Teacher Tenure in California - Research Paper Example

ID Number: Teacher Tenure in California Policy analysis and court decision The teacher tenure policy that was established by the government of California gained its importance in the year 1921. This form of policy was focused towards implementing provisions for the teachers in this particular region. The court’s decision was that the teachers would gain tenure in the state only after they complete a probationary period of two years. During this particular period of time, if their performance of a teacher is identified as poor then the teacher can be dismissed by the school authority. The decision was even extended that once the teachers become eligible for the tenure they gain security towards their position and can only be dismissed if the school authority is able to put forward a just cause. The state law even proposed that the tenured teachers may be dismissed if they are giving unsatisfactory performance (Jederberg 43). However, as per the policy if the performance of students is low in the state it is not considered to be a condition for dismissal of teachers which in turn has resulted into more number of students exhibiting low performance. The dismissal conditions as highlighted by the court decision states that the school authority needs to give a prior notice to the employee before initiating any form of proceedings regarding dismissal due to unsatisfactory performance of a teacher. Purpose of policy The teacher tenure policy majorly focused towards the well being of students and to retain those teachers who performed well and discard those who are not able to meet the standards of the school policy. The ones who supported the policy stated that the policy majorly aimed towards development and growth of students so that they are able to perform well in their career path. The other end of this provision was that it provided the flexibility to the school authority to focus more on performing teachers and reduce the cost by eliminating those teachers who did not perform well. The notice that would be given to the teachers before the dismissal must also include some of the behavioral instances that need to be communicated three months prior to filing charges. The major purpose of the policy was not to hide the underperforming teachers behind the tenure and to facilitate more of academic achievement of the students. There are almost 6 million students who are enrolled in the public schools of California and thus the law was to support these students so that they are provided with an appropriate guidance. The tenure is always a security provision for teachers but this policy was aligned more towards performance and experience of teachers then to safeguard the job of the teachers. Stakeholders The stakeholders of the policy are those who would be directly or indirectly impacted by the law or have certain contributions towards the law. The first stakeholder of the policy was the state government who implemented this provision in order to enhance educational reform in the region. California in terms of academic performance ranked low which was not a favorable sign for the state. The tenure period was considered to be the time for relaxation by the teachers. However this law provided some guidelines on basis of which teachers needed to prove their talent to survive in the organization. The other stakeholder was the school authority and they are greatly benefitted by the policy. This is simply because the teachers could not hide behind the tenure as they could be subjected to dismissal. The school authority could improve upon the educational infrastructure on basis of this law. The next stakeholders were the students who were positively impacted as they could receive the best teaching facilities and would also be under the guidance of those teachers who took their profession seriously and was focused towards academic development of their students. The teachers being the other stakeholder was positively as well as negatively affected by the provision simply because of the fact that the teachers who performed well gained appreciation and those who were not able to meet the expectations of the system had to be dismissed from the system. Policy is substantively valuable The teacher tenure policy can be stated as being substantively valuable as it was focused towards improving the education system of California. Often it is noticed that most of the teachers deliver exceptional performance during the probationary period after which they start feeling that their job is protected and any form of performance related issues would not lead to dismissal of their job. However this policy comprises of guidelines which states that even the tenured teachers can be subjected to dismissal if they are not able to deliver high performance on a continuous basis. This policy can be considered to be realistic as it aimed at resolving the issues surrounding two major aspects that are student’s achievement in the academic career and even protects the teachers from various forms of disciplinary actions that are unfair. This policy even facilitates more number of teachers to be available in the public schools so that the students who are being enrolled are given proper education. The value of the policy also lies in the area that government through this provision wanted to strike a balance between the academic achievement of students and improved performance of the teachers so as to enhance the educational reform in the state. Policy works or not The teacher tenure policy that was formulated was initially aligned towards improved academic performance and to discard those teachers from the schools who usually hide themselves behind the tenure. However the policy did not work properly as still the tenure period in California is considered to be a relaxation time by the teachers. The school authority is unable to change the situation simply because of the factor that they would not be getting such dedicated teachers who could improve efficiently the performance of the students. The policy has not been able to change the focus of school authority towards maintaining a high performing base of teachers. On the other hand the critics of this particular policy state that this policy is not been able to prevent the teachers from hiding behind the tenure. The unfit teachers still holds the maximum percentage of the positions in school. This law eventually has made more number of unfit teachers to be present in the system which has adversely affected the performance of students in California. The objective of the policy has not been properly fulfilled because of improper support from the government and the school district. A recent study stated that the failure of this policy can be well depicted through the bottom rank that California holds in terms of educational attainment. Political support towards the policy The political support towards this policy has been fluctuating from the time of its invention. The major political support that the policy has achieved is giving the flexibility to the school district to dismiss those teachers who used to hide themselves behind the tenure period. The support has been very strong as the policy was developed to safeguard the educational system of California. The political support is in the form of updating provisions as per the changing scenario and to analyze all the pros and cons of the policy. The support even extended to the factor of allowing teachers to upgrade their performance and giving them fair chances to prove themselves before being dismissed. The political support was so strong that it helped to discard the negativity towards the policy and provide more facilities to the students. The political support in the initial stage of the policy formulation was strong in terms of making the policy compulsory in every school so as to protect the career of students. However the condition deteriorated with time and the focus shifted towards improving the educational infrastructure then to be focused towards low performing students or teachers. Work Cited Jederberg. Sheree., Teacher and Administration Perceptions of California Teacher Evaluation Process. USA: ProQuest. 2006. Print. Read More