Peter Smolowitz’s interesting excursion into CMS budget reform contains some telling info on teacher experience. Recall that we’ve gone around and around on the supposed value of putting experienced teachers in weaker, high-poverty schools.

Some, CMS board member Vilma Leake for one, have suggested forcing the most experienced teachers into the weakest schools. On some days the local Knight Ridder editorial board has come close to supporting that policy. But this assumes there really is a meaningful experience gap in CMS.

Guess what? There is not, certainly not at CMS high schools. Data that Smolowitz pried from CMS proves it.

The average teacher experience at the six low-poverty high schools — Myers Park, Providence, South Meck, Hopewell, North Meck, and Butler — is 13.4 years. The average of the other 11 high schools is 11.4 years, not a huge difference.

Moreover, if you toss out the 7.7 year average for teachers at Berry Academy, the newish technology magnet where you very well might want to have teachers with less classroom experience and more hands-on, real-world tech experience, the experience gap shrinks even more, 11.8 vs. 13.4.

Other interesting datums jump out:

  • West Charlotte, with roughly twice the poverty rate of Olympic, nonetheless has more experienced teachers, 12.2 years compared to 11.1 for Olympic.
  • Despite losing some veteran teachers in recent years to both Butler and Union County schools, Independence and its 42% poverty rate still has the third-most experienced staff in the system. Its 14.4 year average trails only Providence’s 15.9 years and Butler’s 16 years.
  • Garinger with a poverty rate over three times that of Myers Park, 65% vs. 20%, has basically the same teacher experience level, 13 years vs. 13.8 years.

It is just hard to find a persistent, meaningful gap in teacher experience in these numbers which can even begin to explain the wide differences in student performance in CMS high schools. This does not mean teacher experience and the harder to define but vital issue of teacher quality does not matter. But it should put to rest the notion that there exists some quick fix in shuffling CMS teachers around. If nothing else, the idea of a CMS mandate forcing some teachers into new schools should be off the table.