Haddonfield Teacher's Official Pans Tenure Proposal

The acting education commissioner unveiled a plan this afternoon that would revamp tenure for public school teachers, requiring them to meet a set of performance standards.

In a speech at the Lewis Library at Princeton University, Christopher Cerf called for “demonstrated student learning” to be part of the tenure process, along with yearly evaluations and a plan to strip tenure from teachers who are not meeting requirements.

Under the proposal, teachers rated effective or highly effective for three years consecutive years would be granted tenure. Teachers would lose tenure if they failed to meet requirements for two consecutive years.

 Tenure is a set of legal protections that kick in when a teacher starts his or her fourth year with a school district.

The proposal is expected to go the state Legislature in March.

But the co-president of the Haddonfield Education Association, a union representing teachers in the borough's five schools, wasn't waiting for the Legislature to weigh in.

"I think the governor is going to dismantle wonderful educational facilities in New Jersey," said Sharon Stokes, a teacher at Haddonfield Memorial High School and co-president of the local contract-bargaining unit. "If he would take the time to sit down with public school teachers maybe he would have a better idea of what is needed."

Stokes said Haddonfield school administrators do get it. She said the district has programs in place to critically evaluate teachers and provide improvement and enrichment programs.

But the plan laid out by Trenton Wednesday has a different focus.

“The effectiveness of the teacher in front of the class is the best way to determine how children learn,” Cerf said. “This alone is more important than the class size, or books we choose.”

 tep one toward changing the system would be implementing evaluations, which would include yearly updates that are completely based on student learning, including test scores and other measurements.

Progress would be measured primarily on how much growth is seen in learning, regardless of the starting point.

"The methodology of effective teaching is something to be awarded. Merely withstanding the test of time, or in New Jersey’s tenured teachers’ cases, three years and one day, shouldn’t necessarily guarantee you lifetime job security," he said.

Cerf said the proposed legislation “does everything in its power to retain those achieving success and get rid of those who aren’t,” and that the proposed legislation is not “trying to bash teachers for our education’s failure.”

Instead, Cerf said that the proposal is very “pro-teacher,” and that excellence in the classroom should be emphasized.

Stokes said she thinks Cerf and Gov. Christie are on the wrong track.

"He completely circumvents the public school employees," she said of Christie.

The proposal also calls for an end to seniority in layoff decisions. Under current law, districts making staff cuts are required to lay off the most junior educators.

“Our proposal would be to fix this, and these decisions would be made on demonstrated effectiveness,” Cerf said.

Compensation also could be affected, he said, with raises being tied to student learning.

He said re-evaluating how teachers achieve tenure should be a bipartisan issue.

“Are we politically too timid to give our children the best chance in life through an effective public school education?” he asked.

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