Linda Perlstein discusses education and writing, with occasional detours into pop culture and food.
Friday, May 28, 2010
What if you held a turnaround and nobody came?
A followup to Konz’s piece out of Louisville: The district only got 129 applications to fill 120 slots at turnaround schools, and 50 of those were teachers who were booted in the first place.
So a possible outcome is that the stronger teachers get job elsewhere, the weaker teachers re-apply, and you end up no better off than you were.
It seems to me that this sort of turnaround only works if there are real incentives for strong teachers to apply -- but the reform mindset seems to picture a world where all the poor teachers are in tenured jobs and all the good teachers are looking for work.
So a possible outcome is that the stronger teachers get job elsewhere, the weaker teachers re-apply, and you end up no better off than you were.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that this sort of turnaround only works if there are real incentives for strong teachers to apply -- but the reform mindset seems to picture a world where all the poor teachers are in tenured jobs and all the good teachers are looking for work.