Teacher Tenure : An Important Part Of Americas Educational System

Academic tenure has allowed under-performing teachers the privilege of keeping their job no matter what. Some feel that they do not have to properly teach after they have earned tenure. Students do not get a proper education because of this and teachers cannot be fired because of the job security that tenure has granted them. Brian

Tenure is a type of protection from dismissal through tenure statues. Under these state statutes, a contract renews automatically each year. School districts must show cause and have documentation to dismiss tenured teachers. Tenured teachers may be dismissed for reasons of incompetency, insubordination, immoral conduct, neglect of duty, conviction of a crime, or fraud. A teacher that is certified by the state is assumed to be competent and it is the school board’s responsibility to prove incompetency. Immoral conduct is specified in statute in many states for grounds of dismissal of tenured teachers.

The new changes No Child Left Behind laws were passed earlier in 2010 stresses the importance of education has to be our main concern to ensure that our children are getting quality education. The legislation is called “Performance Counts,” It reevaluates tenure laws and evaluation. This means that teachers are evaluated and being laid off because of their performance in the classrooms. No matter how long the teacher has been in his/her position that still wouldn’t keep them in their position because of their low performance. Over the next 10 years the focus will be to prepare hundreds of new teachers in STEM science, technology, engineering, and math (Mclatchy, 2010). The program is to encourage students in the STEM field or alternative teacher certification programs to switch their careers if they choose to. For

Removing a teacher from his or her position is very difficult to do. “Tenure benefits the state by helping to create a permanent and qualified teaching force” (Underwood, Webb 36). This makes it difficult to let a teacher go even when it is to make the school a better environment for the students. Although teachers do have the right to freedom of speech and are able to exercise their First Amendment right, that freedom is in a way limited by the school board. Pickering v. Board of Education (1968) is a great example of this. A high school science teacher was terminated by the board of education because a letter he wrote was published in one of the community’s newspapers. The letter discussed the unequal funding between academics and athletics. After

Webster's dictionary defines tenure as, “the act, right, manner, or term, of holding something (such as a landed property, a position, or an office); especially :a status granted after a trial period to a teacher that gives protection from summary dismissal. In other words, educators receive due process protection from accusations or charges against them.Years ago, educators who acted in destructive and abusive demeanor sidestep meaningful ramifications due to tenure safeguards .However, the supreme protection granted to tenured teachers diminished greatly as of July 2011. Michigan stripped the unassailable security of tenure and the world of education in Michigan altered permanently.Forlornly, educator Kathleen Goulouze failed to adhere to modifications of the updated teacher tenure decree.

This paper will effectively detail the issues surrounding policy as it pertains to teacher reform for New Jersey Tenure Laws. I will discuss why this new reform has made it impossible to terminate non-effective teachers because of the protection that TEACHNJ provides. I will also discuss inaccuracies as it pertains to accountability and transparency under the new tenure laws. Lastly, I will discuss the teacher rating system and evaluation system that rates teachers in four categories, from highly effective to ineffective. Teacher evaluations would be based on measures of student learning, such as improvement of state test scores, student work, and other practices linked to student achievement. The New Jersey Education Association has proposed streamlining the legal process for removing teachers, but has adamantly defended the basic job protection of tenure, saying it prevents unfair dismissal, favoritism and attempts to save money by firing expensive veterans. The state’s largest teacher’s union also vehemently opposes judging teachers largely on test scores, saying that doing so penalizes teachers with the most difficult students, and that the data is unreliable. Teachers are fearful of losing their jobs if they don’t raise test scores, teachers will redouble their test-preparation efforts, and quality instruction will be sacrificed,” NJEA President Barbara Keshishian said in a statement. “Parents should be alarmed and dismayed at this proposal.” (Brody)

Moreover, teacher tenure will be "reformed" so that principals and superintendents will have additional decision-making "discretion"; in other words, power will be taken from unions and given to bureaucrats within the state educational system, and tenure for teachers will be based on a new strategy that is, teachers will have earn "highly effective ratings" five out of six years to achieve tenure (Brennan, p. 2).

The ability of teachers to earn tenure has sparked debate for many years. Whether it is an individual who is for or against teacher tenure, both sides present valid points. First, teacher tenure was established to provide security for teachers and prevent them from being fired for political reasons, personal reasons, non-work related reasons, or to hire new teachers at a lower salary to replace veteran teachers. Challengers to the teacher tenure law argue that it makes teachers complacent, and inhibits schools abilities to get rid of bad teachers. Tenure does not actually make it impossible to fire a teacher who has earned tenure or what is called a non-probationary status. It does however create a costly and lengthy process for dismissing a tenured teacher if the school system cannot prove that the individual has engaged in certain acts.

