Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Tiring of Haycock?
The Cleveland Plain Dealer's Scott Stephens notes in yesterday's paper (second page) that while some union leaders "generally consider" Education Trust's Kati Haycock a friend, they "are privately getting increasingly uneasy about her periodic calls to 'rethink' tenure" for educators.
Granted by local school boards, tenure is the much-maligned provision in collective bargaining contracts that provides teachers with protection against losing their jobs as a result of capricious decisions by school officials.
The issue came up again last week when the Education Trust released a report detailing how students who need the most help too often get the least experienced, least educated and least skilled teachers.
Haycock said one solution to the problem would be to rethink the system that gives tenure to "any teacher still standing after three years," regardless of skill.
The report also mentions exploring some form of merit pay -- paying for performance rather than longevity or college degrees.
In a delicately worded reaction, the American Federation of Teachers, which represents teachers in many of the nation's big-city districts, applauded the report but warned against embracing "unsubstantiated remedies unsupported by evidence."
The column says few people in education are more respected than Haycock, and calls her a "tireless advocate for poor and minority students."
Granted by local school boards, tenure is the much-maligned provision in collective bargaining contracts that provides teachers with protection against losing their jobs as a result of capricious decisions by school officials.
The issue came up again last week when the Education Trust released a report detailing how students who need the most help too often get the least experienced, least educated and least skilled teachers.
Haycock said one solution to the problem would be to rethink the system that gives tenure to "any teacher still standing after three years," regardless of skill.
The report also mentions exploring some form of merit pay -- paying for performance rather than longevity or college degrees.
In a delicately worded reaction, the American Federation of Teachers, which represents teachers in many of the nation's big-city districts, applauded the report but warned against embracing "unsubstantiated remedies unsupported by evidence."
The column says few people in education are more respected than Haycock, and calls her a "tireless advocate for poor and minority students."
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