In June 2014, the Los Angeles Superior Court, in ruling for the plaintiffs in the Vergara v. California case, amplified an already-intense debate about the quality of teachers and the rules that govern school staffing. In his decision, Judge Rolf Treu found that current statutes violate the state’s equal protection clause by disproportionately harming low-income students and students of color.
In this report, the researchers seek to bring into clear focus the views of current California classroom teachers- teachers who are in front of students every day and teachers who, like students, would be profoundly affected by changes in the policies addressed in the Vergara case. Our findings demonstrate remarkable consistency among California teachers about which policies should be kept and which should be improved with changes.
Key Findings
- Teachers highly value tenure but strongly support making tenure a more performance-based, professional benchmark.
- Teachers believe that classroom performance should be an important element in any layoff decision.
- The current system needs to better support struggling teachers while setting a clear time frame for exiting persistently ineffective teachers from the profession.
- Teachers must play a central role in both the development of policy around tenure, layoff and dismissal systems and in the execution of these policies.
Source: Teach Plus
UPDATE: Aug 22, 2016 – California Supreme Court justices have declined to take up the long-running Vergara case, closing a turbulent chapter in the debate over job protections the state’s public school teachers have enjoyed for years.
The court’s decision Monday means the state laws enshrining these job protections will remain on the books: teachers will still receive “tenure” rights after two years in the classroom, the most senior teachers will be shielded from layoffs and firing teachers over poor performance will still require a long process.
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