Teachers from low-performing schools face stigma on job search
By Howard Blume/Los Angeles Times
In a bizarre game of musical chairs, nearly 1,000 Los Angeles teachers — who are guaranteed jobs somewhere in the school system — have been hunting for a school that wants them. And hundreds of them have to counter a stigma that they are undesirable castoffs, because they previously worked at low-performing schools that are being restructured. These teachers are from eight schools that are undergoing shakeups intended to bring in new talent, shed previous instructors and administrators and fundamentally change the academic culture. It's a theory of reform embraced by the Obama administration, though such efforts have a mixed record nationwide. (more...)