Awarding Tenure - Is It Making Bad Teachers Hard To Fire?

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I came across this article at USA Today regarding the difficulties in firing unqualified teachers once they become tenured.

I agree that some form of tenure should exist as a protective measure to ensure that teachers cannot be fired from a job arbitrarily, however in most states, the process is so convoluted and complicated, it's nearly impossible and costly for the districts to go through the necessary steps.

Teacher reviews and/or evaluations are often done sparingly and very few teachers receive negative evaluations from the principals of their schools due to the fear of dealing with a lengthy grievance policy or litigation.

We need to reform this system, perhaps by the inclusion of more input by their peers and parents, as well as designing a process that allows fundamental employment rights to the teachers, but placing a stronger emphasis on accountability and removing the mechanisms slows down and makes the process costly for the districts to pursue.

What do you think some possible solutions are? Can we realistically offer tenure without bloating our school systems with bad teachers? What changes do you think can be made to the tenure system?

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Every state & in some cases each county funds education differently. The tenure process is different -- in my district we don't have tenure we are classified as probationary & post probationary teachers. We have to earn the right to be post probationary and are evaluated 3 times per year before that happens. Once post probationary (usually 1-2 years after being hired) we are evaluated once at the end of the year. If we screw up we can be returned to probationary status and if we continue to mess up we can get fired within a year or 2. All it takes is a couple of poor evals & we are no longer teachers, so not every school district in the U.S. "protects" teachers & makes it hard. Teacher evals should be done by a team of teachers .... I think your grade level colleagues sometimes have a better view of who you are as a teacher then the "snap shots" a principal gets when they finally grace your presence and maybe there should be an opportunity for parents to give input about a teacher in a survey which is reflected on the teacher's eval in one section of the eval. A teacher has to be able to use good communication skills and know his or her trade well enough to make EVERYONE happy. That's tough -- you try having 62 bosses -- a principal, vice principal and 30 sets of parents. Truthfully, you can't please everyone and parent complaints are a part of life. That doesn't entitle a teacher to not be professional and respectful, but not every teacher will excite you. Generally, unless you can prove a teacher is "abusing" your kid -- they stay even if you don't like them. Sometimes what you think is the teacher not "helping" your kid is controlled at the distric level and sometimes higher. Teachers don't get as many choices as they used to .... districts mandate curriculum and script it. They tell you exactly how much time you have to spend teaching each subject and you can't deviate even if you can show that your kids need less help in a subject and more help in another ... you must stick to the time allocations & curricular script. How many of you spent 4-6 years in college and get absolutely no say in how to meet the needs of those that you serve???? Then have it be suggested that you are not adequate by those that you do serve. I think that 90% of the teachers in the U.S. are in education because they want to be and they genuinely try to meet your kids needs and they deserve the protection of TENURE. The other 10% should have been weeded out before tenure was awarded.

LSCegypt, you have done a good job defending your profession :) You are kindda saying what some of the other parents have said, but it's refreshing to hear it form a teacher. You should become tenured!! :)

"Teacher reviews and/or evaluations are often done sparingly and very few teachers receive negative evaluations from the principals of their schools due to the fear of dealing with a lengthy grievance policy or litigation."

The evaluation process that is done now is awful. It is either not done, or it is so warped that it means almost nothing. Many times an eval is done by a principal who has not been in a classroom for years and is totally unaware of current teaching practices, or classroom issues.

A well thought out eval done with a supervisor and peer team would be much more accurate, and frankly, much more of a help to me in the classroom.

Offering tenure in today's system is asking for trouble.

We pay school tax. School tax is not cheap! It is not the parents fault that the district is ripping the teacher off. I do believe good teachers should get paid well. They are a big part of a childs life.
Parents pay thousands of dollars in school tax and if they send there child to private school, they still have to pay school tax. People with no children and own Real property have to pay School tax. Parents are not cheap! The district is cheap!

I don't think that many parents think teachers are overpaid. Here in Callifornia, they are asking for yet another massive BOND for schools after getting a large BOND passed last time around (don't even get me started on how horrible BONDs to the futures of our chldren's chldren). The spending never ceases! However, most parents think that the waste is NOT from teachers salaries but from wasteful administration.

That said, I don't see why teachers should have any more job security than anyone else in their job. What I DO see would be protection for teachers that say the truth at IEP meetings and are retaliated against by their school officials. Apparently this happens often enough that most teachers are afraid to speak up if they disagree with the school/district.

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