Find the Latest Resources in Education Today
U.S. public wants an easier way to fire bad teachers
However, only a third of Americans blame teachers for the struggles of public schools
Seven in 10 say it should be easier to fire principals.
An overwhelming majority of Americans are frustrated that it’s too difficult to get rid of bad teachers, while most also believe that teachers aren’t paid enough, a new poll shows.
The Associated Press-Stanford University poll found that 78 percent of respondents think it should be easier for school administrators to fire poorly performing teachers.
Yet overall, the public wants to reward teachers—57 percent say they are paid too little, with just 7 percent believing they are overpaid and most of the rest saying they’re paid about right.
School districts have struggled for years over how to keep good teachers. This has led to controversial techniques like using standardized test scores to measure how much a student has learned in a teacher’s class.
Some districts, like New York City schools, are considering making the data public so parents know how teachers rate.
The Los Angeles school district announced in late August it would adopt such a model to assess teacher performance. Unions have fought against the release of such data, saying it’s an unproven methodology that doesn’t truly reflect how a teacher is performing in the classroom.
For the latest in school reform news and information, see our new school-reform center at eSN Online:
Beyond Superman: Leading Responsible School Reform
Recent school reform headlines include:
730 U.S. schools trying to reinvent themselves
Panel: Remove barriers to digital learning
Carmen Williams, 53, an office manager from Yates City, Ill., said the issue is simple: Pay teachers more and get rid of the bad ones.
“Good teachers are hard to find, and one of the reasons they are hard to find is because they’re not paid enough to support themselves, especially if they have a family,” she said. “There are very good teachers out there, but there comes a day when they need to retire and they don’t, and what happens at that point is the kids suffer.”
It’s not just bad teachers whom people want set loose. Nearly as many in the AP-Stanford poll—71 percent—say it should be easier to fire principals at schools where students are performing poorly.
5 Responses to U.S. public wants an easier way to fire bad teachers
You must be logged in to post a comment Login
Jessica Reeves
December 15, 2010 at 12:42 pm
As a teacher, it never occurred to me that I may do my job better with more pay…I know this argument rages too often, but I can’t stress enough just how much pay DOES NOT factor into my happiness and willingness to do more.
Only an idiot would go into education for the pay…patronizing us about our “low” pay will not keep the good ones teaching; listening to my concerns about student learning, getting me great PD, and helping me with classroom discipline will keep me…I don’t need another dime.
Besides, everyone knows we go into teaching for the summers off=)
http://msjessicareeves.edublogs.org
Jessica Reeves
December 15, 2010 at 12:42 pm
As a teacher, it never occurred to me that I may do my job better with more pay…I know this argument rages too often, but I can’t stress enough just how much pay DOES NOT factor into my happiness and willingness to do more.
Only an idiot would go into education for the pay…patronizing us about our “low” pay will not keep the good ones teaching; listening to my concerns about student learning, getting me great PD, and helping me with classroom discipline will keep me…I don’t need another dime.
Besides, everyone knows we go into teaching for the summers off=)
http://msjessicareeves.edublogs.org
charles_wolf
December 16, 2010 at 7:59 am
Having taught for 30 years in both rural and urban schools and having gone through a period of being a “bad” teacher, I must say that there is plenty of blame to go around. Lack of support from parents, administrators, and apathy of students go a long way toward creating “bad” teachers. Granted teachers can and must do whatever they can to create interest and provide sound education in their classrooms, but everyone is an educator. Learning does not stop when you leave the school door, or even when you graduate. Instilling this lifetime learning attitude in our children is the responsibility of every person, not just the teachers. Otherwise we will always have “bad” teachers because we will always have “bad” learners. In my experience, the difference in the success and failure of students lies with the parents. If the parent values education, the student does well; if the parent is apathetic, so is the child.
charles_wolf
December 16, 2010 at 7:59 am
Having taught for 30 years in both rural and urban schools and having gone through a period of being a “bad” teacher, I must say that there is plenty of blame to go around. Lack of support from parents, administrators, and apathy of students go a long way toward creating “bad” teachers. Granted teachers can and must do whatever they can to create interest and provide sound education in their classrooms, but everyone is an educator. Learning does not stop when you leave the school door, or even when you graduate. Instilling this lifetime learning attitude in our children is the responsibility of every person, not just the teachers. Otherwise we will always have “bad” teachers because we will always have “bad” learners. In my experience, the difference in the success and failure of students lies with the parents. If the parent values education, the student does well; if the parent is apathetic, so is the child.
mears619
December 16, 2010 at 1:19 pm
I have to agree that there must be a way to rid of poor performing teachers. I also have to add that it is possible to consider that some of the teacher poor performing teachers wouldn’t be so terrible if the parental support and student cooperation was improved. We must start to hold parents responsible for their actions and their children’s actions within the education environment. Students have been given a pass to behave however they want with little to no repercussions. Instead student behavior or non-performance is said be a result of their culture, socioeconomic circumstance and even race. Let’s consider putting an influence on encouraging and insisting on parental involvement. On top of that teachers are inundated with conferences, paperwork, discipline, lesson planning, testing and trying to meet the needs of individual students to an extent that they can not possibly focus on teaching. The pay scales simply do not match what is being expected of the hard working dedicated teachers that continuously strive to do the best they can. Additionally, it is my opinion that many teachers that are considered poor performing might not be if they were not so dis-infranchised by the end of their first year in the classroom. On the other hand, teachers that would be dynamite in the classroom but exited the profession because of the lack of respect and authority for the job they have to do might stick around if the field of education were not so chaotic and stressful.
