I am trying to comment on these... Some comments still disappearing into the ether...
MinnPost Teachers, Tests and Duncan
MinnPost MPLS deal a WIN/WIN
MinnPost Safe School Opponents
Here are some others:
Parents United At the Capitol
Students First MN
MinnPost Anti-Bullying Continues Tortured Path
MinnPost Better Ed Postcard
MnnPost Billboard
Better Ed Org
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3 comments:
"A provision would make the removal of a small subset of underperforming teachers faster. If an outside mentor determines that the teacher is not likely to work out for the school, the teacher can be transferred within 45 days, versus eight or more months in the current contract."
From this it sounds like the "underperforming teacher" stays employed in the district... Why isn't their employment terminated?
Tenure needs to go at some point if we truly believe in "Kids come First".
A response from Chris posted at MP.
"If you kill tenure completely, you effectively give all power to some who often know less about teaching than those who are currently practicing. What's the rush? There are many tools available to help someone out the door if necessary. Teachers and other career professionals deserve more than a quick dismissal from someone who is perhaps not really ready or able to truly assess a given situation. Or who might also be a bias filled know-nothing. A little due process and collaboration is usually in order, unless our goal is to kill teaching as a career goal for young would-be teacher prospects. Many teachers who initially struggle often turn out to be some of our very best. It's also widely believed that true skill in the teaching arts requires a few years to develop. The rush to kill tenure is just another (corporate?) stab at the heart of teaching, brought to you by those who mostly don't really value public education, the workers, or for that matter, the kids. Often their hidden goal is to churn staff to the point where schools are destabilized and eventually privatized. It is most certainly not the way to reform schools, or to increase quality or opportunity for anyone."
My MP response
"Somehow almost every American business is able to handle performance planning, performance reviews, raises, improvement plans, dismissals, etc without employee tenure. What is your rationale for believing that the public school administrators are incapable of identifying and retaining good employees?
By the way, tenure does not protect the young inexperienced Teachers. They are typically labeled probationary and have no tenure protection.
Personally I think tenure and steps/lanes are keeping some highly capable people out of the teaching profession. Why would the best and brightest enter a field where they can not attain a reasonable wage for 10+ years because of some steps/lanes requirement? Especially when the Teacher next door may be paid a lot more for doing a lot less.
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