ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The Minnesota Senate has passed a bill that would let schools lay off teachers based on performance.
The bill passed in a 36-26 vote. It would let school districts make layoff decisions based on teacher evaluations that consider student performance. Current state law requires that schools only consider teacher seniority, unless individual districts negotiate their own arrangements to consider other factors.
Sen. Pam Wolf, a Republican who sponsored the bill, says it lets schools keep the most effective teachers.
Democrats expressed concern that the right evaluation tools are not in place. They said a state teacher evaluation system being developed needs more time.
The House passed a similar bill earlier this month.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
Comments (3)
Add commentThe question is how do you determine
performance? Based on students who pass, student popularity, popularity with the administration? I have no problem with laying off bad teachers, but shouldn't there be some criteria first to determine if they are not good or if they just need guidance?
Agreement on this one.
First, is there 1 to 5 scale (corporate world, 1 tops, 5 bottom).
Second, it usually scatters 10 percent - 1, 10 percent - 5, and the rest 2 to 3 (80 percent).
4 is needs improvement, 5 is a couple of years of training/improvement coursework. No improvement, time to move on. Might be a good starting point.
Can we get this
for all state and federal employees.