.
- There are significant differences in race, gender, and experience in
the characteristics of NPS staff and the staff of Newark’s charter
schools.
- NPS’s black teachers are far more likely to teach black students;
consequently, these black teachers are more likely to face an employment
consequence as black students are more likely to attend schools
sanctioned under One Newark.
- Black and Hispanic teachers are more likely to teach at schools
targeted by NJDOE for interventions – the “tougher” school assignments... Weber.Baker.Oluwole.Staffing.Report_3_10_2014_FINAL
Ahhh, the essence of ed deform. The 3 C's (Christie, Cerf, Cami) plan to destroy public ed in Newark. Thanks to the Ed Notes Newark correspondent bull dog - who I met for the first time at the MORE happy hour- for sending this.
Teachers at Newark Public Schools (NPS) largely reflect the racially and
ethnically segregated student populations of their respective schools.
Mark Weber also known as Jersey Jazzman, Bruce Baker and Joseph Oluwote
have released a new report entitled "One Newark's" Racially Disparate
Impact on Teachers. The previous report focused on how Cami Anderson's
One Newark Plan disproportionately affected black and low income
students in the district. In the new report, the authors contend, "NPS's
black teachers are far more likely to teach black students;
consequently, these black teachers are far more likely to face an
employment consequence as black students are more likely to attend
schools sanctioned under One Newark." In layman's terms, black teachers
are more likely to teach in schools that are closing or being renewed.
To make matters worse, charter school demographics differ from NPS by
employing teachers more likely to be white and less experienced. We find
ourselves in a fine kettle of fish here in Newark!
A Newark Teacher
PDF of Policy Brief: Weber.Baker.Oluwole.Staffing.Report_3_10_2014_FINAL
As with our previous One Newark policy brief, this one is too long
and complex to post in full as a blog. Below are the executive summary
and conclusions and policy recommendations. We encourage you to read the
full report at the link above.
Executive Summary
In December of 2013, State Superintendent Cami Anderson introduced a
district-wide restructuring plan for the Newark Public Schools (NPS). In
our last brief on “One Newark,” we analyzed the consequences for
students; we found that, when controlling for student population
characteristics, academic performance was not a significant predictor of
the classifications assigned to schools by NPS. This results in
consequences for schools and their students that are arbitrary and
capricious; in addition, we found those consequences disproportionately
affected black and low-income students. We also found little evidence
that the interventions planned under One Newark – including takeovers of
schools by charter management organizations – would lead to better
student outcomes.
In this brief, we continue our examination of One Newark by analyzing its impact on NPS’s teaching staff. We find the following:
- There is a historical context of racial discrimination against black
teachers in the United States, and “choice” systems of education have
previously been found to disproportionately affect the employment of
these teachers. One Newark appears to continue this tradition.
- There are significant differences in race, gender, and experience in
the characteristics of NPS staff and the staff of Newark’s charter
schools.
- NPS’s black teachers are far more likely to teach black students;
consequently, these black teachers are more likely to face an employment
consequence as black students are more likely to attend schools
sanctioned under One Newark.
- Black and Hispanic teachers are more likely to teach at schools
targeted by NJDOE for interventions – the “tougher” school assignments.
- The schools NPS’s black and Hispanic teachers are assigned to lag
behind white teachers’ schools in proficiency measures on average;
however, these schools show more comparable results in “growth,” the
state’s preferred measure for school and teacher accountability.
- Because the demographics of teachers in Newark’s charter sector
differ from NPS teacher demographics, turning over schools to charter
management operators may result in an overall Newark teacher corps that
is more white and less experienced.
These findings are a cause for concern: to the extent that the One
Newark plan disproportionately affects teachers of one race versus
another, the plan may be vulnerable to legal challenge under civil
rights laws.
Conclusions and Policy Implications
In our previous brief, we found that the One Newark plan imposed
consequences on schools and their students that were arbitrary and
capricious. We found little evidence to support the claim of NPS that
One Newark would improve student outcomes, and we found that the
students who would see their schools closed, turned over to CMOs, or
“renewed” were more likely to be black and/or suffering from economic
disadvantage.
In this brief, we turn our attention to the effects of One Newark on
NPS staff. We find patterns of racial bias in the consequences to staff
similar to those we found in the consequences to students, largely
because the racial profiles of students and staff within the NPS schools
are correlated. In other words: Newark’s black teachers tend to teach
the district’s black students; therefore, because One Newark
disproportionately affects those black students, black teachers are more
likely to face an employment consequence.
NPS’s black teachers are also more likely to have positions in the
schools that are designated by the state as needing interventions – the
more challenging school assignments. The schools of NPS black teachers
consequently lag in proficiency rates, but not in student growth. We do
not know the dynamics that lead to more black teachers being assigned to
these schools; qualitative research on this question is likely needed
to understand this phenomenon.
One Newark will turn management of more NPS schools over to charter
management organizations. In our previous brief, we questioned the logic
of this strategy, as these CMOs currently run schools that do not teach
students with similar characteristics to NPS’s neighborhood schools.
Evidence suggests these charters would not achieve any better outcomes
with this different student population.
This brief adds a new consideration to the shift from traditional
public schools to charters: if the CMOs maintain their current teaching
corps’ profile in an expansion, Newark’s teachers are likely to become
more white and less experienced overall. Given the importance of teacher
experience, particular in the first few years of work, Newark’s
students would likely face a decline in teacher quality as more students
enroll in charters.
The potential change in the racial composition of the Newark teaching
corps under One Newark – to a staff that has a smaller proportion of
teachers of color – would occur within a historical context of
established patterns of discrimination against black teachers. “Choice”
plans in education have previously been found to disproportionately
impact the employment of black teachers; One Newark continues in this
tradition. NPS may be vulnerable to a disparate impact legal challenge
on the grounds that black teachers will disproportionately face
employment consequences under a plan that arbitrarily targets their
schools.
No comments:
Post a Comment