StudentsMatter O ve r v i e w o f Ve r g a r a v. C a l i fo r n i - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

StudentsMatter O ve r v i e w o f Ve r g a r a v. C a l i fo r n i a T h e o d o re B . O l s o n G i b s o n , D u n n & C r u tc h e r L L P O c t o b e r 1 7 , 2 0 1 3 1

California Lags The Nation California: 2013 State Education Policy Report Card 6 Million Public School Students 12.5 % of total students enrolled in U.S. public schools 47th in the nation (eighth-grade math) 46th in the nation (fourth-grade reading) StudentsMatter Source: StudentsFirst 2013 State Policy Report Card and U.S. Dep’t of Educ. 2

Fundamental Right To Education California schoolchildren have a constitutional right to “substantially equal opportunities for learning.” Serrano v. Priest (Cal. 1976) “The State itself has broad responsibility to ensure basic educational equality.” Butt v. California (Cal. 1992) StudentsMatter StudentsMatter 3

Teacher Effectiveness Matters Cumulative Impact of Teacher Effectiveness on Student Achievement Long-Term Effects : More likely to attend college Higher quality college Higher lifetime earnings Lower teenage pregnancy rates Source: The Long-Term Impacts of Teachers by Raj Chetty, John N. Friedman, and Jonah E. Rockoff, 2011 StudentsMatter Source: The Education Trust, 2011. 4

Teacher Effectiveness Matters August 2013 Poll: Parents of California School Children StudentsMatter 5

Teacher Effectiveness Is Measurable Actual vs. Predicted Student Achievement The Gates Foundation Actual Achievement Predicted Achievement StudentsMatter Source: Measuring Effective Teachers Project, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (2013). 6

But Teacher Effectiveness Is Ignored Permanent Seniority-Based Dismissal Employment Layoffs Prohibitively Last-In, First-Out Virtual guarantee of expensive and (LIFO) seniority- permanent time-consuming to based layoffs that employment after dismiss ineffective ignore teacher 18 months teachers effectiveness Cal. Education Code Cal. Education Code Cal. Education Code section 44929.21(b) sections 44934, section 44955 44938(b)(1) & (2), StudentsMatter and 44944 7

Disparate Impact On Poorer Students  In your opinion, are there tenured teachers in your school who deliver poor instruction? % Of Teachers % Of Administrators Saying “Yes” Saying “Yes” StudentsMatter Source: The Widget Effect , The New Teacher Project (2009) 8

Disparate Impact On Minority Students “Schools in the quartile with the highest percentage of minority students are 60 percent more likely to lose a teacher to layoffs than a school in the quartile with the lowest percentage of minority students.” Source: Center on Reinventing Public Education, University of Washington. May 2010. Graphic reprinted from StudentsFirst. StudentsMatter 9

Education Leaders Agree With Us “Students who are in classrooms with highly effective teachers are doing markedly better—statistically significantly better than students who are in classrooms with ineffective teachers.” -Supt. John Deasy, Los Angeles Unified “Our system needs an overhaul, and I am encouraged by the case, Vergara v. California , which seeks to overturn these outdated provisions that harm students.” -Supt. Tony Smith, Oakland Unified “The case [ Vergara v. California ] is supported by a diverse coalition of statewide education organizations. I, too, support the case.” -Supt. Jonathan Raymond, Sacramento City Unified StudentsMatter 10