Hidden Cost Of Tenure Honored
- on 06.24.06
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The Hidden Cost of Tenure was a great piece of reporting by Scott Reeder, capital bureau chief for the Small Newspaper Group. This has been recognized and rewarded with Scott winning the $10,000 Clark Mollenhoff Award for Excellence in Investigative Reporting. Congratulations Scott. (Hat tip: Peoria Pundit)
For those of you who did not read the stories, please do so. It completely shatters the myth that bad teachers can be fired. The study showed on average of only 2 teachers per year are fired for per performance out of the 95,500 tenured teachers in Illinois.
Public Government school teacher unions and its supporters love to claim that private schools do not have to accept all comers while they do. They claim this is the reason why their students scores are not as good those of private schoolers. After this report it appears the real reason is that bad teachers can’t be fired thus continuing to teach our children. This is just one of the myriad of reasons why Public Government schools are not producing the same quality of education as private schoolers.
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Despite denials from the state’s two major teacher unions, the data indicates that tenure has evolved into near total job protection that mocks the goal of accountability. The greatest abuses of this system are often in the poorest school districts. |
After this report, there was legislation introduced to change this. Of course this did not pass. The education bureaucracy is very strong with an eye toward self preservation instead of what is best for our children.
Here are direct links to the stories from the Hidden Cost of Tenure series:
- Tenure frustrates drive for teacher accountability
Combine teacher tenure, softball evaluations and a reluctance to use remediation with underperforming teachers and you get a dysfunctional system. Kids are paying the price. - School boards lose power to fire poor teachers
Procedure trumps everything when a school attempts to dismiss an incompetent teacher. The slightest error on any of the many forms to be followed can result in a problem teacher remaining in the classroom. - Firing Mr. Roth: $400,000 and counting
Firing Cecil Roth has cost Geneseo schools more than $400,000, and counting. The case illustrates why administrators fear dismissing tenured teachers. - Impact of poor teachers cripples students for years
A single weak teacher can have a devastating affect on a student’s academic progress. One expert says a bad teacher can actually reverse academic abilities. - Student pregnant, DNA points to assistant principal; no firing
A 14-year-old pregnant, and a DNA test indicates 99 per cent probability the father is an assistant principal at her school. But an attempt to fire him fails. - High cost of firing teachers deters action by schools
School adminstrators’ reluctance to accurately evaluate teachers makes dismissing bad teachers more difficult. 20 years worth of Cecil Roth’s evaluations illustrates the impact. - ‘Diplomacy’ undermines teacher evaluations
Diplomatic evaluations mean most all teachers get the “excellent” rating they’ve come to expect in any circumstance. This ritualistic process undermines the intent of the Legislature when it mandated teacher evaluations in 1985. - Remediation falls short of ‘85 legislative intent
Remediation, seen by legislators in 1985 as a tool for improving mediocre teachers, is a seldom used tool. It’s also less effective than anticipated. - Teacher unions’ clout keeps tenure strong
Influential unions squeeze ever-more complex procedures for firing teachers out of the Legislature. School boards routinely add similarly complex procedures to local contracts. - Local influence adds to teacher-union power
Politicking at the local level shows influence of teachers’ unions at its peak. In the generally low-profile school board elections, word-of-mouth campaigning by teachers often determines results. - Schools resort to secret buyouts to get rid of teachers
Frustrated by procedural hoops and the high costs of dismissing a poor teacher, schools sometimes resort to buyouts rather than outright firings. They then try to hide that cost from public view. - An editorial: Time to quit hiding costs of tenure
With the information now in hand, it’s possible to see what needs to be done. A grand trade is proposed.
