Teacher Quality: Disparate Impact on poor & Minorities

In a written statement submitted to the New Jersey State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights

Dr. Sandra Stotsky, Professor of Educational Reform at the University of Arkansas wrote:

Miller & Chait (2008) found that students in high poverty schools are less likely than those in low poverty schools to be assigned a

teacher deemed “highly qualified” under the provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act. Miller & Chait

also found that the "attrition and mobility of effective teachers exacerbate inequity in the distribution of

teacher quality."

Read the entire statement at http://www.uark.edu/ua/der/People/Stotsky/NJCommissionOnCivilRights.pdf

Reading: the Last Civil Right

In her article, "Reading: the Last Civil Right," Sally Grimes, of the Grimes Reading Institute states:

"We have unintentionally withheld from approximately one third of our children (up to over 60% in impoverished areas) that key to the future and the key to the feeling of self worth: the ability to read. The sad truth is that many people in responsible positions do not realize this."

The article is only a few pages long but speaks volumes about our failure to use methods whose effectiveness have withstood the introspective lens of investigative science. View it at
http://alturl.com/56nf