Thompson: Forced Transfers Don't Work

The Education Sector's Kevin Carey compares my union to George Wallace opposing desegregation because it represents teachers who may not want to work in high-poverty schools.  From Carey's lofty perch, teacher experience is just "a resource that needs to be equalized."  But he acknowledges that "assignment of teachers to schools where they’d rather not teach is nobody’s idea of a best-case scenario." Carey should look to Denver where forced placements created a managerial nightmare,  and where Superintendent Tom Boasberg has already ended forced transfers into the lowest-performing schools.  He should also read Steve Shawchuk at Education Week on the great potential of empowered teams of teachers choosing to transfer to high-challenge schools.