A recent Ed Trust-West study quantifies the impact of one of the more troubling findings of our June study of the LA Unified School District: Quality-blind layoffs are bad for Los Angeles students. Of teachers laid off by seniority in 2009, 20 percent were top quartile teachers and 27 percent were bottom quartile. Using performance instead of experience could have meant an additional 8 months' worth of learning for students!



-Priya Varghese