Follow-up: Tenure Numbers Climb Under de Blasio - 64% granted in 2014-15

Under Bloomberg, who promised to move toward “ending tenure as we know it,” tenure approval rates plummeted from 89 percent in the 2009-10 school year to 53 percent the year before de Blasio took control of the city school system.  ...

The number of teachers whose tenure prospects were deferred fell slightly to 34 percent, down from a high of 44 percent in Bloomberg’s final year. Under both administrations, rejection rates have hovered around 2 percent….

Six percent of teachers whose tenure decisions were previously delayed faced outright denial, up from 4 percent the previous year, which a department official emphasized as a sign of a rigorous tenure process…

....Chalkbeat

A recent post on Ed Notes Vergara be damned: NY Tenure Unofficially Undermined by DOE and UFT Silence
primed some comments, including this one:

Do we know for what percent of teachers tenure is postponed until the fifth or sixth year? 

I assume UFT should have that number - but maybe they don't care enough to track it.

Leonie sent this link to a Chalkbeat piece on tenure numbers that does fill in some blanks.
 

http://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/ny/2016/05/06/exclusive-teacher-tenure-approvals-tick-up-continuing-a-de-blasio-era-shift/#.V8HKK62b5Zo

New York City teachers were more likely to earn tenure last school year than at any point in the previous five years, but approval rates remain far lower than they were just a few years ago, when virtually every eligible teacher won the job protection.

Sixty-four percent of the 5,832 eligible teachers were granted tenure during the 2014-15 school year, up from 60 percent the year before, according to data released Thursday to Chalkbeat. Another 34 percent had their decisions deferred, and 2.3 percent were rejected, effectively ending their teaching careers in the district.

The numbers show that eligible teachers are slightly more likely to receive tenure under Mayor Bill de Blasio’s watch. But they also show that the de Blasio administration has not reversed the approach of his predecessor Michael Bloomberg, whose administration made attaining tenure dramatically more difficult not by rejecting tenure applications, but by delaying a larger share of those decisions to a later year.

Under Bloomberg, who promised to move toward “ending tenure as we know it,” tenure approval rates plummeted from 89 percent in the 2009-10 school year to 53 percent the year before de Blasio took control of the city school system. Bloomberg argued that too many teachers were earning tenure too quickly, and the city began delaying decisions for a large portion of eligible teachers.

Over his first two years, de Blasio has slowly changed course. In his first year, tenure rates inched up to 60 percent, a 7 percent increase that de Blasio said reflected his administration’s interest in rewarding and retaining top teachers. And last year, the approval rate increased again to 64 percent.

Create line charts

The number of teachers whose tenure prospects were deferred fell slightly to 34 percent, down from a high of 44 percent in Bloomberg’s final year. Under both administrations, rejection rates have hovered around 2 percent….

Six percent of teachers whose tenure decisions were previously delayed faced outright denial, up from 4 percent the previous year, which a department official emphasized as a sign of a rigorous tenure process…

The education department only released the tenure numbers — which have historically been distributed months earlier — to Chalkbeat after multiple requests. Observers say that reticence could reflect the political reality that both union supporters and advocates who want stricter tenure rules can use the data as a political bludgeon…

A key feature of the national debate is how long teachers should be in the classroom before being considered for the job protection. U.S. Secretary of Education John King recently waded into that conversation, saying that two years is not enough. Under a recent change to state rules, teachers can be considered for the job protection only after four ‘probationary’ years.

Meanwhile, New York City school leaders are already making the next round of tenure decisions. Most of this year’s recommendations were due from principals April 30; teachers should be notified of those decisions by late June.

Vergara be damned: NY Tenure Unofficially Undermined by DOE and UFT Silence

A lot has been made of the overturning of Vergara in California as Randi and crew celebrated the victory while the UFT remains silent in the face of stories of years of extensions of tenure here in the city.

At the MORE retreat last week the issue of forcing the UFT to address the extension/discontinue issue was raised as a project to take on this year.

Chalkbeat makes this point "state lawmakers have actually changed some of the disputed laws: They lengthened the period needed to earn tenure to four years, and altered the statewide teacher-evaluation system." (They still managed to dredge up a quote from scuzball Moaning Mona Davids whose 15 minutes expired a long time ago.) In California tenure was received in 18 months while in NYC it had been 3 years, now extended to 4.

What Chalkbeat is not reporting is that beyond the 4 years needed for tenure (during which time probably 40% of the teachers have already disappeared) in NY, principals have the power to extend/postpone people with no time limit -- we have heard people are in their 6th or 7th year without tenure, all the time under the threat of instant discontinuance.