What many do not realize is that teachers spend tens of thousands of dollars on their education to become educators, to help our youth cope with this ever changing world, to become community leaders even after they are in the classroom and what they receive in return is the brunt of society’s anger and frustration. Teachers get blamed for everything from a student who is not reading, a lack of services, little or no time for physical activities, failing grades and even social issues in and out of the classroom.
It is time that legislators, school administrators, courts and government take a hard look at how we can bring parents into the process of educating their children. making parents an effective tool to teaching their kids, stake holders in our communities and taking a active role in their child’s education rather than placing blame on teachers.
Free public education is guaranteed by the constitution though disruptive behavior, laziness and abuse (both verbal and physical) towards educators is not part of that guarantee.
mears619
December 16, 2010 at 1:19 pm
I have to agree that there must be a way to rid of poor performing teachers. I also have to add that it is possible to consider that some of the teacher poor performing teachers wouldn’t be so terrible if the parental support and student cooperation was improved. We must start to hold parents responsible for their actions and their children’s actions within the education environment. Students have been given a pass to behave however they want with little to no repercussions. Instead student behavior or non-performance is said be a result of their culture, socioeconomic circumstance and even race. Let’s consider putting an influence on encouraging and insisting on parental involvement. On top of that teachers are inundated with conferences, paperwork, discipline, lesson planning, testing and trying to meet the needs of individual students to an extent that they can not possibly focus on teaching. The pay scales simply do not match what is being expected of the hard working dedicated teachers that continuously strive to do the best they can. Additionally, it is my opinion that many teachers that are considered poor performing might not be if they were not so dis-infranchised by the end of their first year in the classroom. On the other hand, teachers that would be dynamite in the classroom but exited the profession because of the lack of respect and authority for the job they have to do might stick around if the field of education were not so chaotic and stressful.
What many do not realize is that teachers spend tens of thousands of dollars on their education to become educators, to help our youth cope with this ever changing world, to become community leaders even after they are in the classroom and what they receive in return is the brunt of society’s anger and frustration. Teachers get blamed for everything from a student who is not reading, a lack of services, little or no time for physical activities, failing grades and even social issues in and out of the classroom.
It is time that legislators, school administrators, courts and government take a hard look at how we can bring parents into the process of educating their children. making parents an effective tool to teaching their kids, stake holders in our communities and taking a active role in their child’s education rather than placing blame on teachers.
Free public education is guaranteed by the constitution though disruptive behavior, laziness and abuse (both verbal and physical) towards educators is not part of that guarantee.
steeler71
December 21, 2010 at 12:34 am
I like what you all said about parental involvement. If you can figure out how to fix that, you won’t have to worry about how much you are paid anymore … you’ll be millionaires! In response to Mears 619 …. there is not a constitutional right to an education at all, much less a free public one. It’s possible there might be something like that in your state constitution, but the federal constitution has nothing. Makes one wonder about the constitutionality and purpose of the U.S. Dept. of Education, doesn’t it? Imagine if all the money going there went directly to the schools!
steeler71
December 21, 2010 at 12:34 am
I like what you all said about parental involvement. If you can figure out how to fix that, you won’t have to worry about how much you are paid anymore … you’ll be millionaires! In response to Mears 619 …. there is not a constitutional right to an education at all, much less a free public one. It’s possible there might be something like that in your state constitution, but the federal constitution has nothing. Makes one wonder about the constitutionality and purpose of the U.S. Dept. of Education, doesn’t it? Imagine if all the money going there went directly to the schools!
dbusby
January 6, 2011 at 1:49 pm
Kudos to mears619!! I couldn’t agree more. Everyone wants to blame the teachers while tying their hands behind their backs and putting a big target on their chest. Politician’s lost the war in Vietnam because they thought they knew more than the generals–now they are losing our educational system because they think they know more than the teachers.
dbusby
January 6, 2011 at 1:49 pm
Kudos to mears619!! I couldn’t agree more. Everyone wants to blame the teachers while tying their hands behind their backs and putting a big target on their chest. Politician’s lost the war in Vietnam because they thought they knew more than the generals–now they are losing our educational system because they think they know more than the teachers.