Star Ledger - More states using teacher performance for tenure and layoff decisions

By Peggy McGlone/The Star-Ledger The Star-Ledger
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on May 22, 2014 at 7:37 AM, updated May 22, 2014 at 7:45 AM

More states are using teacher effectiveness in determining whether to grant or revoke tenure or to determine which instructors should be laid off, according to the Education Commission of the States.

In three reports released Thursday, the ECS reviews the laws in all 50 states and reveals the different policies and procedures used to measure teacher performance.

Sixteen states, including New Jersey, require teacher evaluations to be used in determining tenure or non-probationary status, up from 10 states in 2011. Flordia, Kansas and North Carolina have attempted to eliminate tenure altogether and seven states return teachers to probationary status if they receive ineffective ratings.

While still a minority, the number of states using teacher performance in hiring and job status decisions continues to grow, said Jeremy Anderson, president of ECS, created in 1965 to track policy and provide research and advice,

“You see many variants with tenure. The states are trying to figure out the best way to meet their outcome goals,” Anderson said.

The states are geographically diverse, Republican and Democrat, some with one-party dominating and others sharing power between parties, he said.

Eleven states require performance to be considered as a primary reason when layoffs are required, while 10 states go a step further and prohibit the use of seniority as a primary factor in determining which teachers will be let go.

New Jersey’s law embraces the trend in tenure, but not in the layoffs. The tenure reform law added a year of service, requiring teachers work for four years to gain tenure. The law requires first-year teachers to participate in a mentoring program, and they must receive an ”effective” or” highly effective” rating in two annual evaluations over the next three years in order to qualify for tenure.

But dismissals due to work force reductions are based on seniority.

“It’s a good snap shot of where policy is today,” Anderson said of the information. “We do research like this for states, hoping they will look at others and not feel the need to reinvent the wheel.”