Another fact. Their study reports over half the best teachers earn less than the average ineffective teacher in their district.
It’s the fault of the teacher tenure system that makes it difficult to fire ineffective teachers -Recently, relying on path breaking research from Harvard and Columbia Universities, a California judge struck down the California teacher tenure law,ruling it hurts poor and minority students.
Bloomberg News/Businessweek explained ”In a landmark ruling, a Los Angeles superior court judge on Tuesday struck down key elements of California’s teacher tenure statutes after finding that the near inability to fire ineffective teachers disproportionately hurts poor and minority students. The ruling rests in large part on what Judge Rolf Treu called ”compelling” academic research that “shocks the conscience.” Highly ineffective teachers, the evidence suggests, can cause lasting harm that reaches far into a student’s future. ”Based on a massive study, Dr. [Raj] Chetty testified that a single year in a classroom with a grossly ineffective teacher costs students $1.4 million in lifetime earnings per classroom,” Judge Treu wrote in his 16-page decision (pdf).
Bloomberg added ”That 2012 study, by Harvard’s Raj Chetty and John Friedman and Columbia’s Jonah Rockoff, analyzed data from 2.5 million kids over two decades, matching test scores with the tax data for the same students and their parents. They tried to isolate how much any individual teacher adds or detracts by comparing how the students scored on end-of-year tests to how similar students did with other teachers, controlling for a host of such things as test scores in the prior year, gender, suspensions, English language knowledge, and class size.”
The Conservative Reformers hoped large raises would retain good teachers and tenure change would protect students from ineffective teachers. Unfortunately, fierce pressure against tenure reform from the NCAE teacher union gave the House and the Governor cold feet. The final package included an average $3300 raise, $4000 starting teacher pay increase but no tenure reform.
Commenting on North Carolina’s reform battle, The New Teacher Project said ”The state is poised for positive change. Recently, state legislators announced several controversial policy changes, including the elimination of teacher tenure, doing away with the standard pay bump for master’s degrees and relaxing statewide limits on class size. These measures are undoubtedly making teachers nervous—but they have the potential to push the state toward a teaching profession that truly celebrates and prioritizes quality instruction. By breaking down several barriers that have traditionally limited innovations with school staffing and structures, North Carolina could create the teaching profession of the future—one that rewards great results in the classroom, gives teachers a chance to enrich their careers by expanding their influence and leadership over time, and values their contributions to students and community versus credits earned and seat time.
With a $460 million, 11% raise and an end to the pay increase just for being alive tenure system, the Conservative Reform Majority in the State Senate shows they understand the tragedy of saddling a child with an ineffective teacher.
They need our help fighting for reform.