Gov. Christie's Plan to Scrap Teacher Tenure

[chanel]

Gov. Chris Christie, who wants to scrap teacher tenure, today said he would like a system that reviews teacher performance every five years.

Christie suggested placing teachers on five-year contracts. When a contract expires, the teacher’s performance would be reviewed and decision would be made whether to renew for another five years, he said today at a town hall meeting in Paramus.

Gov. Christie pushes five-year performance review for teachers | NJ.com

Good idea?

 

[Skull Pilot]

Excellent idea

 

[strollingbones]

yes and no...teacher deserve some sort of job security but not the job for life no matter what that tenure seems to bring...it is not right to make a teacher worry over the summer if the contract will be renewed.....i vote limited tenure with yearly reviews plus at least a 6 month notice if your contract is not being renewed

 

[Skull Pilot]

Teachers can earn their job security like everyone else.

The minute any employee becomes unproductive or does not perform up to standards they should be let go.

 

[California Girl]

I don't think anyone should be guaranteed a job for life. It is ridiculous.

 

[strollingbones]

o skull you are always so harsh....teachers cannot be dismissed in a hour...you are not working with products ...you are working with kids....kids need the security of a teacher being there all year etc.

 

[strollingbones]

5 yr contracts are too long...should be year to year

 

[old navy]

NJ teachers have had it better than most teachers in the country for a long time. The district in which I teach has teachers on 1 year contracts. We are evaluated annually and have to sign a new contract before the school year starts. We pay into our health and retirement plans. We have had no step or COLA increase in two years and the number of contract days have been cut for most teachers which translates to a pay cut.

I'm not complaining, just comparing my system to the situation in New Jersey.

 

[California Girl]

I think if a teacher is good at their job, then the school should keep them. If they are not, they should fire their asses. Education is absolutely fundamental to the future of the country. It is too important to play favorites.

 

[Middleman]

I agree the system has to change. The tenure system is seriously flawed.

I do think that teachers need some sort of job security, otherwise districts will get rid of older teachers who get higher pay, in favor of new teachers who make lower salaries.

I also think it's a mistake to blame teachers for bad outcomes that often result from societal ills. Their hands are tied with discipline, and some schools are war zones. Other schools are filled with pampered rich kids who need to be spoon fed, whose parents will lawyer up when little Johnnie gets suspended for breaking the rules...

 

[Madeline]

A lot depends on the standards they will use to evaluate the teachers. If they are too objective, they will be rigid and teachers will be forced to do unproductive things to save their careers.....my big complaint about standarized tests. If they aren't objective enough, they will give administrators free reign to fire teachers they have personality clashes with.

What about just creating a standards list everyone can agree to (if that is possible) and giving teachers a legal right to continue in their employment unless they fall below?

 

[midcan5]

I need to devise a thematic rating system for 'Wing Nut Memes.' Commonality of fault is so fascinating, if the same child became a criminal it would be their responsibility, but if they become dumb it is the teacher's responsibility. This is an interesting compartmentalization of thinking, anything can then be blamed on another, or if the blame fits a Wing nut meme then it is: union - liberal - progressive - government's fault. Fascinating simplification of reality into easy categories of explanation.

PS this OP rates highly on my WNM scale, it is near the top and repeated so often it has entered consciousness as fact.


"Like everything metaphysical the harmony between thought and reality is to be found in the grammar of the language." Ludwig Wittgenstein

 

[asterism]

I think before any revamp of the teacher evaluation and retention policies there should be an overhaul of the administrative and management. One of the reasons some incompetent teachers are kept is because the bureaucrats are incompetent and corrupt.

 

[Two Thumbs]

Gov. Chris Christie, who wants to scrap teacher tenure, today said he would like a system that reviews teacher performance every five years.

Christie suggested placing teachers on five-year contracts. When a contract expires, the teacher’s performance would be reviewed and decision would be made whether to renew for another five years, he said today at a town hall meeting in Paramus.

Gov. Christie pushes five-year performance review for teachers | NJ.com

Good idea?

