NJEA plans to fight Christie on eliminating teacher tenure
Posted: Wednesday, January 12, 2011 7:45 pm
The New Jersey Education Association, while admitting changes are needed, stands ready to fight for teacher tenure, the core job protection it says has helped make New Jersey's schools among the best in the nation.
But on Tuesday, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie called for its elimination, saying tenure has become a handicap to providing children with a quality education.
"Teaching can no longer be the only profession where you have no rewards for excellence and no consequences for failure to perform," Christie said in his State of the State speech. "The time to eliminate tenure is now."
A report released Tuesday contains material that supports both claims.
The annual "Quality Counts" report by Education Week ranks New Jersey's education system seventh in the nation, with a grade of B-minus. The national average was a C. New Jersey got high marks for providing public preschool, decent funding and having a high percentage of students graduate high school and go on to college.
But the state got its lowest grades in the "teaching profession" category, earning a C for its accountability for teacher quality and evaluation, and an F for incentives such as merit pay for high performance, or bonuses for