Thoughts on schools worth reading

New York Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof says it very nicely in his opinion piece:

“It’s difficult to improve failing schools when you can’t create alternatives such as charter schools and can’t remove inept or abusive teachers.”

We have a double dose of that in Kentucky where, unlike New York City, we can’t create charter schools at all.

I have not seen any data on Kentucky teacher certificates that have been revoked for incompetence, but I do know that at least one local union contract makes it impossible to assign highly experienced teachers to the schools which most severely need them. The impact for kids can be about the same either way.