It's a bad idea.

We will be forced to keep bad teachers for 5 years.

If they can't do thier job properly they should be fired on the spot, just like EVERYONE else.

 

[editec]

Gov. Chris Christie, who wants to scrap teacher tenure, today said he would like a system that reviews teacher performance every five years.

Christie suggested placing teachers on five-year contracts. When a contract expires, the teacher’s performance would be reviewed and decision would be made whether to renew for another five years, he said today at a town hall meeting in Paramus.

Gov. Christie pushes five-year performance review for teachers | NJ.com

Good idea?

Irrelevant.

k-12 tenure seldom means what most people think it means.

 

[editec]

I don't think anyone should be guaranteed a job for life. It is ridiculous.

The very very very few educators who have jobs guaranteed for life are college professors.

No k-12 teaching contract I know grants such immunity from firing.

If you can find me an example of a k-12 public school teachers' contract that grants immunity from firing, please do by all means direct me to it.

I submit to you that you have been mislead by the media into thinking tenure means something it onlyu very rarely means and that such tenure exists only in SOME universities, and for a very small number of professors.

 

[Two Thumbs]

o skull you are always so harsh....teachers cannot be dismissed in a hour...you are not working with products ...you are working with kids....kids need the security of a teacher being there all year etc.

Let me explain what you said means to me.

Keep a piss poor teacher in place for the rest of the year instead of replacing with a new teacher that's not piss poor.

If a teacher is screwing up my kid, I want them gone.

 

[Jackson]

I like the idea of cutting tenure, but am wary of the reviewer and the one who decides if the teacher goes. As in any business , the schools are political and the principal is not the best person to do this review.

One of the criteria to be used to determine if a teacher is good, does he/she fail the students who don't master the subject matter but give a social promotion that sets the student up for certain failure in the next grade? Talking elementary here. That is where problems start. Prinicipals can be the ones who purport that kind of behavior.

Teachers should be reviewed by professional reviewers that come from the outside and come in unannounced and more than once. The have a set of behaviors to look for from a successful teacher, how they handle discipline, encourages participation from all of the students, is fair in managing disipline, knows the material to be taught, plans thoroughly for each individual.

We talk about teachers being reviewed every year. Administrators should be reviewed the same way.

We have to remember, with the budget crisis that schools are faced with these days, it would be tempting for schools to easily cut expensive tenured teacher and hire three new at the same cost. We need good experienced teachers.

 

[Jackson]

I don't think anyone should be guaranteed a job for life. It is ridiculous.

The very very very few educators who have jobs guaranteed for life are college professors.

No k-12 teaching contract I know grants such immunity from firing.

If you can find me an example of a k-12 public school teachers' contract that grants immunity from firing, please do by all means direct me to it.

I submit to you that you have been mislead by the media into thinking tenure means something it onlyu very rarely means and that such tenure exists only in SOME universities, and for a very small number of professors.

It is indeed very hard to get rid of a tenured teacher in K-12. I had a continuing contract as many of my colleagues and no longer subject to review. Some of my colleagues, honestly did not belong in the classroom any longer.

There should have been a continuing review, and no tenure. I was also a Consultant who mentored new teachers, evaluated them and recommneded firing if need be.

Another sister program was for experienced teachers who were referred by the principal, who may have been tenured but were poor performing and were counselled and mentored. Failing this help, with the cooperation of the union, they were let go. But of course this was only because this was a union project and and never did a friend of the union enter this project despite the wishes of the principal. lol.

 

[Granny]

I think it's a good idea. Nationwide, our schools are a mess. I've never heard of anybody having to declare their political standing as a requirement for employment.

The principle should not be the one who hires or fires - most school systems have personnel offices where those decisions are made. The school boards should be involved in the process. The principle might give an overall report on the teachers in his school, but that should be the extent of his involvement - that way if those who make the final decision they might ask for a particular teacher's file for thorough review and the decision would be more objective than it would be personal.

Maybe interviews and testing standards should be improved so that the questionable applicants wouldn't be hired in the first place.