The Colorado State Board of Education last week voted unanimously in support of a proposed teacher-tenure reform bill now working its way through the state legislature. The bill “would change the way teachers are evaluated and allow teachers to be stripped of their tenure if they fail to meet performance standards heavily weighted by student academic growth data.”
A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds that 47% of likely Colorado voters agree that this is how tenure should be determined. But nearly as many (42%) would prefer to see tenure based on other factors, including principal evaluations.
Governor Bill Ritter and many legislators are pushing their new tenure requirements in a bid for millions of dollars in new federal education money. But the state teachers' union, the Colorado Education Association, opposes it
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Men are more inclined to base tenure on student academics performance, while women are evenly divided on the question.
Fifty-nine percent (59%) of conservative voters strongly favor the new tenure proposal, while 62% of liberals oppose it.
Sixty-four percent (64%) of Republicans support basing tenure more on student
