TNTP report on Portland, OR

The New Teacher Project is out with another important study, this time of Portland, OR.  One might think that a smaller district might have more sensible teacher hiring, placement and retention policies, but nooooooo -- the utter madness (I call it the Mad Hatter's Tea Party) that characterizes so many school systems in this critical area is alive and well in Portland:

TNTP's analysis concluded that Portland currently operates  under staffing rules that hamper the efforts of the district and teachers union to build and maintain the highest quality workforce. Specifically, the  analysis illustrates that:
 

1. PPS is not competing effectively with peer districts for  the best new teachers;  
4. PPS teachers are  often forced into positions they do not choose and schools are regularly  forced to hire teachers they do not want and who may not be a good fit for  the job;
8. Teachers new to  the district are treated as expendable; and
12. PPS Human  Resources faces internal procedural problems that can and should be  alleviated in the near term.
    

The executive summary is posted at   http://www.tntp.org/ourresearch/documents/Final_TNTP_Exec_Summ_Portland_Aug2007.pdf and the 27-page slide presentation is at: http://www.tntp.org/ourresearch/documents/Final_TNTP_Exec_Summ_Portland_Aug2007.pdf
 
Some interesting statistics from the latest census in this article and chart.  Amazing that women are 56% of all undergraduates and 59% of all graduate students.