No Bad Teachers Left Behind In California
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Education, LegislationI have to hand to Arnold. He seems to be making some very sound decisions recently, and this latest piece of legislation is no exception. Basically, it keeps poorly performing teachers from being able to slip through the cracks in the system.
(09-29) 04:00 PDT Sacramento — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill Thursday to end the so-called dance of the lemons in which unsuccessful teachers move from one low-performing school to another and principals are powerless to stop it. [...]SB1655 authored by Sen. Jack Scott, D-Altadena, will give school principals the flexibility to reject a voluntary transfer of a teacher and change hiring deadlines so that promising new teachers can be hired earlier.
Currently, principals must give teachers seeking a transfer first priority for any open positions, even if they are not performing well.
Now, of course the teacher’s unions don’t like this, but it’s ridiculous to keep bad teachers in the system if they’re failing the students. The unions argue it’s not the teachers’ fault, and while that may be true in some cases, it has to also be true that there are simply bad teachers who aren’t doing a good job.
So if you kick some teachers out, who do you replace them with? Well, check out the other piece of legislation Schrawenegger signed. Basically, make it attractive for the good to replace the bad.
Now, that’s not what the following says the bill would be doing, but that’s certainly going to be one of the effects.
Another Scott bill signed by Schwarzenegger, SB1209, is aimed at overcoming the challenge of losing 100,000 California teachers to retirement over the next decade.Specifically, the bill makes it easier for out-of-state teachers to become credentialed here and enhances mentoring programs by providing a $6,000 stipend to veteran teachers who mentor new teachers in low-performing schools.
Make it easier for outside talent to move in? Paying teachers more? Until I hear some compelling arguments why these aren’t good ideas, I’m giving it a hardy thumbs up. Well done.
This entry was posted on Sunday, October 1st, 2006 and is filed under Education, Legislation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
October 1st, 2006 at 9:59 pm
I’m a teacher in a public hs in SC and the education “problem” has three parts that have to be addressed. One is teacher quality - we’ve got sucky teachers all the time who need to be removed but the process is long, protracted and ultimately ineffectual (because its so rare!). Plus - whose going to take their place?
The other two problems are administration (too big, too bureaucratic, too inefficient yet the haven of hundreds of overpayed politcial appointees and syncophants) and parents (lazy, hypocritical, criminal in some cases and out of touch in most with no accountability for their part in the education of their children).
We get a handle on those three things and we might start getting real results - I applaud Arnold (or anyone) who makes a stab at it!
October 2nd, 2006 at 11:22 am
“we’ve got sucky teachers all the time who need to be removed but the process is long, protracted and ultimately ineffectual (because its so rare!). Plus - whose going to take their place?”
ummm… No offense Eural, but I hope you’re not an English teacher.
:)
October 2nd, 2006 at 1:01 pm
So a Democratic senator authors the bills, and a heavily Democratic Senate and Assembly pass them, but Schwartzenegger gets credit for a “sound decision” because he signed it?