What is tenure? Academic tenure refers to a policy which gives professors and teachers a permanent contract, effectively ensuring them a guarantee of employment … for life (Garrett 2013). Tenure prevents schools from dismissing teachers without cause or due process in the K-12 school systems. Teacher tenure is the increasingly controversial form of job protection that public school teachers in all states receive after 1-7 years on the job (ProCon n/a). How tenure is attained, protections it provides, and impacts it may have on institutional structures are key factors when researching tenure. The ultimate question is should tenure be required for teachers in the K-12 school systems?

"Unions don't grant tenure - administrators do. Too many school boards and superintendents attack tenure rather than hold their own managers accountable for hiring and supervising teachers and, if necessary, removing those who don't make the grade. Tenure is granted by the board of education on recommendation of the superintendent -but many schools do a poor job of evaluating and supporting teachers…Tenure's not about protecting ‘bad’ teachers; it's about protecting good teachers. What would happen to teachers without tenure? They could - and would - be fired for virtually any reason. It’s not hard to imagine teachers being dismissed because they failed the daughter of an influential businessman or because the school board president's nephew needed a job. In these fiscally troubled times, what would stop a school board from replacing a veteran teacher at the top of the pay scale with a first-year teacher - simply to save money? Tenure is the first line of defense against attacks on academic freedom. Teachers can engage their students in a free exchange of ideas only if they are protected from arbitrary dismissal for doing so. Tenure prevents school boards from arbitrarily dismissing teachers for holding political, religious or social views with which they disagree.[Tenure] protects academic freedom the way the First Amendment protects freedom of the press” (NYSUT). Although that is the position that I

Firstly, we should eliminate Teacher Tenure because it jeopardizes our students' education. We cannot let unqualified teachers teach our hard working students. Good teachers get the lessons or syllabuses conveyed to the students and teach in a correct manner. However, bad teachers tend to be ineffective and do not teach the students much. Students do not need teachers that teach in an ineffectual way. Al Shanker, the former president of the American Federation of Teachers, stated, “A lot of people who have been hired as teachers are basically not competent...” You see even the former head of the teachers says that many teachers are hired and protected by tenure, even if they are bad teachers!

There is a consensus among the concerned stakeholders that the quality of teachers is the leading factor in determination of student performance. In the case of United States, the student performance can only be given an impetus by the efforts which the state can make, under all costs, to develop and retain high quality teachers. The measures undertaken determine the level of turnover of the school teachers. Lazear (2009) similarly argues the length of employment is a critical factor in averse risks of employment a trend contrary to teachers treatment. The turnover of public school teachers will refer to the rate at which the state, which is the teacher’s

Tenure creates a legal series of barriers that could cost the district “Upwards of $250,000,” in an attempt to dismiss the teacher. On top that it is not the outstanding teachers that gain tenure. Nearly every K-12 teacher receives tenure eventually and this has caused a lot of dispute from other career paths. Only “42 out of 50 states require three years or less before qualifying for tenure”. This is outrageous to some, when every day in other paths an individual would need to earn superiority through seniority to gain a semblance of that

Some argue that tenure allows bad teachers to stay in the classroom. Teachers that are just there to put in their time and don't really care about the students themselves. They feel that granting teachers tenure encourages them to become complacent about their jobs. “Tenures are something that can be beneficial to students, as well. By providing job security, teachers can concentrate on teaching, instead of worrying about overly obsessed parents coming after them. Take for instance, a parent getting a coach fired because they did not give their son or daughter enough play time on the court. There is the classic scenario of parents that will look for a teacher's flaws in teaching before they look for flaws in their child as a student.”(Sharifi)

Going back to the tenure and teacher union issues, I agree that everyone has the right to unionize in order to protect their self-interests, but the idea surrounding tenure is something that needs to be re-evaluated, and the teacher’s union needs to jump on board in order to get the education system moving in the right direction. The writers hint at a way in which tenure can be changed, and that is by offering rewards for high student grades instead of the current rule of once tenure is reached, a teacher can keep their position regardless of their efforts in the classroom. The way the movie presents this alternative method is by showing a challenge between the teachers of the school to earn the highest student grades on the state test; winner earning a bonus of $5,700. This type of evaluation based on student grades can also be taken to the opposite end of the spectrum, and teachers who have unacceptable student scores should be evaluated on their teaching methods, and if seen