Mass Firing of Teachers at a Rhode Island School

I had a good discussion with Ian about the Rhode Island School who thought the answer to poor performance was the fire all the teachers. As Ian indicated in his very articulate post - this was a ridiculous response.

Here is a follow up CNN article that this decision has been reversed. It sounds like this school has some serious issues to work on - not the least of which is communication with the school board. The answer to a failing school cannot be to immediately dump all of the teachers - unless those teachers have been determined to truly be ineffective.

The firings, which were to have become effective at the end of the school year, came after the district failed to reach an agreement with the teachers' union on a plan for teachers to spend more time with students to improve test scores.

A union spokesman said the firings were drastic and cited a 21 percent rise in reading scores and a 3 percent hike in math scores in the past two years. Another official also pointed to progress at the school.

Solving the issues at this school will be a long process involving hard work from everyone involved. It appears a more beneficial first step is being taken.