The Madison School Board is expected to vote Monday on a controversial proposal that would minimize the importance of seniority in layoff and reassignment decisions.
Madison Metropolitan School District administrators have pushed for the change, which would prioritize culturally responsive practices and student learning outcomes instead of the experience-based system in place now. They see it as among the ways to diversify the staff and avoid putting recently hired staff of color at the most risk for layoff or reassignment, while also keeping the best teachers in the classroom.
Madison Teachers Inc. supports diversifying the workforce but believes the district’s proposed guidelines would allow for too much subjectivity — potentially hurting those same staff of color.
Based on a review of research and news articles from school districts around the country and interviews with experts on the topic, they’re both right.
“It’s sort of a no-brainer, sure, let’s keep the best,” said Richard Ingersoll, a professor of education and sociology at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. “It turns out it’s easier said than done.”
2017: West High Reading Interventionist Teacher’s Remarks to the School Board on Madison’s Disastrous Reading Results
Madison’s taxpayer supported K-12 school district, despite spending far more than most, has long tolerated disastrous reading results.
My Question to Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers on Teacher Mulligans and our Disastrous Reading Results
“An emphasis on adult employment”
Wisconsin Public Policy Forum Madison School District Report[PDF]
Booked, but can’t read (Madison): functional literacy, National citizenship and the new face of Dred Scott in the age of mass incarceration.