CA Ruling on Teacher Tenure Stirs Arguments on Teacher Effectiveness
How can we judge if a teacher should be tenured? This question was raised by many news sites last week when a California judge ruled that teacher tenure “impose a disproportionate burden on poor and minority students.” As the reasoning went in Vergara v. California, teacher tenure currently keeps many ineffective teachers in schools and changing the tenure system would benefit student success.
The ruling also stirred up passionate discussion among educators on California’s teacher-tenure system. Currently, principals are required to evaluate teachers for tenure by March of the teacher’s second year; however in a 2012 survey, many teachers believed they should work for 5.4 years before being evaluated for tenure. Due to the short period given for tenure evaluation, students may get stuck with ineffective but tenured teachers, while excellent teachers may not have enough time to demonstrate their skills.
Another concern brought up by the ruling was about the difficulty low-income schools had in attracting good teachers. Schools with greater poverty levels, high pressure to raise test scores, and a student population with diverse needs will struggle to retain effective teachers. Thus, even if tenure laws changed, some educators expressed doubts that teacher quality would increase in low-income schools.
Whether the ruling on teacher tenure will positively impact schools will show in time as the debate around teacher effectiveness and student success continues.