SURVEY SAYS: TEACHERS DISAGREE WITH TENURE, UNION

Another great email from Ed Reform Radar:

 

SURVEY SAYS: TEACHERS DISAGREE WITH TENURE, UNION

 

     A recent teacher survey suggests that education reformers are gaining support among educators for changes to tenure, seniority and other issues vehemently protected by union bosses in Los Angeles and elsewhere.
     A 2010 Member Survey distributed by the Association of American Educators reveals that 81 percent of educators surveyed believe that tenure isn't necessary to properly perform their job, and nearly the same percent asserted that achieving tenure does not indicate that a teacher is effective.
     Perhaps more telling is that when asked "Do you agree with the policy, 'last hired, first fired?'" 70 percent off those polled didn't. 
     "Also debunked in the AAE survey is the myth that all teachers believe they should have a job for life. Sixty-one percent of members surveyed agreed with a Delaware policy that teachers must be removed from the classroom if they have an ineffective rating for more than two years," the AAE report said. 
     "Further, 73 percent agreed with a Colorado policy that teachers can lose tenure if they are deemed ineffective for two consecutive years."
     According to the survey results, "when asked what type of evaluation should be included in evaluating teacher effectiveness, 62 percent believed that student test scores should be part of the criteria. Student test scores were second only to administrator/ senior faculty reviews which 78 percent believed should be part of the criteria."
     Teachers polled also recognized the need to change the way teachers are compensated.
     Despite union efforts to keep teachers on predetermined salary schedules, AAE survey results show that most support certain types of differentiated pay scales. Nearly 80 percent polled in the survey support more pay for educators to teach at high-need schools like those at the heart of the debate in LA.
     "Clearly, this survey shows that teacher attitudes are changing, particularly in regards to issues like teacher evaluations and teacher pay," Tracey Bailey, AAE spokesman and 1993 National Teacher of the Year, told the Radar. "Teachers are becoming much more open to being evaluated in part on student test scores, especially when those test scores are part of a value-added assessment system.

     "And the majority of teachers support the idea of receiving extra pay for extra responsibility, greater accountability, and achieving better results in student achievement."

     Unfortunately, those are realities that UTLA's Duffy and his cohorts at the American Federation of Teachers and National Education Association have yet to grasp.

-------------

http://www.aftexposed.com/blog/?p=672