In bold move, Colorado alters teacher tenure rules

blackredyellowblackredyellow Posts: 5,889
edited June 2010 in A Moving Train
In bold move, Colorado alters teacher tenure rules
By COLLEEN SLEVIN, Associated Press Writer Colleen Slevin, Associated Press Writer Sat Jun 12, 10:58 pm ET

DENVER – Colorado is changing the rules for how teachers earn and keep the sweeping job protections known as tenure, linking student performance to job security despite outcry from teacher unions that have steadfastly defended the system for decades.

Many education reform advocates consider tenure to be one of the biggest obstacles to improving America's schools because it makes removing mediocre or even incompetent teachers difficult.

Colorado's legislature changed tenure rules despite opposition from the state's largest teacher's union, a longtime ally of majority Democrats. Gov. Bill Ritter, also a Democrat, signed the bill into law last month.

It requires teachers to be evaluated annually, with at least half of their rating based on whether their students progressed during the school year. Beginning teachers will have to show they've boosted student achievement for three straight years to earn tenure.

Teachers could lose tenure if their students don't show progress for two consecutive years. Under the old system, teachers simply had to work for three years to gain tenure, the typical wait around the country.

After the bill survived a filibuster attempt and passed a key House vote, Democratic Rep. Nancy Todd, a 25-year teacher who opposed the measure, broke into tears.

"I don't question your motives," an emotional Todd said to the bill's proponents. "But I do want you to hear my heart because my heart is speaking for over 40,000 teachers in the state of Colorado who have been given the message that it is all up to them."

While other states have tried to modify tenure, Colorado's law was the boldest education reform in recent memory, according to Kate Walsh, the president of the Washington-based National Council on Teacher Quality, which promotes changing the way teachers are recruited and retained, including holding tenured teachers accountable with annual reviews.

Walsh thinks Colorado is now at the head of the pack in the second round of the Obama administration's Race to the Top competition, a $4.35 billion pot of stimulus money designed to prod just such changes.

"If I was a betting woman, I would absolutely put Colorado in first place," she said.

Teachers won't be at risk of losing tenure until 2015 because lawmakers slowed down the process under political pressure from the teachers' union. Teachers can appeal dismissal all the way to the state Supreme Court, and school districts have the burden of proving why they should be terminated.

Every state but Wisconsin has some form of tenure. The protections were intended to protect teachers from being fired because of their politics, religion or other arbitrary reasons. But Patrick McGuinn, a political science professor at Drew University who has studied tenure, said they have evolved into virtual employment guarantees.

On average, school districts across the country dismiss 2.1 percent of teachers annually, generally for bad conduct rather than performance.

Colorado's measure is a tribute to the tenacity of freshman Democratic state Sen. Michael Johnston, a former Teach for America teacher, principal and Obama education adviser.

The 35-year-old Harvard- and Yale-trained lawyer was appointed to represent a largely minority Denver district that has seen an influx of more white residents because of redevelopment of the city's former airport. He successfully fought changes to the bill that would have eased expectations for teachers with traditionally low performing students.

"What we're saying is that it matters that every one of those kids will get across the finish line," Johnston said.

Although various states have responded to the lure of federal money by moving to tie teacher evaluations to student performance, no other state specifically changed its tenure laws as Colorado did.

In Louisiana, GOP Gov. Bobby Jindal signed a bill partially grading teachers on student test scores in up to 27 school districts. Tenured teachers would face a revocation of tenure hearing if they repeatedly fail under the law, which was opposed by teachers unions.

A push to eliminate tenure for all new teachers and make it easier to fire teachers in Florida passed the Legislature this year but was vetoed by Republican Gov. Charlie Crist, who is now running for the U.S. Senate as an independent.

Past efforts to change tenure have caused problems for both parties.

In Georgia, Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes lost the support of the teachers' union — and later his office — after pushing to get rid of tenure for new hires in 2000.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger tangled with teachers and lost after calling a special election to change tenure rules in 2005. The teachers' union raised dues and amassed $50 million to fight the proposal.

Many teachers and some education experts argue that tenure reform is unnecessary.

Margaret Bobb, an earth science teacher at Denver's East High School, said bad teachers are often quietly coached out of their jobs by administrators, avoiding the protracted tenure dismissal process. She contends tenure is still needed to prevent good teachers from being dismissed for running afoul of administrators and to prevent experienced — and more expensive — teachers from being let go by cash-strapped districts.

"Education is not just you and your class. It's not an individual activity. If you're doing your best, it's a system you're a part of," Bobb said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100613/ap_ ... Rtb3ZlY28-
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Any thoughts on this? I'm not a teacher, and I like this a lot... Tenure is one of the biggest shams going in any profession. Why shouldn't teachers be held accountable for student performance? Public school teachers are being paid with our tax dollars, and for the most part once they get tenure, can ride the gravy train for their entire careers.

