On Thursday, Weingarten further proposed accelerating the timetable
for teacher terminations.
Many state laws limit the reasons
for teacher termination and contain «significant hurdles,» said Dugas.
Not exact matches
When small variations in student test scores result in failing ratings
for teachers, and that can lead to automatic
termination, it forces
teachers to teach to the test, rather than teaching
for learning.
If the
teacher gets a bad review
for three years in a row, even if they have tenure, then the school district is required to begin a
termination process.
In his study of court decisions on
teacher terminations for competency, Zirkel found that «defendant districts prevailed over plaintiff
teachers by better than a 3 - to - 1 ratio.»
She instituted procedures to identify and expel bad
teachers, too, drafting a list of 266
for termination.
To date, the discussion has focused primarily on evaluation systems as sorting mechanisms, a means to identify the lowest - performing
teachers for selective
termination.
GAZETTE: Is the timely
termination of underperforming
teachers routinely difficult
for administrators?
For tenured teachers, evaluation scores determine eligibility for some promotions or additional tenure protection, or, in the case of very low scores, placement in a peer assistance program with a small risk of terminati
For tenured
teachers, evaluation scores determine eligibility
for some promotions or additional tenure protection, or, in the case of very low scores, placement in a peer assistance program with a small risk of terminati
for some promotions or additional tenure protection, or, in the case of very low scores, placement in a peer assistance program with a small risk of
termination.
The Commission will examine factors contributing to
teacher recruitment and performance including: incentives to hire and retain high - quality
teachers; improvements in the
teacher evaluation system to ensure New York is implementing one of the strongest evaluation systems in the country; the use of
teacher evaluations
for decisions regarding promotion, hiring and
termination as required in the
teacher evaluation law; and
teacher preparation, certification and education programs to ensure that
teachers are properly trained to best educate our students.
The case arose from a challenge, funded by anti-union organizations, to five California statutes that provide K - 12
teachers a two - year probationary period, stipulate procedural protections
for non-probationary
teachers facing
termination, and emphasize
teacher seniority in reductions of force.
This has serious implications, not only
for practice but also
for the lawsuits ongoing across the nation, especially in terms of those pertaining to
teachers» wrongful
terminations, as charged.
At that time,
teachers with two ME ratings became eligible
for termination and those with two HE ratings earned permanent salary increases, not just bonuses.
These components are often uneasy companions in the dual pursuit of two separate goals: improving teaching practice; and judging
teachers as either competent (and thereby worthy of tenure, additional responsibilities, or supplemental compensation) or ineffective (and thereby slated
for corrective action or
termination).
This occurred in large part due to Sanders's (and others») lobbying efforts when the federal government ultimately choose to incentivize and de facto require that all states hold their
teachers accountable
for their value - added, or lack thereof, while attaching high - stakes consequences (e.g.,
teacher termination) to
teachers» value - added estimates.
Ahead of layoffs that could affect up to 60
teachers, SAISD officials on Tuesday announced they would meet with
teachers recommended
for termination.
Should any of these states and districts also tie serious consequences to such output (e.g., merit pay, performance plans,
teacher termination, denial of tenure), or rather tie serious consequences to measures of growth derived via any varieties of the «multiple assessment» that can be pulled from increasingly prevalent multiple assessment «menus,» states and districts are also setting themselves
for lawsuits... no joke!
He said Montgomery's current system, which mentors struggling
teachers for a year before decisions about
termination are made, is a «hill to die on.»
Teacher due process has become so arduous and costly
for school districts that
termination has become very rare, according to Floyd Dugas, with the Berchem, Moses, and Devlin law firm of Milford, Conn., one of the speakers on the panel discussion.
Tenure is due process, and a
teacher with tenure has the right to know why he or she is being dismissed or the «just cause»
for termination.
Teachers who are evaluated as «unsatisfactory»
for two years can immediately be recommended
for termination by the district (New York State Department of Education 2011).
If an evaluator concurs with a principal's finding that a
teacher is ineffective
for a second consecutive year, city officials can begin a new, expedited
termination process.
All of the non-tenured
teachers who are facing
termination this year received one or more negative ratings on a recent job evaluation and have been sent letters indicating that they are being considered
for so - called non-reelection.
I've asked Korn to tell me exactly where the law specifies this, and when I hear back from him, I will update this post.UPDATE: The
teachers» union, to back up its assertion, is citing a memo from the state department to the Board of Regents last year which contains this background sentence about the evaluation law: «Tenured
teachers and principals with a pattern of ineffective teaching performance — defined by law as two consecutive annual «ineffective» ratings — may be charged with incompetence and considered
for termination through an expedited hearing process.»
