tackling tenure

the topic of teacher tenure has been in the news this week, in part due to nyc mayor michael bloomberg's announcement regarding changes he plans to make to the city's tenure program, as well as chatter about the upcoming movie waiting for superman. i don't need to tell anyone reading this blog that teacher tenure is a hot button issue for many. for the purposes of this blog, when referring to teacher tenure, know i am specifically discussing elementary, middle and high school public school teachers, not college professors. so where to begin? let’s start with the history of tenure.

back in the early 19th century, the purpose of tenure was to ensure that educators (at the time, mostly college educators) were free to teach without fear that their jobs would be in jeopardy due to factors other than education. this was particularly the case for female teachers who may have either married the wrong kind of person or did things that were deemed "inappropriate" (for a woman at that time, this potentially meant simply being out in the street past a certain hour). tenure also protected those who may chose to speak against the political leanings of their school or administration. tenure rallied against arbitrary firings and guaranteed that if a teacher were dismissed, it was based on clear violations of the educational system and nothing else.

currently, as we know, teacher tenure has expanded past the collegiate ranks and into the public school system. it has become a pillar of teach union's platform and something at the heart of many debates over the years. while the length of time it takes for an elementary, middle school or high school teacher to achieve tenure in a public school varies from state to state, it seems most are eligible for tenure review within two to three years. currently roughly 2.3 million public school teachers enjoy tenure.

according to the national education association (nea), "tenure is about due process — not about guaranteeing jobs for life. and it’s not about protecting “bad” teachers — it’s about protecting good teachers." they say tenure does not guarantee teachers a job, does not offer any lifetime employment security and, regardless of the implications, does not just happen after a “certain amount of time.” in comparison to jobs not in education, the nea said this about a teacher's probation period prior to tenor: " at most jobs outside the field of education, a newly hired employee may be considered probationary for six months, or even a year....[but,] when teachers are hired, it is common for them to serve as untenured, probationary employees for three or four years. at this point they can be — and often are — dismissed for any reason whatsoever. that time period also gives school administrators an extended opportunity to evaluate a teacher before determining whether or not the school district, at its discretion, should grant the teacher tenure." another point often made on this side of the debate is, teachers still fear retribution for political disagreements, whether with a supervisor, principal or administrator, hence needing tenure.

now, let me state upfront that i grew up in a family with several public school teachers. in particular, i have an uncle who, in my opinion was (and continues to be) the epitome of the teacher you want in your child's classroom. this is a man who knew he always wanted to be a math teacher. he loves math, he loves teaching it and always had fun doing it. when i would visit him at work when i was small, i witnessed a teacher who was both effective and liked by the students. he was a rock star! sure, he knew the cool music of the time (madonna, cyndi lauper and wham) and had a good report with the students, but he also demanded respect in his room and success from his students. in addition to our family teachers, my brother and i are beneficiaries of the new york city public school system. we had many amazing teachers who helped mold us into the people we are today.

ok, with that said, my point, and i do have one...is, i think teacher tenure should be eliminated. i firmly believe being a teacher is a noble and important profession, especially in the formative years. teachers help shape and influence our leaders of tomorrow. public school teachers should be revered, not made the butt of jokes and should be paid handsomely for doing a good job. but i don't understand why teachers deserve more protection than employees in other industries and professions? i think the basic premise of employment should be you work hard, you strive to always be better and, in turn, you get rewarded with monetary compensation that reflects your success.

in my 15+ years of working, i have not only had to do my job and do it well, but also play the politics necessary to ensure my success (i'm not saying that should be part of the gig, but lets be honest it's the truth). i would be lying if i didn't say that, since moving to the south, there have been numerous times this loud mouth, opinionated northerner has held her tongue so as not to potentially ruffle the political feathers of conservative higher-ups. i have lived my whole professional career knowing that being vocal on things that have nothing to do with the quality of my work could potentially put my job on the line. where is my tenure to ensure i can say what i want without penalty?

