Effects of 'Mutual Consent' on Teacher Turnover, Distribution Probed
Over the long haul, mutual-consent teacher policies don't appear to improve the distribution of inexperienced teachers—or the levels of turnover in high-minority schools.
That's the conclusion of a recent analysis by researchers at the Center on Reinventing Public Education at the University of Washington.
If you're new to this wonky area of school hiring, mutual consent is a policy in which both the teacher seeking a placement and the receiving school's principal (and sometimes other staff) must agree to the placement. It differs from voluntary transfers or forced placements that are based on seniority.
D.C., Rhode Island; Colorado; Austin, Texas; Chicago; and Milwaukee are some of the places that have either partly or totally done away with forced placements.
One of the perceived benefits of mutual-consent policies, as the New Teacher Project has shown in several