Statement of Support from Andrew J. Rotherham

Co-Director, Education Sector; and Senior Fellow, Progressive Policy Institute

 

Unintended Consequences calls attention to a serious problem in urban education: the impact of teacher transfer and excess provisions. For too long discussion about whether these provisions have adverse consequences for students has been more ideological than empirical. This important new analysis adds substantial data to the conversation and shows that while these provisions arose for understandable reasons, they are at odds with the best interests of students and today's efforts to improve urban schools.

Good teachers work incredibly hard and deserve better than they generally get. However, it's possible to accord teachers the respect they deserve and also address these problems. Toward this goal, Unintended Consequences offers sensible and measured recommendations that are at once fair to teachers but also serious in their potential. Though critics will continue to dismiss both the significance of the problem and these solutions, the data in this report make clear that it is long past time to reform rules that elevate what is desirable for adults above what is good for students.