An example of how hard is to fire a teacher here in Graylsake occurred this past year. In December, they were dismissed:
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There was 1 item from the personnel report. A resolution was read and approved to dismiss a tenured teacher. The resolution stated a remediation plan was established 4/25/2005 that was to be completed in 90 school days. The improvement plan was not completed satisfactorily as shown by the teacher’s review on 12/15/2005. |
In January, they were rehired:
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Special – Rescind Teacher 2005A Dismissal – Approved |
Site Admin states:
“Public Government school teacher unions and its supporters love to claim that private schools do not have to accept all comers while they do. They claim this is the reason why their students scores are not as good those of private schoolers. After this report it appears the real reason is that bad teachers can’t be fired thus continuing to teach our children.”
A little disjointed, but follow his advocation & link to the right at:
http://westlakechristian.org/AdmPAndP.htm
to see the following contradiction from the WCA:
No student will be admitted who:
Shows extremely low academic performance as indicated by a standardized testing program, report cards or the WCA Admissions Assessment Test.
Has failed the most recent grade level prior to application.
Has a “present history” of emotional or disciplinary problems.
Has been suspended or expelled.
Has a court record.
Comes from a non-Christian home – a Christian home being defined as: a home where one or both parents have received Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. (1 Cor. 7: 14)
Has an identified or probable L.D. beyond our scope of expertise.
NOTE: We have a deep concern that every Christian child have an opportunity to have a Christian education, but at our present stage of development, we are unable to commit to meet the needs of all students.
If this makes it to post, it will not be directly addressed. See this:
http://educationmatters.us/?p=576
Private schools, like Westlake, must teach better to compete in the free market with parents. To accomplish this, they are free to fire bad teachers and keep only the best teachers. This gives them the ability to teach students better.
Government schools on the other hand have a problem hiring bad teachers. This leaves their students at a disadvantage to those being taught in Private schools. This is a breakdown in the system that causes many parents to abandon the government schools moving their kids to private schools or home schools.
Government schools are failing our children by this allowing the teachers’ unions to make tenure nearly total job protection. Your attacks on Westlake are misplaced. You should be attacking the real problem within the government schools.
Julie said, “When a policy is exclusionary, it is discriminatory. When a policy is exclusionary, it limits diversity. The explanation of “who these kids are†is not the issue; who they aren’t is very clear. Read WCA’s admission policy.”
I have asked this before, but I’ll ask again since you seem to avoid answering it. What do you mean by diversity?
I am also assuming by your statement of private schools being exclusionary is discriminating, you are saying exactly what I claimed you were going to say, i.e. “Government school teacher unions and its supporters love to claim that private schools do not have to accept all comers while they do.” If that is not correct, please explain further. I believe you will have the same argument against Charter Schools. They are public schools and thus also help the government school averages. Is that acceptable to you in testing?
It appears more likely that anything that points to a problem with the education with the government schools, it has to be opposed. A criterion has to be created to make it impossible to compare the 2. This is how bureaucracies work.
Remember the $200 hammers, the $100 screws. These are all examples of how bureaucracy creates definitions/mandates to ensure the results they want and that no adequate comparison can ever be made to question there decision.
With your descriptions about government schools having to accept all students, you have to realize that they have to accept all tenured teachers as well. The students they accept are not the problem, it’s the bad teachers that can’t be fired that are the problem.
Site admin said (in red)
"Your attacks on Westlake are misplaced. You should
be attacking the real problem within the government schools."
Where did I attack the WCA? I merely stated their admission policy was
selective. And well it can be. I have no quarrel with that. But to
compare the test scores of an all-inclusive National Average to those of a
significantly selective institution and claim it means anything other that the
obvious is an insult to conventional wisdom.
"I have asked this before, but I’ll ask again since
you seem to avoid answering it. What do you mean by diversity? "
Asked and answered. I won’t take your bait to make it racial, because it
isn’t. I’ll repeat: When a policy is exclusionary, it limits
diversity. The explanation of “who these kids are†is not the
issue; "who they aren’t" is very clear. Read the WCA’s
admission
policy.
