Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Education Week Teacher: Unexpected Benefits: A Defense of Teacher Tenure

Education Week Teacher: Unexpected Benefits: A Defense of Teacher Tenure:

Unexpected Benefits: A Defense of Teacher Tenure

Premium article access courtesy of TeacherMagazine.org.

There has been a lot of talk in the media lately about improving the quality of public school teachers. Much of that talk has focused on somehow enhancing the compensation of effective teachers while doing away with tenure. Let's face it, though: considering the current fiscal situation, meaningful salary increases for teachers are bound to remain mere rhetorical tools for years to come. So, what's left seems to be an effort to improve quality of the teaching workforce by taking away one of its central benefits: tenure.

I believe that, in order to attract and retain better teachers, the tenure system should be expanded, not taken away. States