Florida Abolishes Teacher Tenure

Lawmakers in Florida recently voted to abolish teacher tenure in public schools, effectively making it easier to fire teachers deemed incompetent. Although tenure doesn’t actually exist for elementary and secondary teachers in the same way it does for college professors, it provides teachers with some protection from harassment by administrators, school boards and parents, who sometimes target teachers for reasons other than academic ones. It’s not unheard of for a teacher who is politically active, or holds divergent religious or lifestyle views outside of school, to be the subject of campaigns for dismissal that have nothing to do with their job performance.

Tenure, however, is not the only thing Florida plans to toss out with the bath water. Teachers in Florida will no longer be given pay raises based on seniority/experience or their level of education. And seniority will not be considered in times of lay-offs. From now on student’s standardized test scores will be the only measurement from which raises or bonuses are considered, and school districts are free to lay off employes as they see fit.

Yikes.

While I concede there is a tiny bit of merit — and good sense — in the idea of basing lay-offs on need and keeping the best, not just the oldest, teachers, basing salary on the test scores of students is something that would have driven me out of the classroom if I were still teaching.

Why?

I taught kids who had “issues”. My students were gleaned from the list of kids that no one else wanted or had managed to succeed in teaching. Often, but after a lot of time and trickery, I discovered the means to prod a child to his/her best effort. But sometimes I failed, too. There were students who defied all my efforts to get them to school or to my classroom. Some of them were simply too far behind to catch them up to grade level in a single semester or school year. Many of my students weren’t native English speakers and were still struggling with the written language. If my salary had been based on test scores, my own child would have run the risk of going to bed hungry and being sent to school shoeless.

It’s well-meaning, but the end result of basing a teacher’s pay on his/her student’s scores is that many teachers will seek to avoid teaching in struggling schools or taking on challenging students. Students in need will suffer. How is that a good thing?

Are there teachers who are just okay? Sure. There are doctors, lawyers, bankers (plenty of them) and police officers – to name a few – who are just okay, too. As my husband always reminds me, in every graduating class, 50 percent of them were in the bottom half. But are kids really being damaged by average teachers? Is that really the problem with our public school system?

Being just a few years out of the classroom, my opinion is that our biggest problem is an outdated delivery model that no longer serves the needs of families, students and their communities. And it is at the community level that schools should be reformed because most people will never stray more than a county or two from where they were born and raised.

Instead of focusing on punishment models of reform where someone, or some group, is held responsible for troubles and lack of success, perhaps states could free up local school districts to reorganize, tailoring school days to fit parental work schedules and offering on-site extended childcare with tutoring or other enrichment programs, for example. Maybe older high school students should have a more college-like atmosphere with the emphasis on internships or vocational training opportunities.

Punishment models make poor reform. Florida’s intentions may be in the right place, but it’s using a sledgehammer when a bunch of carrots might be more appropriate.

Mosaic of Florida by Scott Kirsner

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Harry C.

7:30AM PDT on Apr 18, 2010

"the state that gave us Jeb Bush (the "smart" brother)"

For the record, Jeb is not a Floridian. But then, that is true of three of four people who live in this state. Florida has a long record of being a destination for carpetbaggers.

send a green star

Linda M.

10:15PM PDT on Apr 17, 2010

everyone, please sign and share:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/5/tell-obama-to-put-solar-panels-back-on-the-white-house

thanks so much

Ioan P.

12:51PM PDT on Apr 17, 2010

Sorry for the second post! There were problems with the connection.

The problem is more complex. Not only happen in Florida. It happens and my country Romania. It is used as a front of the Education Law change for children's future care. In reality it is about money. A permanent teacher with many years of experience should be paid more. He has formed personality. Do not accept anything. And in times of crisis when governments get money, as always in time, the poor, of those who receive their salary from the state budget. Instead of permanent teachers and vocation, will engage, will appoint young teachers without experience, for limited periods with very little money. The result? Two teachers in advance for any budget. Who loses? Child student. What student? Of course the poor. He has no money for private schools. Thus increase the number of low-skilled youth. They would not accede to management functions. These features will be reserved for children of wealthy families. And so the social gap remains. Increases. We can not think about those who think and apply these silly experiments us who are payers of taxes. The rest is politics ..........

12:45PM PDT on Apr 17, 2010

The problem is more complex. Not only happen in Florida. It happens and my country Romania. It is used as a front of the Education Law change for children's future care. In reality it is about money. A permanent teacher with many years of experience should be paid more. He has formed personality. Do not accept anything. And in times of crisis when governments get money, as always in time, the poor, of those who receive their salary from the state budget. Instead of permanent teachers and vocation, will engage, will appoint young teachers without experience, for limited periods with very little money. The result? Two teachers in advance for any budget. Who loses? Child student. What student? Of course the poor. He has no money for private schools. Thus increase the number of low-skilled youth. They would not accede to management functions. These features will be reserved for children of wealthy families. And so the social gap remains. Increases. We can not think about those who think and apply these silly experiments us who are payers of taxes. The rest is politics ..........

Denise L.

12:43PM PDT on Apr 17, 2010

interesting article

Phil S.

9:20AM PDT on Apr 17, 2010

Struggling students will have to have their parents envolvement.. Summer school or some private teaching for the child.. Think it time for more parental responsibility in this matter to bring the mark back up where it should be.. The kids are losing because of lack of discipline , communication between parent, teacher and administrators and teachers that just can't teach..

Amy K.

9:10AM PDT on Apr 17, 2010

I entirely agree with your reasons for not basing a teacher's pay merely on his/her students' standardized test scores. For myriad reasons, from language barriers to home life to the unfairness of some test questions, many students do not achieve high scores on such tests. That does not mean that the student has not learned, and there are other, more comprehensive assessments available to determine a student's individual achievement level. Unfortunately, such a holistic approach to student learning is beyond most bureaucratically-managed public school systems. I'm thankful and blessed to work in a private school in which I can use multiple methods to achieve success with individual learners and where tenure exists to protect me from the influence of biased people but not to prevent me from being dismissed should I be guilty of incompetence.

L. B.

8:04AM PDT on Apr 17, 2010

Do NOT become a teacher. Encourage every young person in college and interested in education NOT to become a teacher. Forget about early childhood education, forget about primary, elementary and high school education. Do NOT become a teacher. A thankless job. An impossible job. Many posters are correct it has become a business whether it be in public schools, big name daycares etc. Teaching is no longer teaching. It is a business and our kids are suffering.

Ken B.

1:19AM PDT on Apr 16, 2010

Florida, a stupid state filled with dumb oldsters who were bamboozled and screamed, "Don't Touch My Medicare" when their Medicare wasn't even threatened, and the state that keeps screaming about the perils of same sex adotion where it's been proven that has nothing to do with the wellfare of adopted children, the state that gave us Jeb Bush (the "smart" brother), is it any wonder that they want all their teachers to leave for better treatment in other states? If continued employment depends on the test scores of the stupid children of stupid parents woe to the good teachers! Florida is trying to beat Texas as the worst state in the Union!

Janice P.

8:12PM PDT on Apr 15, 2010

I agree with Marilyn. Florida is now going to have teachers who teach only to the test. She is also correct about the issue of tenure. Why does everything have to be set in terms of balck or white? Experience and educational level achieved should be taken inro consideration, when dealing with the issue of raises. Further, tenure should be reviewable. Otherwise, you get teachers with tenure who get lazy or become disinterested and don't care because they "can't be fired". Must we always throw the baby out with the bath water?