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Tethered to Mediocrity: The Case for Reforming Teacher Tenure

Being a college professor puts you in extremely diverse and highly specialized

group. However, if there is one thing that all academics share, it is the desire for tenure.

Tenure, as everyone in academia knows is the right to not be terminated barring just

cause. In universities, this provides a freedom to research without fear of repercussions.

Unfortunately, this practice is now being applied elsewhere in education, with tenure

granted to K-12 teachers based purely on longevity. In fact in many states, the only

requirement for lifetime tenure is 3 years of adequate teaching. Though tenure ought to

be an integral part of education policy, in its current pre-secondary state it must be

reformed.

In its university incarnation, teacher tenure is a way for academics to focus their

research efforts on material that they find important or relevant without the university

interfering with the results due to political bias. However, this intended usage usage is not

necessarily applicable to the realm of K-12 education. There is no divisive research or

teaching material that high school teachers need protection to explore, and there is very

little evidence in the data regarding unfair teacher firings to justify the protection just in

case. Applying this practice in pre-secondary education fails to adhere to the original

purpose of tenure, and actually creates many inexcusable holes in the education system.

The most obvious negative implication of non-university tenure is teacher quality. To

optimize productivity, most industries are able to replace ineffective employees with

relative ease. However, in 2010, Ex-Kansas Rep. Kay OConnortold Investors Business

Dailythat in the current state of teacher tenure, Unless you're molesting children or

robbing banks, you can't be fired."

The main hurdle tenure poses appears to be economic. A 1994 study by the New

York State School Boards Association found that dismissing a tenured teacher takes an

average of 455 days and costs $177,000. If the teacher appeals, costs double, and

hearings take as long as six months. These costs actively discourage many schools from

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dismissing tenured teachers in the first place. We must find a way to reform the tenure

process while maintaining the integrity of due process rights.

Inadequate skills assessments for educators heavily contribute to this problem. In 2010,

Investors Business Dailyestimated that the number of incompetent teachers ranged

between 135,000 and 468,000. In fact, that spring, teachers in Massachusetts made

headlines when 59% failed a basic skills test. On the whole, teachers are an extremely

talented group. However, as in any sector, there are those who give them a bad name, and

those are the teachers that needed to be closely monitored

This of course, is not to say there are not good teachers. On the whole, my colleagues and

I have agreed that our public school education experience was overwhelmingly positive;

a sentiment that is due in large part to our fantastic teachers and coaches. However, as

any student will tell you, there is always a teacher whose name students and parents alike

dread seeing on their yearly schedule. The problem at hand is not our eagerness to reward

good teachers, but rather our willingness to overlook the bad ones.

Teachers ought to be rewarded for their outstanding commitment to education, yet in the

status quo we are seeing just the opposite And by looking to improve the conditions of

teachers while reforming tenure, we find ways to alleviate the problem. For example,

increasing the occurrence of conditional pay raises, in my opinion, ensures the

workability of tenure reform. Basing these raises upon simple student score metrics, and

extending the tenure evaluation period are good places to start. Other options include

skills tests every few years, a model that is gaining more popularity after the publication

of the aforementioned Massachusetts study. With the spectrum of reform options as wide

as it is, its incomprehensible why the current state of affairs continues to prevail

In its present incarnation, tenure does nothing but ensure the downfall of United

States educational leadership. To overcome the chasm that is the international education

gap, we must first cut the ties that bind us to the base. It is only by reforming teacher

tenure in a way that promotes the rights of educators and students alike can we once

again reach the summit of Education Mountain.