Although garnering praise from both Arne Duncan and Randi Weingarten, we argue that the progressive appearance of the newly negotiated New Haven teachers' contract is a bit deceiving.

The contract's been roundly touted for giving principals in a handful of schools designated by the district for takeover full say in how they staff their buildings. Teachers wishing to remain at these turnaround schools must reapply for their jobs. But those teachers who are not rehired, or who simply choose not to apply, can still pull their seniority privileges to land a new assignment in other schools without any input from the receiving principal.

As in any district with a high percentage of poor and minority students (New Haven is 68 percent minority and 77 percent poor), not much distance separates the challenges faced by the schools at the very bottom--in this case the turnaround schools--and the remaining schools. In fact, only three out of the 48 schools in the district have poverty rates below 50 percent.

All this contract has done is shielded a few schools from potential harm, while also guaranteeing that the teachers who had been working in these failing schools still have a job. This is not progress.