Education Week - October 8, 2014 - 8

Analysis Cites Holes in N.Y.'s Teacher-Dismissal Process
Ineffective teachers
kept on, author says
right-leaning think tank that Ms.
Stevens recently joined as an earlyeducation
research fellow.
States' due process laws vary in
By Stephen Sawchuk
New York's due process procedures
for teachers are dominated
by a focus on teacher rehabilitation,
with the end result that even abusive
teachers are often fined or suspended
rather than fired, according
to a newly released analysis of
more than 150 such cases in New
York City.
Though it concerns just a tiny
fraction of that city's approximately
75,000 teachers, the analysis paints
a disturbing picture of educators
returning to the classroom after serious
infractions, such as failing to
show up to work for weeks on end or
using racist language.
"The operative minimum standard
for teachers is not demonstrated effectiveness,
but any potential capacity
to be even marginally competent
in the future," the study states. "This
explicit aim means that the law now
keeps chronically ineffective teachers
in the classroom by design."
Data from the analysis have already
been cited by plaintiffs in
Wright v. New York, a lawsuit seeking
to overturn New York's teacher
due process rules. The report could
play a role in the trial.
The report is based on a chapter
from a 2013 Columbia University
doctoral dissertation on New York
City teacher-accountability policies
by Katharine B. Stevens.
It was released Oct. 2 by the
American Enterprise Institute, a
key details, including who conducts
the hearings, the charges that can
be filed, and the forum for appeals.
Shifting Standard
Another factor is the accretion of
case law on such decisions. Ms. Stevens
contends that in New York, the
central purpose of due process hearings
is no longer whether a teacher
is guilty of charges, but whether he
or she is beyond any hope of improvement.
Ms.
Stevens' study is based on
an analysis of final decisions for
"3020-a" hearings, named for the section
of New York education code governing
teacher discipline. Through
an open-records request, Ms. Stevens
reviewed the 155 decisions from July
1, 1997 through June 30, 2007 in
which a teacher was convicted of at
least one charge related to his or her
professional performance.
Among her findings:
* Of the 155 cases, just 39 percent
ended in termination. Sixty-one
percent resulted in suspension, fine,
or no penalty.
* Teachers convicted of sexual
misconduct were the most likely to
be discharged, but those guilty of
excessive absenteeism were much
more likely to be suspended or fined.
* A requirement of "progressive
discipline" meant, in practice, that
teachers typically faced escalating
penalties over many years rather
than dismissal.
* In a random selection of 22 cases,
BLOGS www.edweek.org/go/blogs
N.Y. Parents Aim to Boost Numbers
Of Students Boycotting State Tests
| K-12 PARENTS AND THE PUBLIC | A parent-advocacy group,
New York State Allies for Public Education, is mounting a
coordinated campaign to increase the number of students
who opt out of state testing next year.
The group, which has been a staunch critic of standardized
testing and student-data collection, announced last month
that it hopes to encourage the parents of 250,000 students to
boycott New York state tests in 2015.
In a news release, the group lays out an action plan
to increase the number of students opting out: hosting
informational forums, identifying parent liaisons in districts
to coordinate boycotts, and disseminating information about
opting out through fliers, lawn signs, and bumper stickers.
The group will wage a "tactical campaign" as well,
targeting both state and federal legislators for their support
to end the high-stakes nature of standardized testing,
said Chris Cerrone, a parent and a board member of the
Springville-Griffith Institute Central district. -KARLA SCOON REID
Common Core Spurs Hope,
Fear for a Miami Principal
| STATE EDWATCH | Bridget McKinney is the third-year
principal of Miami-Dade County's Allapattah Middle School,
where 95 percent of the students qualify for free or reducedprice
meals and which has been labeled a D or F school
under Florida's A-F accountability system for the past four
school years. Migrant children from Central America have
caused the 500-student school's English-language-learner
population to swell from 83 last year to 138 this year.
8 | EDUCATION WEEK | October 8, 2014 | www.edweek.org
So how does McKinney see the Common Core State
Standards, along with forthcoming state tests, playing
out in her school? She's not frustrated with the standards
themselves; it's a host of other state policies, and a dearth of
resources, that have her on edge.
Take the A-F accountability system. In the 2014-15 school
year, schools won't face consequences for their grades in
the A-F system. That's the kind of reprieve most principals
would welcome. But McKinney says that it doesn't really
help the perception of her school in the community.
"Every single year, the accountability system is different,"
she said. "Every single year, there's a different rationale."
Then there is the issue of resources. With the number of
digital devices she has, McKinney says it takes her three
days, using three morning and three afternoon shifts on
computers, to test just her 6th grader in math.
