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Certainly, most of us can agree that test scores are not the measure by which teachers should be judged. It makes sense because students’ background and learning paces vary. Even our president is wary of using test scores as a measure of teachers’ performance, he vowed to find a "better way to track student progress in order to determine teacher accountability."
Why is it nearly impossible to fire a low performing teacher? Particularly now, when money is so limited, tough decisions about who stays or goes should be heavily weighed.
How much influence do the unions have in the personnel matters of the public education system? In a word: plenty. It is difficult to imagine anybody wanting to create obstacles for the termination of a poorly performing teacher. However, the unions make costly restrictions for firing a tenured teacher and will support the offending teacher in legal actions. This has caused school districts to be overcome with legal fees and time-consuming procedures sometimes taking years to accomplish with appeals.
At stake for the unions: their own relevance. Teachers’ unions have to create a following for membership whereby promising security for its members who pay the dues. Teachers’ unions have such a hold on the legislature by virtue of their lobbying power and campaign contributions, making reform nearly impossible.
The result of keeping contracted teachers employed is a practice of transferring an offending teacher within the school district if that teacher has poor performance at the preceding school site. According to Teachersunionexposed.com, this practice is called "the dance of the lemons" or "passing the trash."
Many well-meaning parents may make a formal complaint about a teacher’s performance or behavior to the school’s principal. Many of us have been taught to go through the chain of command. Fortunately, teacher accountability is in the hands of parents more than they know.
Prior to making a formal complaint under the California Education Code, the California Department of Education requests that you first talk to "your local district administration for information on their employee grievance process."
However, if you have exhausted other remedies, you are well within your right to contact the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing to file a complaint against the offending teacher’s credential. After an affidavit under penalty of perjury is filed with the agency, an investigation will commence. Education Code section 44242.5 states in part as follows: "Each allegation of an act or omission by an applicant for, or holder of, a credential for which he or she may be subject to an adverse action shall be presented to the Committee of Credentials."
What the California Commission of Teacher Credentialing is examining is "probable cause," the standard in which the amount of proof determines that a contract can be severed.
Section 44242.5 (e) (1) concludes that "if probable cause exists," ... the commission will render "appropriate adverse action." In short, the teacher will be terminated upon a determination that probable cause was proven.
"Our challenge is to make sure every child in America is learning from an effective teacher, no matter what it takes," Duncan announced at the National Education Association in San Diego. Boos, hisses and all, Mr. Duncan's words did not fall on deaf ears. Parents and concerned citizens hear his message loud and clear.
The "how to" section herein, about parents making state complaints against bad teachers, is in no way an edorsement by me or The Examiner to make frivolous teacher complaints. Certainly, most teacher involved matters can be solved with the teacher and/or local school administration.
Comments
Ericha would be wise to listen to and heed the rest of what Arne Duncan said in San Diego. "Excellence matters and we should honor it -- fairly, transparently, and on terms teachers can embrace." "The President and I have both said repeatedly that we are not going to impose reform, but rather work with teachers, principals and unions to find what works." "The key to making progress on education reform begins with respect for the labor-management relationship."
Good article. I guess you cannot quote the entire speech, but yours is a fair overview of Duncan's approach, unions' position and I like that parents have a say about bad teachers in the complaint process. Why isn't there a teacher merit process too for parents to join? Parents can start an investigation of bad teachers but not the reverse?
Ms. Parks bases her premises on far-reaching statements. First, teacher unions are about far more than defending tenure. The NEA's motto is "Great Public Schools for Every Student." This drives the work of the NEA. At the recent NEA Representative Assembly in San Diego, with almost 9000 public school staff in attendance, there were 87 new business items and not one was about defending tenure. Every teacher contract I have read (and I have read many) contains provisions for terminating teachers and usually it's a very straight forward process if school administrators do their job.
Ms. Parks also references MW's comments. She needs to talk to a few more teachers. Every state has standards and teachers are expected to be teaching to those standards. Test content covers those same standards. Many teachers are expected to note the standards taught as part of a lesson. If a teacher is not teaching to standards and, hence, the test, they are not doing their job in today's education world.
Rating teachers on "performance" is like rating doctors on how many patients he or she cures without considering the demographic of patients being treated: elderly, poorly nourished, victims of gang violence, etc. It's much harder to produce "results"--whatever that means--with malnourished, inner city, ELS kids than with kids who have all the "advantages." Teachers willing to teach in "bad" neighborhoods will disappear without strong job protections. Moreover, the original purpose of tenure was to allow teachers to openly address flaws and corruption in district administrations without being fired, as well teach controversial topics without losing one's job. Clearly, bad teachers need to go; the question is HOW a "good" or "bad" teacher is measured. Teaching results are not a quantifiable factory product.
I am not one to defend teachers unions. I can give you this tip: the only quantifying way to determine if a teacher is "bad" is to look at his/her record of discpline and reviews. It is the same as the private sector that way. The so-called "Dance of the Lemons" teachers have a long history of complaints by parents, other teachers, administrators, as well as behaviors that have caused alarm. I would call those sorts "bad teachers". Whether a child does well in any teacher's classroom has enumerable ingredients and should not be judged on that standard.
It's a myth that bad teachers can't be fired. Teachers are evaluated every year and if they don't measure up, it isn't the union who has failed to recognize that. The two stakeholders in education who are always the target of reform measures are students and teachers, arguably the most scrutinized stakeholders in the system. No one ever looks at school administration or legislative leadership to see how little they contribute to making education work for all. The same pundits who praise Asian and European test scores ignore the support given teachers in those systems. They are not based on "merit" pay but on rational measures of support for the teaching process. Time to quit blaming the kids and teachers who work hardest and start looking at who is actually running our schools and deciding how much funding the schools will get.
There is only one thing that prevents the dismissal of a poor teacher and that is an administrator that doesn't do his job. There is a system in place to fire teachers and the union's job is to see that it is fairly followed. We expect administrators to work with their staffs much like teachers work with their students. Those who are not making the grade need to be advised and supported but in the end if they can't measure up, they need to be dismissed. The union will always defend the process, not necessarily the individual.
The process for teacher termination has been set up to be long, laborious and expensive, because the bottom line for the union is money$$$$$$. Here is a link that outlines the cumbersome process.
http://articles.latimes.com/2009/may/03/local/me-teachers3
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