I had A LOT of quality teachers in my life, and those ones will have kept their jobs without tenure... I've also had a couple HORRIBLE teachers who really have no place in the profession. There should be ways to weed these people out and replace them with more eager, or just better teachers.
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Comments

  • Jason PJason P Posts: 19,158
    This is straight from Wikipedia . . .

    "The intent of tenure is to allow original ideas to be more likely to arise, by giving scholars the intellectual autonomy to investigate the problems and solutions about which they are most passionate, and to report their honest conclusions. In economies where higher education is provided by the private sector, tenure also has the effect of helping to ensure the integrity of the grading system. Absent tenure, professors could be pressured by administrators to issue higher grades for attracting and keeping a greater number of students."

    That is the intent. But even with tenure, it seems as though teachers are still pressured by outside influence.
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  • Nittany1bnNittany1bn Near Philadelphia Posts: 214
    My wife is a teacher who teaches English as a second language in an overwhelmingly Hispanic school in a very depressed area of Philadelphia. Is it fair that she is held to the same standard of progress as teachers in wealthier areas, where kids come from 2 parent households, who have spoken English in their homes since birth, and whose parents also speak English? The inner-city ESL students take the same tests every year as students from more economically secure suburbs, and are expected to make the same annual yearly progress. It makes my wife sad and stressed to know that it is her students poor scores that drag down the school's over-all numbers. She works tirelessly to help her kids understand the basics of English, to help them be able to read and write in a language that their parents don't even understand. Should my wife lose her job when the children who she teaches sometimes don't hear or speak English for the rest of their day after school? Tenure isn't the problem, some parents aren't equipped to assist in the education of their children, and some don't care at all. Some Parents look at school as a 6 hour free day care center and hold the schools solely responsible for their child's progress. People who think tenure changes will make teachers suddenly care about their work for fear of dismissal, are wrong. Teachers who work hard and care very much are failing to make progress, not because they aren't trying, but because there are families who aren't helping, either by choice, or by inability. There was a student at my wife's school who tried to set fire to the restroom, when the child's mother was notified she was furious....not with her child, but with the administrator who came to her home (because the family was unreachable by phone). To lay the blame at the feet of the teachers is short-sighted and irresponsible.
  • murphyJammermurphyJammer Posts: 120
    I love how parents take no responsibility for their children's scholastic progress. "Blame anyone but me."
    "Bombs dropping down. Please forgive our hometown"
  • pjhawkspjhawks Posts: 12,604
    Nittany1bn wrote:
    My wife is a teacher who teaches English as a second language in an overwhelmingly Hispanic school in a very depressed area of Philadelphia. Is it fair that she is held to the same standard of progress as teachers in wealthier areas, where kids come from 2 parent households, who have spoken English in their homes since birth, and whose parents also speak English? The inner-city ESL students take the same tests every year as students from more economically secure suburbs, and are expected to make the same annual yearly progress. It makes my wife sad and stressed to know that it is her students poor scores that drag down the school's over-all numbers. She works tirelessly to help her kids understand the basics of English, to help them be able to read and write in a language that their parents don't even understand. Should my wife lose her job when the children who she teaches sometimes don't hear or speak English for the rest of their day after school? Tenure isn't the problem, some parents aren't equipped to assist in the education of their children, and some don't care at all. Some Parents look at school as a 6 hour free day care center and hold the schools solely responsible for their child's progress. People who think tenure changes will make teachers suddenly care about their work for fear of dismissal, are wrong. Teachers who work hard and care very much are failing to make progress, not because they aren't trying, but because there are families who aren't helping, either by choice, or by inability. There was a student at my wife's school who tried to set fire to the restroom, when the child's mother was notified she was furious....not with her child, but with the administrator who came to her home (because the family was unreachable by phone). To lay the blame at the feet of the teachers is short-sighted and irresponsible.

    agree somewhat BUT the problem is the teachers Union has become so powerful in this country that they protect bad teachers far beyond what is necessary or appropriate. so trying to fire a bad teacher has become impossible. until teachers demand that their union stop protecting the bad apples how can progress be made for the good teachers? Not sure what the solutions are for determining who is a good teacher vs. who is not though either. hard question to answer.
  • hrd2imgnhrd2imgn Southwest Burbs of Chicago Posts: 4,899
    Tenure saves many older teachers from being fired for being too expensive. You work your whole life in a place, do a exemplary job, and get fired since your salary is deemed too high for the books to balance(yes there are some ridiculous numbers some teachers make, but the districts are the one who offer the money).

    I am a teacher and agree shitty teachers are abusing the rule and hiding behind it, but to link student achievement to your status is almost impossible to do fairly based on socio-economic differences in regions, subject matter differences (for example I teach art, there is no state test, how am I evaluated? How do you compare what I do to Math?).

    Yes teachers need to be accountable for performance, and I think a yearly review is a good thing, and that districts should have much more power to get rid of bad teachers, but there needs to be protections in place for those who are good educators who would otherwise be victimized by money dumps, negative educational cultures within an area, and a petty grudge from an administrator who has a bug up their ass for some reason, and decides one day they just don;t like you and want you gone despite performance.
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