McKinney says she wishes lawmakers were more
connected to "being in the trenches" in schools as the
standards have been implemented.
Trial Opens for Former Educators
In Atlanta Cheating Case
| DISTRICT DOSSIER | In opening arguments in the Atlanta
district cheating case last week, prosecutors said that a
dozen former educators lied and cheated to meet high
academic targets set by then-Superintendent Beverly Hall
and earn bonuses and other job perks.
Their actions, prosecutors argued, were part of a
widespread conspiracy to make students' performance on
state tests look better than it actually was. Defense lawyers
argued that their clients did not condone or participate
in cheating, and that jurors would hear from multiple
witnesses to vouch for their character.
The trial comes nearly 18 months after a Fulton County
grand jury indicted 35 former Atlanta teachers and
administrators, including Hall, on a range of conspiracy and
racketeering charges stemming from one of the highestprofile
cases of cheating in public schools.
Satirical Video Game Skewers
NCLB, Charter Schools, Testing
-ANDREW UJIFUSA
| DIGITAL EDUCATION | A pitch about a new in-development
educational game, No Pineapple Left Behind, made me
laugh out loud: "In nplb, an evil wizard turns all of the
students to pineapples," it says. "Pineapples are very
simple; all they do is take tests and get grades. If they get
good grades, their school makes more money. But if left
unattended, pineapples turn back into children. Children are
very complicated and much harder to deal with. You are the
principal and you have to run the school."
Turns out the man behind the pitch is a 25-year-old former
teacher named Seth Alter, who has since christened himself
the "Captain of Industry" at Subaltern Games, an indie
game-development company he founded in 2012.
The concept behind "nplb," he said, is "kind of like Sim
City, but takes place in a school."
"The 'lose' condition is if the school goes bankrupt," he said.
"The theoretical 'win' condition would be every student has
an A grade and the school has a balanced budget. But we're
working to make a system where that's not possible."
Alter said that "No Child Left Behind and the massive
charterization of schools are systemic problems."
A key power given to the players of the game is the ability
to "manipulate teacher salaries and fire them on a whim," he
said. The anti-charter bias is explicit: "Teachers [in the game]
are all inexperienced and underpaid."
-BENJAMIN HEROLD
GETTING FIRED?
An analysis of 155
teacher-discipline
cases in New York
City shows that
the percentages of
terminations varied
widely depending on
the convictions.
Source: Katharine B. Stevens;
American Enterprise Institute
hearing officers repeatedly cited the
need for teachers to be given more
support and time to improve.
Changes Debated
In a statement, the United Federation
of Teachers said that the
report's figures were "outdated." The
union pointed to data it released
in July on 3020-a cases opened between
2012-13 and 2013-14. They
indicate that teachers accused of
misconduct were most likely to be
fined, and those accused of incompetence
were most likely to resign,
retire, or be terminated. The uft's
statement did not address the report's
contention that the state's due
process standard is skewed toward
rehabilitation.
Aspects of New York's rules have
also been changed since Ms. Stevens
undertook her research. For
example, two successive poor performance
evaluations now provide
"very significant" evidence of incompetence
and grounds for a 3020-a
82%
63%
44%
28%
7%
0%
MULTIMEDIA: Explore a more comprehensive breakdown of teacher
penalties under N.Y. due process with an interactive chart.
www.edweek.org/go/teacherdismissal
hearing. Other changes added
incentives for hearing officers to
speed up the proceedings.
But officials for New York State
United Teachers, the uft's parent
union, said recently that it is too
early to tell whether those provisions
have led to different outcomes.
It's unclear to what extent other
states' due process procedures create
similar patterns of results. But
anecdotes are rampant.
Witnesses for the prosecution in
the Vergara v. California trial testified
that the California hearings
hinged on whether a teacher was
incapable of improving, not merely
incompetent. The ruling in that
lawsuit declared the current due
process rules unconstitutional.
In an interview, Ms. Stevens said
that she does not view changing the
rules as a silver bullet to improving
schools.
"I'm not saying this is the problem,
but it is a problem that needs to be
fixed, and that would help ... kids
that are in classrooms," she said, adding
that she supports the concept of
due process.
Scan this tag with your
smartphone for a link to
"Tenured Teacher Dismissal
in New York."
www.edweek.org/links
-LESLI A. MAXWELL
INCOMPETENCE
ABSENTEEISM/
LATENESS
CORPORAL PUNISHMENT/
VERBAL ABUSE
CONDUCT UNBECOMING
THE PROFESSION
SEXUAL MISCONDUCT
MULTIPLE CONVICTIONS
http://www.edweek.org/go/teacherdismissal http://www.edweek.org/links http://www.edweek.org/go/blogs http://www.edweek.org
Education Week - October 8, 2014

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