Tenure and Teacher Performance under Fire
As to tenure, several states, including Florida this week, have passed or previously enacted measures that eliminate tenure and force teachers into term contracts that can be renewed or declined based upon performance measures.
In full disclosure, I come from a family full of educators and have many friends currently serving as teachers and coaches, so I am innately hesitant to support measures that would detrimentally impact teaching as a profession.
In theory, I have no problem with the concept of any professional being subjected to performance reviews. The problem with grading teachers, however, is how to measure such performance. Let’s put aside for the moment that the biggest benefactors from grading teachers based upon test scores is the testing companies that make millions from contracts with the state. The problem with test scores serving as 50% or more of a teacher’s performance grade, as the pending Florida legislation requires, is that it fails to account for the biggest problem facing educators these days, which are the kids themselves. Apathy, behavioral issues, lack of parental involvement—these are issues that simply were not prevalent as recently as 20 years ago in most school systems. The best teachers cannot force Johnny and Jamika to go home and study their lessons. Or, to quote my Great-Grandfather Charlie Williams, teachers cannot make “chicken salad out of chicken (expletive).”
So while it is easy to simply blame teachers for the ills of our system, until our elected officials are serious about addressing the real issues of poverty and lack of discipline—teachers will remain scapegoats.