Acting N.J. education chief proposal links teacher pay, tenure to student performance

What Gov. Chris Christie and Ed Commissioner Chris Cerf (yet another ed warrior who once worked under Joel Klein) are proposing in NJ is REALLY bold – kudos!!  Basically, it takes what DFER, State Senator (and TFA alum) Michael Johnston and other passed in Colorado and goes even further:

 

After nearly a century, the days of New Jersey teachers automatically earning tenure after a few years on the job could be over.

 

Under a plan introduced by Gov. Chris Christie's education commissioner Wednesday, the state's public school teachers would be assessed and paid using a new rating system based in part on how their students do in the classroom.

 

Calling tenure "the last frontier of school reform," acting Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf unveiled a sweeping, five-point reform proposal during a panel debate at Princeton University. The plan calls for abandoning New Jersey's 100-year-old teacher job guarantee program and replacing it with an evaluation system that rewards educators for good student performance and working in at-risk schools.

 

"Engaging in this conversation is not bashing teachers," Cerf said. "It is pro-teacher to say that excellence in the classroom should be rewarded. It is pro-teacher to change antiquated rules that treat teachers like interchangeable commodities."

 

Here's a 3:28 video of NJ Governor Chris Christie, in his first State of the State address, saying that the third and most important issue NJ must tackle is education reform: http://videos.nj.com/star-ledger/2011/01/gov_christie_time_to_eliminate.html

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Acting N.J. education chief proposal links teacher pay, tenure to student performance

Published: Thursday, February 17, 2011, 6:00 AM

By Star-Ledger Staff

www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/02/acting_nj_education_chief_teac.html