Teacher Tenure Under Attack !

Newly elected Republican Governors Rick Scott of Florida and Chris Christie of New Jersey have targeted teacher tenure in their respective states.  Both of the governors have seemingly embraced the philosophies of former Washington DC education chancellor Michelle Rhee.  When digging deeper into their agendas we need to take an introspective look into why men and women choose teaching as a career.  I have observed on many occasions that you never hear the words “teacher” and “millionaire” in the same sentence.  People choose teaching as a career because they have a passion for knowledge and learning and want to make a difference in the lives of young people in this country.  They know the salary limitations of the profession and are willing to accept them in exchange for a job security that is not often available in the private sector where there is opportunity for much higher pay.  That being said, there is another side to the issue. There are poorly performing teachers who are hanging on to their jobs by hiding behind the protections of tenure.  There are “toxic teachers” who do not belong in the classroom.  There are those who have retired “at their desks” and are hanging on to their jobs in an effort to beef up their pensions.  Where then is the ground for compromise?  The danger is that without tenure protection, teacher removals can become politicized.  Could parents demand that a teacher‘s contract not be renewed because their children obtained grades lower than what the parents expected? Could a teacher lose his or her job because their teaching philosophy or methodology is at odds with that of the principal? Could someone be denied a contract renewal because of their political or religious beliefs?

There needs to be some middle ground whereby competent teachers can be protected from the politicization of education and at the same time administrators would be able to remove incompetent and ineffective classroom teachers. It would seem ludicrous to determine teacher effectiveness based on student performance on one standardized test. There are way too many variables.  Nor should performance be based solely on a peer review committee. There needs to be a multi-faceted mechanism in place to effectively evaluate performance. This might include a written assessment, videos of teaching lessons, and a portfolio review of both student accomplishments as well as the teacher’s professional development efforts.  Perhaps a look as some of the policies employed by college and universities might be beneficial.

As always, comments and suggestions are welcome.