Gov. Chris Christie sent a package of education reform bills to the Legislature Wednesday that would eliminate tenure as teachers know it and offer job protection only to those who consistently show a high level of performance based on new statewide evaluation system, reports NJ.com. Under the tenure proposal, teachers would be given one of four ratings–highly effective, effective, partially effective or ineffective–based equally on student performance and classroom observations. Acting Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf first unveiled the evaluation system during an address at Princeton University in February…
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Teacher-tenure standards raised
No more free passes. The city Department of Education changed its tenure policy yesterday with new rules designed to weed out its bad teachers and reward its best ones with jobs for life, reports the New York Post. After years of rubber-stamp approvals, principals will now make tenure recommendations based on such performance benchmarks as classroom preparation and student feedback.
“We can’t afford to squander the highest honor we can bestow–of guaranteed lifetime employment–on those not worthy,” said Deputy Chancellor Eric Nadelstern.
The changes–and the comments that accompanied them–drew a quick rebuttal from the city’s teachers union, which accused the department of ignoring real problems.…Read More