"I am also assuming by your statement of private
schools being exclusionary is discriminating, you are saying exactly what I
claimed you were going to say, i.e. “Government school teacher unions and its
supporters love to claim that private schools do not have to accept all comers
while they do.â€
It’s your blog, so I guess you can assume anything you like. What I
said, over and over and over and over is: Who cares how the private school
compares to the national average if you’ve chosen to abandon the national
enterprise? Concern yourself with the comparison of your options; i.e. the
sample of schools whose selective admission policies will allow your children to
attend. I never said anything about unions or supporting unions, but it is
true that government schools have to admit all while the WCA can be extremely
selective; their right and I defend it…not attack it.
Julie said, “Who cares how the private school compares to the national average if you’ve chosen to abandon the national enterprise?”
The education of all our kids is important. That is why we all should care if government schools are failing to educate our children.
A comparison is in order if one entity produces significantly higher results than the failing entity. This is the way business works; find a successful business and determine best practices then follow them. These best practices can translate into improved performance for the failing entity.
On the other hand, if you only compare one failing entity to another failing entity to see who is doing better, you have accomplished nothing. It’s like finding out who is the soberest drunk in the bar.
You’ve yet to prove that private enterprise can do better with the same sample; only with one that’s highly filtered for success.
Bad teachers lead to lower test scores.
Good teachers lead to higher test scores.
Scott Reeder proved bad teachers can’t be fired from government schools leaving bad teachers to teach the children.
Private schools can fire bad teachers leading to better teachers teaching the children.
The logic is simple. The test scores reflect this reality.
Pretty shallow argument; I think there’s a whole lot more to tests scores than good or bad teachers (not that a hearty discussion of good and bad teachers isn’t warranted). Additionally, the test scores prove no such thing, logically or otherwise. But this never was about the “scores”.
So back (once again) to your original premise and the question I ask that goes unanswered over and over and over and over:
You’ve yet to prove that private enterprise can do better with the same sample; only with one that’s highly filtered for success.
It appears as stated before that no comparison will ever be good enough for government education supporters. If that is incorrect, the please tell us what measurement you would like to see used?
Why its not just incorrect, its absurd!
National Scores Versus ACSI Scores
That was your premise.
Take the National score and subtract:
Any student with extremely low academic performance.
Any student that has failed the most recent grade level.
Any student that has a “present history†of emotional or disciplinary problems.
Any student that has been suspended or expelled.
Any student that has a court record.
Any student that has an identified or probable L.D. (I like that one…”probable” L.D. That’s not too subjective, is it?)
Compare the result to the ACSI school you provided as an example.
If the WCA still comes out 30% better as you say it would, that would support your argument.
Julie,
As stated in the post about the ASCI Scores originally, you talk about making it apples to apples. As stated above you point out ways to make both fields apple to apples… but it is all one sided.
Let’s talk about government (which really means yours and my) funding and staff that private education does not have.
Julie, you didn’t answer my questions from the ACSI Scores post. I will re-post them for the third time now. Please answer.
From the ACSI Scores post:
“As it stands now even with its financial handicaps… “apples to bananasâ€â€¦ private schools are out performing government schools. But being a private school user yourself, you know that and I’m wondering why we are here discussing this? Are you dissatisfied with your private school or is this about something bigger?…
…I have some questions, Julie. When you have a challenged student in government school, do they have an Aid that is assigned to them? How many cases can one Aid take? If it depends on the case, break that down for me, please. What if a child is excelling way beyond their years… what would d46 (assuming that you are from d46) do with them? What if they are just really good at Language and normal to challenged in other areas. Then what would they do?â€
I also have a new additional question.
Would public schools be WILLING to separate those scores from your mentioned above to compare? My good guess would be NO! Why? It is their leg to always fall back on as you are using now. Until they do that… your aguement is pure speculation.
From a very recent study comparing public to private schools:
A summary:
http://www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/dn/education/columnists/jbenton/stories/062705dnmetedcol.4b6a3351.html
An abstract and the study itself:
http://www.ncspe.org/readrel.php?set=pub&cat=126
Nan…
Can’t be… must be a racial thing…