This study examined the perceptions of US school principals toward one US state's revamped teacher tenure law and how principals perceived that the law affected their ability to evaluate and retain effective teachers. Principal interviews indicated the law had a positive impact on their ability to evaluate and retain effective teachers despite…

Personnel evaluation systems have historically failed to identify and remediate low-performing teachers. In 2012, Chicago Public Schools implemented an evaluation system that incorporated remediation and dismissal plans for low-rated teachers. Regression discontinuity estimates indicate that the evaluation reform increased the exit of low-rated…

Teacher turnover in urban high-poverty schools is detrimental to students' achievement. In fact, one of the most prevalent social justice issues today is the unequal distribution of experienced teachers to urban high-poverty schools. Researchers suggest that experienced teachers are more effective at raising student performance than new or early…

Tenure is intended to protect teachers with demonstrated teaching skills against arbitrary or capricious dismissal. Critics of typical tenure processes argue that tenure assessments are superficial and rarely discern whether teachers in fact have the requisite teaching skills. A recent reform of the tenure process in New York City provides an…

Reductions in student performance and increased non-instructional costs have been found to be direct results of high teacher turnover. In one district in the southern United States, the teacher turnover rate was almost 3 times the state average, prompting administrators to adjust local policies and procedures. The purpose of this project study was…

This paper analyzes a 2002 policy change in Florida allowing teachers to choose between a traditional defined benefit pension plan and a 401k-style defined contribution plan. The authors were able to track who chose which plan, what subject they taught, how effective they were in the classroom, how long they remained teaching, and whether the…

Teacher pension systems concentrate retirements within a narrow range of the career cycle by penalizing individuals who separate too soon or remain employed too long. The penalties result in the retention of some teachers who would otherwise choose to leave, and the premature exit of some teachers who would otherwise choose to stay. We examine the…

Thanks to increasingly meaningful teacher evaluations, the nation knows far more than ever about the effectiveness of teachers in public school classrooms. What should states, districts, and schools do with that knowledge? In policy debates, much of the attention has focused on teachers at the "ineffective" end of the spectrum. With better teacher…

Many theories, methods, and practices are utilized to evaluate teachers with the intention of determining teacher effectiveness to better inform decisions about retention, tenure, certification and performance-based pay. In the 21st century there has been a renewed emphasis on teacher evaluation in public schools, largely due to federal "Race…

Criteria for retaining or firing a highly qualified faculty in higher education in many cases are vague and unclear. This situation is neither a comfortable, nor a healthy, both for the faculty and the administration. Stakeholders have enough reason to blame each other in the absence of transparent mechanism. This paper proposes a transparent…

Fueled in part by the U.S. Department of Education's Race to the Top program, a massive effort to overhaul teacher evaluation is underway in states and districts across the country. The aim is to ensure that evaluations provide a better indication of "teaching effectiveness," or the extent to which teachers can and do contribute to…

The research is clear: teachers are the most important factor in raising student achievement in schools. If Connecticut is serious about closing our worst-in-the-nation achievement gap and raising academic performance for all students, there must be an excellent teacher in every classroom. Connecticut's budget crisis will likely lead to widespread…

This paper describes an innovative approach to retaining happy and healthy faculty members in a collegial, productive teaching and learning environment. A major portion of the paper shares how the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning plays a significant role in the faculty interview process, new faculty orientation, and subsequent mentoring of…

Education reformers routinely call on school districts to stop hiring teachers based on seniority, which they argue interferes with effective staffing, especially in disadvantaged schools. The few researchers who have empirically studied the issue, however, disagree about whether seniority-based hiring is systematically associated with staffing…

Staffing each classroom with an effective teacher is the most important function of a school district. Doing so requires strategic personnel policies and smart practices. This analysis reviews the Seattle Public Schools' teacher policies linked most directly to teacher effectiveness. Ten policy goals frame the analysis. Each of these goals is…