Angela Hutchinson

Teacher Tenure Debate

November 6, 2014
Teacher Tenure Debate
There are several core issues in the article Taking on Teacher Tenure by Haley Sweetland
Edwards. The first issue that I observed in this article was the fact that business owners and
billionaire were the individuals leading this tenure protest. In my opinion, these individuals are
not in the classrooms on a daily basis. So, they base their observations on test scores. These
individuals fail to realize that there are other factors can have an impact on how students learn in
the classroom, such as: (1) the time of day, (2) student distractibility, (3) class size, and/or (4)
affected by poverty and violence. This leads to the next issue. According to this article, a teacher
is being labeled good or bad by the how well his/her students fair on the standardized test.
Thomas Kane lead a three year study that guided him to the following conclusion, that a bad
teacher, as measured by his or her students test scores, could set a students educational progress
back by 9.54 months (p. 38). I agree that standardized tests are needed, but these tests should
be used to determine a teachers ability to teach. In the same manner, these tests should not
determine whether the students are promoted to the next grade or retained. These tests should be
a tool for teachers, not a burden to them. Teachers can use these tests to observe how well their
students are retaining the information that is being presented. If a student is struggling then the
teacher can use the students test to determine where the academic issue(s) exist, so the student
can receive ample assistance.
This article should be upsetting to teachers, because not one teacher had a voice in this
article. It states in the article that this issue was not placed on a ballot to be voted on, but was

discussed behind closed doors and at the courthouse (p. 36). I believe that has to do with the fact
that it is the business owners and billionaires that are trying to control how teachers are being
evaluated. These tenure activists feel that if the students are failing their tests, then the teacher is
not doing his/her job. More than likely, many of these individuals have never been in a public
school classroom setting to observe what happens on a daily basis and the issues that arise. In
my opinion, most of these individuals are only concerned with are the test scores that their
children are receiving, and not focusing on the daily accomplishments that are being made in the
classrooms. Teaching tenure was originally adopted was to prevent a teacher from being fired
due to his/her political beliefs, religious beliefs, or for absolutely no reason at all. Many teachers
are afraid that if tenure is thrown out, then they will be replaced with teachers with less
experience that are willing to receive less pay. Plus, teachers should be concerned about their
present abilities to voice their opinions about educational issues. With tenure, teachers are able to
voice their opinion without the fear of being dismissed. The individuals that support the cause in
this article have been donating monies to certain educational funds. My question is, why are we
throwing this money away by producing more tests and procedures? Shouldnt these funds be
distributed to the schools to use for better programs to work with the students hands-on?
I can relate to both of the point of views that have been presented in this article. I agree
that teachers should be held accountable for their students education and need to be evaluated,
but I do not agree that standardized test scores should be the determining factor. I am not
opposed to standardized testing, if it is used appropriately. I also agree that education
administration should be able to release a teacher if he/she is not doing his/her job to educate the
students in a satisfactory manner. There are bad teachers out there that should not be in a
classroom, which means that the appropriate steps should be made for the teacher to either

improve his/her skills or be dismissed. Safeguards should be made to protect the students
educational well-being if the teacher is performing poorly in his/her duties. A student deserves
the right to a fair and equal education, and a teacher deserves the right to be evaluated on his/her
overall effectiveness in the classroom. Neither the student, nor the teacher should be solely
evaluated in standardized test scores. Personally, I believe tenure is a seniority system. These
types of systems were designed to be used in the workforce for factories and other laborious
jobs, not professional positions. Teaching is a profession that deals with individual lives, just like
doctors and lawyers. Teachers are not supposed to just sit back and watch their students move
down an assembly line from one lesson to another. As teachers, we are building lives and making
a difference in the world of education, not just pushing out a product for sale.

Works Cited
Edwards, H. S. (2014, October). Taking on Tenure. Time, pp. 36-39.