Christie's Sweeping Teacher Tenure Reforms

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has outlined a package of education reforms designed to challenge the status quo by finally prioritizing the needs of New Jersey’s children above all else. The Christie Education Reform Agenda is a series of proposals that demands the most effective education workforce, creates career ready graduates by imposing higher standards, and provides room for innovation and human connections in teaching. While each element of the Governor’s reform plan is critically important to ensure failure no longer runs rampant in public schools across New Jersey, the largest piece focuses on developing, evaluating and rewarding New Jersey’s teachers. Teachers are vital to the success of every child and deserve a system that gives them the ability and the environment with which to do their best job.

Governor Christie’s proposals tackle the system from the top-down to reform a system that has been failing too many of our children for too long.

Dramatically Reforming the Tenure System to Ensure Fairness and Effectiveness.   Research tells us -- and everyone agrees -- that the effectiveness of the teacher in the classroom is the most important variable in determining how well children learn. As with any organization looking to maximize success, it is critical to recruit the very best, ensure they are performing effectively with the right training and support, evaluate performance, and retain and reward those who are succeeding, while making tough decisions regarding the few who are not. The Governor’s tenure reform plan eliminates the tenure system in its current form in order to ensure fairness and effectiveness, while focusing on children’s success in the classroom. Teachers are the most important part of the public school equation, which is why replacing and reforming failed, antiquated tenure rules will serve to support and reward teachers.

·         Multiple Measures Approach to Teacher Evaluations.  Teaching is a complicated profession and determining the effectiveness of any teacher can be a challenge. For this reason, the Christie proposal embraces the multiple measures approach so that no teacher is assessed based on a single test score. Fifty percent of a teacher’s evaluation would be based on measurers of student achievement, while the other half would be base on measures of teacher practice – proven indicators of student success in the classroom. Additionally, the Christie proposal would require that all teachers be evaluated annually and that the evaluation systems have four categories ranging from highly effective to ineffective.

o   Measures of Student Achievement Recognizing the Importance and Limitations of Test Scores.  Fifty percent of a teacher’s overall evaluation should be based on direct measures of student achievement as demonstrated by assessments and other evaluations of student work. This would be compromised of two required components and one optional component. The largest required component would be an individual teacher’s contribution to his or her students’ progress on a statewide assessment. However, the other required component would take into consideration other factors that impact a student’s growth, including school-wide performance and specific student circumstances. Additionally, districts would be permitted to choose one or more optional measures of student achievement from a list of state-approved measures. Such measures might include student performance on nationally-normed assessments or State-mandated end-of-course tests.

o   Measures of Teacher Practice Based on Clear Standards and Classroom Observations. The measures of teacher practice will be based on clear performance standards that define effective teaching to help measure educational practice and improvement. Additionally, evaluations will also be based on teacher observations to ensure that the innovation and creativity a teacher employs in the classroom is considered.

o   Opportunity to Improve and Receive Training.  Struggling teachers would be provided meaningful opportunity to improve before receiving an ineffective rating. Similarly, the proposal would require that districts take action to ensure that teachers understand the new evaluation system and that administrators receive the training needed to ensure effective implementation. Key parameters would be mandatory and the framework would be excluded from the scope of collective bargaining so the process cannot be weakened over time.

·         Achieving and Losing Tenure Based on Performance. How and whether a teacher keeps the protections of tenure depends on whether the teacher is effective in advancing student learning. Tenure will no longer be granted simply as a result of the passage of time, but on the basis of what should matter – whether students are learning.

o   Using the multiple measures approach to teacher evaluations, if a teacher is rated effective or highly effective for three consecutive years, he/she will be awarded tenure - whether at the end of the fourth year or the 14th.

o   If a teacher is rated ineffective or for two consecutive years partially effective, he/she will revert to non-tenured status. This does not mean the teacher in question will necessarily lose his or her job, but simply that he/she no longer would enjoy the protections afforded by tenure.

o   Additionally, the process for challenging these judgments will be expedited and much more rational. Most importantly, cases will need to be resolved within 30 days of being filed. No longer will delays result in proceedings that last longer than many criminal trials, languishing for months and even years.

·         Protecting Good Teachers By Fixing the Last In, First Out Rule.  Under current law, districts are required to lay off the most junior educators to protect those with seniority. These decisions are made with absolutely no consideration given to effectiveness which means a superior third-year teacher must be dismissed before a highly ineffective 10th year teacher. This is bad for New Jersey’s children, bad for parents and bad for the teaching profession. The Christie proposal would fix this flaw by providing that these decisions be made on the basis of demonstrated effectiveness, not seniority.

·         Ending Forced Placement of Teachers.  Under this practice, teachers are assigned to a school whether or not the principal wants them to join the faculty – and often whether or not the teacher believes it is a good fit for him or her. Districts typically force teachers into another school if downsizing has occurred regardless of whether there is a need or a good match. The Christie proposal would end this practice so that no teacher would be assigned to a school in the absence of mutual consent. If a teacher loses his or her job because the position is eliminated, her school is closed, or her program is phased out, she will retain employment rights and her district will assist in securing the teacher a position in another school. If that teacher is unable to find a district teaching position on the basis of mutual consent within a year, she will be put on unpaid leave.

Reforming the Compensation System to Reward Qualified and Effective Teachers. New Jersey needs to attract and retain effective teachers, especially in New Jersey’s most challenging schools and districts. Yet, today, teacher compensation is determined by years of service or degree and credit accumulation, neither of which accurately measures a teacher’s effectiveness in the classroom. Further, many current collective bargaining contracts stand in the way of efforts to reward teachers who are getting results for students or working in challenging environments. Governor Christie’s proposal turns the current system inside-out and finally puts effective, quality teaching ahead of seniority and lackluster results:

·         Prohibiting salary schedules or compensation policies that are based on seniority;

·         Prohibiting the use of graduate degree accumulation as a basis, in and of itself, for salary increases, except in areas where graduate degrees have proven to be effective markers of improved teacher performance such as math and science;

·         Granting schools and districts the flexibility to reward excellence in the classroom and to attract high-quality teachers to low-performing schools or hard-to-fill positions.

Expanding Opportunities for Great Teachers to Succeed.  Governor Christie’s proposal recognizes that teachers need to be given development opportunities that drive success in the classroom. Presently, the primary way for a teacher to achieve higher compensation outside of the seniority-based salary guide is to receive graduate credits or to follow a lengthy, cumbersome path to becoming a principal or administrator. Teachers who are innovating and getting results, but wish to stay in the classroom, are given few opportunities to advance professionally.

·         Establishing New Credentials and Career Ladders.  With the designations of “Master Teacher” and “Master Principal,” these new credentials will provide the opportunity for highly effective teachers to utilize their skills and experience in a variety of additional ways, including mentoring, professional development of peers, or founding a charter school.

·         Expanding Opportunities to Receive Updated Certification.  This plan will increase the number of alternate route programs for principals and update certification requirements to align with the attainment of skills needed to be an effective leader.

·         Ensuring Our Children Have Well-Prepared Teachers.  Teacher preparation remains a national problem, but is especially serious in New Jersey’s teacher preparation programs. A 2009 study by the well-respected National Council on Teacher Quality gave New Jersey a grade of D for teacher preparation. Elementary teachers who do not possess a minimum knowledge of the subject matter continue to receive teaching certificates. Mandating that K-5 and PreK-3 grade teacher preparation programs administer tests in the science of reading and math knowledge, in addition to the Praxis test, as a requirement for teacher certification.