Will Fire All the Teachers work?
We trust you are NOT referring to a grand national strategy but rather to local tactics as at
Central Falls High School in Rhode Island. The announcement there was a statement of intent to
fire all 93 teachers and staff. Let's say that means 93 more people unemployed and 93 more
families headed for financial problems. Not so good. And what if there is no C-130J Super
Hercules transport warming up on a runway ready to transport 93 new teachers who will all, on
average, be markedly superior to the old teachers? Oh yes, the new teachers have to want to work
at Central Falls with its impressive history and its battalions of bright students. Suppose we close
the school and open it as a charter. By this very act students will get smarter working in the same
school with the same books. Since charter schools already face declining state contributions they
will, of course, race to join the Legions of Light and implement solar panels so they can stay open.
Nothing against charter schools, mind you. We are all in favor of any competition designed to
improve the quality of education. As long as the measurements are fair, sounds like a plan to us.
Alas, so far, our analysis makes it very clear that, in general, charters are not a magic bullet.
How about moving the Central Falls students to another, better school. Let's assume that there is
a compassionate school somewhere nearby that wants to pay more for longer bus rides
(well-known to make riders smarter) , overcrowd its classrooms and have its average scores go
down.
Our models say if Central Falls had a 500 API and merges equally with Compassionate Rises
which has a 600 API what we should expect is not 600, not even 550 but rather 537. Just great.
And there's no need to trust us. After all, No Child Left Behind has not decreased dropout rates,
has not increased the value of high school diplomas, has not caused the Nobel Prize committee to
be dazzled by thousands of worthy choices but has spent trillions. We need more data, so we
encourage you to try diverse strategies. Not only will you wager your children and probably the
value of your house, but, if the dice roll badly, you might intellectually cripple a generation or
two, mortally wound our economy and the reduce the United States to a second world country.