if i calculate all the six month probationary periods i have had at my various non-education jobs (as referenced by the nea), it would show i have worked nearly 4.5 years of probation and, to this day, i can be fired at will! where is my tenure to ensure this doesn't happen? (i am not even getting into summers off, spring breaks, my approx 235 work year vs. the approx.180 school year...oh and lets not forget snow days!)

what about all those people who worked at a job 20+ years and then, when the economy tanked, lost their jobs? many of those people are now in foreclosure and have lost their retirement money because they didn't have a guaranteed tenure or a pension. where is their tenure? and what about the teacher i knew in high school who flat out told me he doesn't like his job or the kids, is phoning it in and is only a teacher because he needed a way to stay out of vietnam? he is probably in a classroom right now, because he has tenure.

now, before you go thinking i am anti union, know, i am actually not. i think unions can be a good thing and should be there to protect basic rights of different groups. but over the years, i have seen what appears to be the all powerful teachers union (who reportedly gives more money to political campaigns than the nra) looking out for the protection of the teachers, often, in my opinion, at the determine of the children. (to be honest i fault the union leaders, not the teachers, for that perception.) look, whether fair or not, if the system was working, this would be on page 16 of the newspaper, not above the fold, but the system and our children are failing and i don't believe you can address improvements to the overall system without looking at teacher tenure.

in an effort to try and provide an alternate solution, i think a system should be set up to properly review teachers so that a full picture of their work can be established. some of the review points would include:

* test results - i think this is something to look at, but by far not the end all and be all. the school you are in and students you have will play a factor in this, so i believe a straight "results/reward" plan is faulty. additionally, when looking at scores its important to not just see pass/fail, but also increases/decreases vs. past performance.

* surprise peer reviews - i think that teachers who teach the same subject should peer review other teachers. this also gives teachers the chance to learn from other teaching methods.

* surprise supervisor reviews - just like in any job, the supervisor should do evaluations of the employee's work. not with a scheduled review, but one where the teacher has no time but to do what they planned for the day.

* student reviews - i think this is important too. i think there is good information to be had in reverse evaluations. i feel this way regarding corporate america as well. the "subordinates" (in this case the students) should have a voice to say what they think of the teacher and the teaching style. these should be done anonymously so the students don't feel they will be punished or rewarded for their thoughts and opinons.

* self review - this would give the teacher a chance to review and critique themselves as well as lay out any bumps they had in the road that year, concerns, successes and goals for the next year.

* principal review - i think it is important that the principal know the quality (good or bad) of the educators within his/her school.

* school review: this is a part of the review that takes into account the school’s student make-up, issues and successes when evaluating inherent issues a teacher in that school may face.

in my opinion it is important for the criteria to be laid out in advance, so there are no secret as to what a teacher has to do to succeed. those who excel year-to-year should be rewarded accordingly and those who don't, should be put on a probationary period and then, baring future improvements, kicked to the curb. there should also be some sort of review board that can swiftly and in a timely fashion hear issues that may arise. this board would not be made up of purely board of education administrators, but also teachers and principals.

i don't think anyone's job should ever be even close to guaranteed, especially a teachers. like all professionals, teachers should constantly be working to get better. if their own personal drive isn't enough to keep them motivated to create new and innovative ways to teach, let the fact that their job can be on the line be their motivator.

finally, for those who think this blog has been somehow critical of teachers, i ask you to read it again, because it has not. what it has done is critique the tenure system, a system that i believe is hurting the level of education in this country. overall, i think most teachers are good and want to help students learn and succeed, but there are always the bad apples and we should not make it hard or expensive to pick them out and remove them. teacher tenure is far from the only problem with today's educational system. there needs to be an overhaul of school funding, as well as an acknowledgment that we have an epidemic of parents who don't get involved in their children's education.

as i stated at the beginning, i think being a teacher is a noble and important profession, they should be revered and should be paid very well, i just don't think they should get tenure.

what is your point?