Tenure for public school teachers

Guests: Jim Wyckoff, Jack Schneider

A California court struck down tenure for public school teachers last week, inflaming the debate over how teachers can be hired and fired.  The landmark Vergara v. California ruling decided that state protections for teachers deprive poor and minority students of equal education.  Tenure was introduced in American public schools in the early 20^th Century, to stop teachers being fired unfairly.  Since 2009, two-thirds of states have watered down teacher protections, to compete for billions of education dollars from President Obama’s Race to the Top program.  We delve into the arguments over tenure with JIM WYCKOFF, the Curry Memorial Professor of Education and Policy at the University of Virginia and JACK SCHNEIDER, Assistant Professor of Education at the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts.