For those of you who don't know, Michigan legislators passed major "reforms" in the teacher tenure law on June 30, 2011. It hasn't been signed into law yet, but Republican Governor Rick Snyder is sure to do so.
This four bill package that was passed increases the length of time it takes to be granted tenure in Michigan from four years to five. It also allows for a probationary teacher to be let go at any time for any reason. It also changes the language regarding firing a tenured teacher for a "reasonable and just cause" to one that is not "arbitrary and capricious." Basically, a teacher is guilty until proven innocent instead of the other way around. "Not arbitrary and capricious" is the lowest standard, but the legislators argued that it was the middle standard, with "reasonable and just cause" being the highest standard. These legislators claim that most employees are "at will," which really is no standard at all.
Also in this bill package is a "mutual consent" rule which requires that both the principal and the teacher agree on the placement of the teacher. You may feel that this is not a big deal, but picture the following scenario: I have been teaching 12th grade English for 10 years and all of a sudden my principal wants me to teach 6th grade English. I am certified and qualified to do so, but will I excel at it? If I don't agree, I can be placed on unpaid leave until I do. So now, principals can place teachers in areas where they are certified, but maybe not best suited to be teaching. The students' test scores will count as part of that teacher's evaluation (more on that later), so if a principal wants to evaluate out a teacher, all he/she needs to do now is to place him/her into a position where he/she is likely to to struggle.
Next is the teacher evaluation piece. The legislators didn't really want to hammer out a complicated evaluation system in this bill, so they just came up with the idea of creating a governor's council to decide the particulars. What they DO want, however, is an increasing percentage of student test data to be used as part of a teacher's evaluation. By the year 2015, 49% of a teacher's evaluation will be based on student test data (what they call student "growth" data). Nothing like putting the cart before the horse! Really, I'm sure that legislators have been told that they really don't need to worry about a teacher evaluation system because there are already so many out there to choose. My biggest fear is that they will choose a really bad one such as Michelle Rhee's IMPACT. Here's an analysis from someone objective about that one. Another system that has been used here in Michigan is the Oscoda System. It is a merit pay system that also uses student test data as a portion of a teacher's evaluation. In this document, the administration actually admits that money is not a good motivator at all times for teachers.
I contacted via e-mail the head of the Michigan House Education Committee, Representative Paul Scott, about the evaluation system. I was under the impression (mistakenly) that the Education Committee was going to work on some of the particulars of it over the summer. I received a response back from one of his staff members (I'm sure Rep. Scott was really busy) that advised me that the governor's council has not even been named yet, but when it is, maybe the information I have would be better served if I shared it with them instead of Rep. Scott. So, the head of the House Education Committee doesn't really want any teacher input.
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