In our search for the silver bullet….We’ve Lost Our Way
Gotta support this! A TFA corps member emailed me this:
My name is Steele Kizerian and I have an assignment in my Educational Policy course at George Mason University. We are all a part of Teach for America and are passionate about education reform and hope to see changes in the coming years that truly impacts the students we serve. We are to find a blog and petition to be a guest blogger. I represent my group for this assignment and our topic is regarding teacher tenure and how we feel it should be reformed. Attached is our post. Please consider us to be guest bloggers on your blog. Let me know if you do decide to publish. Thank you so much. Best of luck to you and your efforts for reform.
Below is the full text of what he wrote, and here's an excerpt:
There is little incentive for teachers to go above and beyond. Why? Teacher tenure. What other industry in the US offers such job security and yet demand so little in return. Meanwhile, the students go from teacher to teacher. Granted, there are many effective and wonderful teachers who are amazing at what they do and they should be rewarded. However, over time, these teachers have a tendency to slack off or not work as hard because they see that no matter how hard they work, they still get paid the same as their neighbor next door doing the bare minimum.
Our system is a system of protecting jobs and not educating children, motivating teachers, and removing the poor teachers…
…Clearly, we have lost our way. We need to change our approach to tenure. If it were up to me, I would eliminate tenure all together and incorporate a merit-pay system . I would improve the teacher evaluation system and model what the top charter and public schools are doing to be successful. I would skim due process down to the school board level. You see, there is no silver bullet. No one solution. But we must start somewhere. We must put the children first and not self-interest. Then we will begin to see changes in our schools, systems, and children.
------------------
In our search for the silver bullet….We've Lost Our Way
Steele Kizerian, Teach for America corps member
Somewhere along the long road of educational progression, we as a nation have lost our way. We are constantly trying to find the silver bullet solution to our educational woes. We keep playing the blame game…going back and forth. Teachers blame the system and the parents. Parents blame the teachers and the system. The system blames the teachers and the parents. Round and round we go pointing fingers until we justify and satisfy poor performance. This is not an attempt to create the silver bullet or to point the finger. I propose an alteration to the system that will impact teacher effectiveness, system effectiveness, and parental approval.
The United States ranks 25th among other developed countries on the PISA assessment that measures average student mastery of reading, math and science among 15 year-olds in 57 participating countries. These scores indicate that we are doing something wrong. If we want to get different results, we must change the approach. Just because we have been doing something for so long doesn't mean we keep doing it. Even if we have invested billions of dollars into a concept or idea, if it is not an effective idea that does not increase and enhance learning, we must go a different direction.
Teacher tenure has been around for a very long time. Its original purpose was to protect teachers from being fired on the basis of gender, race, etc. Teacher tenure is not working. Teacher effectiveness must be at an all-time low, yet there is no outrage. Unlike most professions that hire and fire employees based on their productivity, the public school system of tenure rewards teachers with guaranteed employment if they remain in the classroom for 2 or 3 years. Sure, they have to maintain a "Satisfactory" rating, but let's be honest….it is not difficult. Typically, teachers are not rated on student performance, student growth, family involvement, community involvement, etc. If they meet the low expectations of the principals of having a "quiet" classroom, have work on all 8 boards, and teach somewhat decently, then they are "Satisfactory" and effective.
There is little incentive for teachers to go above and beyond. Why? Teacher tenure. What other industry in the US offers such job security and yet demand so little in return. Meanwhile, the students go from teacher to teacher. Granted, there are many effective and wonderful teachers who are amazing at what they do and they should be rewarded. However, over time, these teachers have a tendency to slack off or not work as hard because they see that no matter how hard they work, they still get paid the same as their neighbor next door doing the bare minimum.
Our system is a system of protecting jobs and not educating children, motivating teachers, and removing the poor teachers. Some quick facts: In Los Angeles, fewer than 2% of teachers are denied tenure…meaning 98% of teachers in LA are effective (not likely). Even when those teachers are deemed ineffective, the due process costs millions of tax dollars. According to Song(2009), a Los Angeles Times investigation of dismissal cases in California found that as a case goes through the system, legal costs approach six figures. Los Angeles Weekly analyzed the costs of dismissing teachers for poor performance in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). According to Barrett (2010), local officials spent $3.5 million attempting to dismiss only seven of the LAUSD's 33,000 teachers for ineffective classroom performance over the last ten years. These costs include the costs of paying teachers a fully salary and benefits throughout the trial period.
Clearly, we have lost our way. We need to change our approach to tenure. If it were up to me, I would eliminate tenure all together and incorporate a merit-pay system . I would improve the teacher evaluation system and model what the top charter and public schools are doing to be successful. I would skim due process down to the school board level. You see, there is no silver bullet. No one solution. But we must start somewhere. We must put the children first and not self-interest. Then we will begin to see changes in our schools, systems, and children.
posted by Whitney Tilson at 3:34 PM
<< Home