What is it gonna take to kill this myth that the most experienced teachers in CMS — particularly at the high school level — are clustered at the high-performing, wealthy schools? It is simply not true.
One more time.
For example, Garinger, with 65 percent free-reduced lunch student body, has an average teacher experience of 13 years. This according to data CMS gave Peter Smolowitz in February. The same info shows that Myers Park, free-reduced lunch of 20 percent, has an average teacher experience of 13.8 years.
Once again, if you drop out Berry Academy and its 64 percent poverty and 7.7-year average — the school is both new and includes a technology magnet component which should try to draw teachers with deep private-sector tech backgrounds, meaning that fewer years of classroom experience might be a good thing — average teacher experience in the CMS high schools breaks down thusly:
The six schools with low-poverty student bodies — meaning 20% and below — have an average teacher experience of 13.4 years. The rest of the CMS schools, excluding Berry, have an average of 11.8 years.
That’s the big gap. That’s the silver bullet fix. All of a year and a half and certainly not rookies. No sign of this oft-repeated factoid that teachers with less than five years experience are stuck at the worst schools.
Further, some of the worst-performing, highest-poverty schools in CMS already have some of the most experienced staff. West Charlotte with 72 percent free-reduced lunch has a staff that averages 12.2 years experience. That is higher than both Hopewell and North Meck.
So experience does not answer the performance gap.
Let’s move on. Please.
