National Urban League and Civil RIghts Groups PlaysTeacher Experience Game

... do they think it important for kids of color to have some portion of their teachers actually look like them vs the young, white TFA types that fill up so many positions, especially in charters?

You can't have a serious level of experienced teachers if you undermine basic teacher security. Thus, this statement by the Urban League caught my eye. But we know all about the Urban League -- the NY chapter was headed by Dennis Walcott before he descended into hell in the Bloomberg administration.

Students of color and low-income students are twice as likely to have inexperienced teachers, as compared to their white and affluent peers. ESEA reauthorization must bring greater transparency and focused action to increase equity in the availability of critical educational inputs, including but not limited to funding, equal access to advanced coursework, and equal access to effective and experienced teachers.” ... National Urban League following the road to ed deform in statement " NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE JOINS COALITION OF CIVIL RIGHTS AND EDUCATION ADVOCACY ORGANIZATIONS IN RESPONDING TO SENATE ESEA DISCUSSION DRAFT"

Therein lies the rub - the contradiction between using the words "effective" and "experienced."This was Joel Klein's ploy -- in the early days he went after seniority transfers - with Randi's support - because they supposedly shortchanged students as experienced teachers drained out of badly run schools -- and that was vastly over-rated -- but let's point out that teachers didn't run away from schools that were well-managed in even the poorest neighborhoods -- the problem was that so many of them were poorly managed and under-resourced.

Once Klein got what he wanted -- seniority transfers broken, he went after senior teachers.

You can't play the teacher "quality" game when it's based mostly in test scores --- attacks on tenure undermine the stability of the teaching profession ---- other than the temp TFA types -- people who enter teaching for a career are attracted by such ugly words as "pension" and "tenure" protections. You can't have a serious level of experienced teachers if you undermine basic teacher security.

Deformers have been playing the game of speaking out of both sides of their mouths -- calling for experienced teachers for kids fo color while doing everything they could to undermine experienced teachers -- just look at the outcomes in the heart of ed deform -- much younger, inexperienced teachers. And by the way -- they have also managed to chop up experienced teachers of color, a fact ignored --- do they think it important for kids of color to have some portion of their teachers actually look like them vs the young, white TFA types that fill up so many positions, especially in charters?

The full statement below the fold.

THE NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE JOINS COALITION OF CIVIL RIGHTS AND EDUCATION ADVOCACY ORGANIZATIONS IN RESPONDING TO SENATE ESEA DISCUSSION DRAFT

Coalition urges Congress to maintain the critical federal role in education and commit to ensure resource equity to support the nation’s most underserved students

WASHINGTON, DC –This week, the National Urban League joined a coalition of education advocacy and civil rights organizations in calling on Senators Alexander and Murray to address civil rights and equity concerns highlighted in the discussion draft presented by Senator Alexander.

“We urge the Senate to maintain the critical federal role in insuring that all students receive access to an excellent education that prepares them for college, career and life.  Resource equity is of paramount importance in providing the nation’s most underserved students with the support they need to be successful.  Maintaining high and uniform basic standards is the role of the federal government and we implore the Senate to follow the principles we outlined, and address the concerns we highlight regarding the discussion draft presented by Mr. Alexander.”

While Congress passed the ESEA 50 years ago, to ensure equity and excellence in education, children of color and other underserved students our children face great achievement and opportunity gaps.. The urgency of this challenge is even more pressing when for the first time in our history children of color are the majority of students in public schools.

“ESEA reauthorization must bring greater transparency and focused action to increase equity in the availability of critical educational inputs, including but not limited to funding, equal access to advanced coursework, and equal access to effective and experienced teachers.” 

As noted in the Department of Education’s Resource Comparability guidance earlier this year, students of color and other underserved students bear the disproportionate cost of unequal access to educational resources. Black, Latino, Southeast Asian and Native students are less likely to graduate high school in four years than their white peers. At the same time, students of color and low-income students are twice as likely to have inexperienced teachers, as compared to their white and affluent peers.

The coalition asserts that Federal oversight is needed to ensure that every child has the same opportunity to succeed and to ensure that schools, districts, and states are on track to preparing all of their students for college, career, and life.

According to Marc Morial, President and CEO of the National Urban League, “If we take civil rights and equity out of public education, we guarantee a slippery slope that will leave some children behind. We urge Congress to keep these principles at the heart of this rewrite and preserve the federal government’s role in supporting states with meeting this goal.”