More specifically, he continued, if the school district denies its
teachers access to the computer algorithms and data that form the basis of each
teacher's VAM score, it «flunks the minimum procedural due process standard of providing the reason
for termination «in sufficient detail to enable [the
teacher] to show any error that may exist.
As part of the implementation of Race to the Top, and as part of their scopes of work, districts will be encouraged to examine those
teachers who are consistently categorized in the lower levels of effectiveness
for the possibility of
termination.
Here, it is considered revolutionary
for a school board to beg
for relief from a tortuous, money - wasting
teacher termination process that is nearly doomed to failure anyway.
If after receiving support, the
teacher has not moved into the «effective» category of performance, the evaluation results can provide documentation
for the
termination to occur.
Many
teachers unions also favor getting rid of bad educators, not based strictly on test scores or the subjective judgment of principals, but through «peer review» plans which call
for expert
teachers to come into a school and work with struggling educators and in some cases recommend
termination.
Samantha Major, now a psychology
teacher at Spanish River High, was targeted
for termination by Palm Beach County's public schools after administrators said she violated school...
Like many
teacher unions, UTNO had been criticized
for protecting incompetent
teachers from
termination.
That means students and
teachers will not be held to the stricter standards of Common Core, under which instructors face more stringent accountability and risk
termination for under - performing pupils who do not reach specific academic benchmarks set by the program,
for an additional five years later than originally expected.
In addition, it should be noted that indeed «[t] here are adverse consequences to
teachers short of
termination» (p. 33) including,
for example, «a finding of «minimally effective» [that] has an impact on
teacher licenses» (p. 41).
The strikes are occurring primarily in Oaxaca, southern Mexico, and they have thus far led to nine deaths, including the death of one journalist, upwards of 100 injuries, approximately 20 arrests, and the «en masse»
termination of many
teachers for striking.
This «truth,» in fact, is at the core of the lawsuits ongoing across the nation regarding this matter (see,
for example, here), with consequences ranging from tagging a
teacher's file
for receiving a low value - added score to
teacher termination.
Falsely identifying a
teacher as below the 25th percentile may unfairly penalize that
teacher, particularly if the scores were used
for high - stakes purposes such as a salary freeze or
termination.
While nonprobationary
teachers should have due process
for any
termination, it is important to differentiate between loss of employment
for and issues with far - reaching consequences that could permanently impact a
teacher's right to practice.
The first is
termination for cause;
for example, an administrator should be able to fire you if you're an ineffective
teacher or if you sexually harass a student.
These «performance ratings» at issue are to be used
for increased consequential purposes (e.g.,
teacher terminations / layoffs, even if solely
for economic reasons).
Teaches should be cautious when speaking with their «
teacher voice,» but CEA legal unit does a disservice to Connecticut's
teachers by simply stating that any, «first amendment challenge to discipline or
termination (
for «off - duty» speech) is unlikely to succeed.»
Unfortunately, extensions, delays and significant legal expenses can prolong and discourage the
termination process, making it difficult
for school districts to remove poor
teachers.
As long as union leaders possess the legal ability to drag out
termination proceedings
for months or even years — during which time districts must continue paying
teachers, and substitute
teachers to replace them, and lawyers to arbitrate the proceedings — the situation
for students will not improve.
These cases have tested a chief selling point (pardon [or underscore] the business reference) of VAMs: that they will effectuate,
for example,
teacher termination with greater ease because nobody besides the advanced statisticians and econometricians can argue with their numbers derived.
Clearly, this book is to prove very relevant given the ongoing court cases across the country (see a prior post on these cases here) regarding
teachers and the systems being used to evaluate them when especially (or extremely) reliant upon VAM - based estimates
for consequential decision - making purposes (e.g.,
teacher tenure, pay, and
termination).
[68] The substantive elements of the
termination that the Board found unreasonable included: the principal ordering Mr. Dorval to use codes given the evidence that policy (of RSCHS and Edmonton Public School Board) supported involvement of
teachers» professional judgment and consultation; the order being simply announced with little or no consultation; questions or concerns being ignored; little or no communication to students and parents about the codes or their enactment; the failure of the principal and the appellant to respect the professional rights and duties of the
teacher regarding assessment of his students; and the discriminatory singling out of Mr. Dorval
for discipline when other
teachers who also challenged and refused to follow the principal's order were not disciplined.