A new poll conducted by Rutgers-Eagleton finds 58% of New Jersey residents polled would like to see tenure for teachers eliminated. The poll also found 60% would also like to see students' performance be a basis for teacher evaluations and salary. However,70% said they don't think a teacher's salary should solely depend on their student's performance.
I have a great appreciation for what a good teacher can do. My son is only three, but he has been attending the Goddard School since he was 6 months old. His vocabularly and knowledge far exceed anything I could do at that age, and it's mostly due to the great teachers and programs the school provides. Most of the teachers are recent college graduates or current students who are up to date on the latest teaching methods.
One of the first things I usually hear from people when I tell them my child goes to Goddard is how expensive that must be. Well, it isn't cheap, right around $1000 a month, but what's most amazing about that is it is about half of what we pay as taxpayers for our children to go to public school every month. My son's school is not only cleaner, but it is equipped better than most public schools.
The time to end tenure has come, no one deserves to keep a job based mostly on what they did in the first three years of their career. Our children deserve the best teaching them and that means those who continue to grow as teachers as the years past, not those just looking forward to retirement.
Ending tenure is just the first step towards better education. Longer school years with short breaks through out the year are sure to be coming next. I can't imagine the fight that will cause when they try to take away the teachers' summers, but that's a little ways off still.
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