Our Approach

The California Supreme Court has long recognized that equal opportunity to access quality education is a fundamental right guaranteed by the California Constitution.

While having a truly high-quality education depends on many components, research shows that effective teachers are the single most important in-school factor to ensuring a student’s academic success.

Yet, current laws force administrators to ignore teacher quality in all personnel decisions. Quality-blind laws force administrators to knowingly place grossly ineffective teachers in front of students every year, and push effective teachers out of California’s classrooms, causing devastating long-term harm to the children arbitrarily assigned to the classrooms of teachers who persistently under-perform.

Although the majority of teachers provide their students with a quality education, the presence of even a small number of grossly ineffective teachers has a devastating long-term impact on students. For minority and low-income students, the problem compounds. Instead of helping to raise the achievement levels and lifetime opportunities of minority and low-income children, current policies exacerbate existing inequalities by restricting access to quality teachers from those students who need quality teachers the most.

In a system that prioritizes the interests of adults, the violation of our children’s fundamental rights demands a legal challenge.

Next: Why Teachers?

Source: Students Matter