A potentially landmark decision from a California court earlier this week has garnered significant praise after a judge ruled against the state's teacher tenure laws, stating that they violate a child's right to education as guaranteed by the state's constitution.
The contentious California laws granted teachers tenure eligibility after only 18 months on the job and tied layoffs to seniority rather than merit — a system called "Last In, First Out" or LIFO. Most states have tenure reviews for teachers after two to three years.
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ReplyDeleteTenure carries pluses and minuses; was adopted because of past abuses by boards and administrators.
That said, legislature or local boards can certainly alter the period for granting tenure. 18 months in California sounds pretty generous.
In most states the bulk of teachers are graduates of that state's HS and colleges so they reap what they sow.
If they require higher caliber work to enter the field they may reasonably expect higher quality results. The ability to weed out or redirect misbehaving students would also be part of the fix.