A MORE teachers recently was completing her 5th year without tenure and was told by the principal she would not get tenure once again. Having been accepted to law school she decided she had had enough. When she told the principal she was leaving to go to law school in Sept. the principal told her she had to resign immediately (thus losing summer health care benefits) and if she didn't she would be discontinued and lose her teaching license.

At one DA about 2 years ago someone asked Mulgrew what the union was doing if a teacher was extended for a 2nd or 3rd year. He acted surprised as if he had never heard of that.

Principals withhold tenure for political and career reasons - to show that they are tough -- "I don't give tenure to everyone -- some aim at a 50% rate or less. But then again it was they who hired the teachers. Or what happens when there is a change in principal for a teacher say in the 4th year? That principal may automatically extend tenure, claiming he/she needs another year to evaluate the teachers. Or teachers are extended based on Supt. recommendations. I heard one case where most of the entire core of 8 3rd year teachers were denied because the school was a "failing" school -- according to my contact who was the CL these people had worked their asses off to keep the school afloat.

One of the things the MORE Ex Bd  members need to do this year is force the union leadership to address the tenure, or lack of, issue.

And when the scuzballs like Campbell Brown and Moaning Mona go to court the unions can site the tenure denials and extensions that they have allowed as proof there is in effect a weakened tenure law in NY.

The Trouble With Frank Bruni

How far are we from the day when Whoopi, Campbell and the rest of the ed deform crowd flat out blame the death of Michael Brown on bad teachers?

Joining the anti-teacher fray is former NY Times food writer Frank Bruni, another clueless NY Times columnist writing on education (see David Brooks, Thomas Friedman, Joe Nocera, Brent Staples, and even one bad column from the great Paul Krugman).

I think we need VAM for food columnists. How about basing it on how many calories you gain? 

I was going to do my own assault on Bruni yesterday, but, always a day behind and a dollar short, Arthur Goldstein and Lois Weiner have said it all.

Another argument bigots favor is, "I'm not a bigot. I know some of those people." And waddya know, Johnston has teachers in his family. So he must be totally objective. And Bruni writes for the NY Times. So he must also be objective, with no ax to grind whatsoever. Doubtless it's mere coincidence that he was a guest at the wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Campbell Brown, and that he failed to disclose it.... full piece at NYC Educator

Lois Weiner, writing at New Politics, sends an

An open letter to Frank Bruni about tenure for NYC teachers

Dear Frank Bruni,
            I enjoyed your restaurant reviews in the NY Times. Reading your descriptions of the food and ambiance allowed me to experience vicariously many restaurants. We seem to have a similar sensibility -- about food.  You seemed not to allow  restaurant publicity and PR to influence your ratings or judgment, maybe because you know good food and the restaurant business thoroughly enough so that you could see through hype.
            But that’s not the case in your columns on educational issues, in particular your analysis of tenure, which reads like the talking points from Teach for America and Students First, groups funded by billionaires who aim to transform schooling in ways they think best - that is, best for them and profits.... An open letter to Frank Bruni about tenure for NYC teachers.


           

Vergara Update: Chetty, Chetty Gets Banged, Banged in Teachers College Refute

Over the last decade, teacher evaluation based on value-added models (VAMs) has become central to the public debate over education policy. In this commentary, we critique and deconstruct the arguments proposed by the authors of a highly publicized study that linked teacher value-added models to students’ long-run outcomes, Chetty et al. (2014, forthcoming), in their response to the American Statistical Association statement on VAMs. We draw on recent academic literature to support our counter-arguments along main points of contention: causality of VAM estimates, transparency of VAMs, effect of non-random sorting of students on VAM estimates and sensitivity of VAMs to model specification... TC Record

How nice to see Raj Chetty, who was a witness against the teachers in the California case, taken down. Do you think someone will call for him to lose tenure due to shoddy research?

Chetty is one of those hired hand research thugs from Harvard who "proved" that teacher quality based on VAM can affect a child's lifetime earnings. Of course their (purposely) shoddy work is coming apart at the seams.

As Ravitch wrote in June:

Chetty and Friends Stand by their VAM

June 2, 2014 //

118

The American Statistical Association released a brief report on value-added assessment that was devastating to its advocates. ASA said it was not taking sides, but then set out some caveats that left VAM with no credibility. Can a school district judge teacher quality by the test scores of his or her students? ASA wrote this: “VAMs are generally based on standardized test scores, and do not directly measure potential teacher contributions toward other student outcomes.

I imagine hitman lawyer for Campbell Brown, David Boies, will be smart enough not to use Chetty in the NY case. Someone even suggested Chetty, given testimony along the lines of "if only California had better tenure laws as good as NY", be called for our side. But union lawyers have often proved to be dumber than dirt, so don't expect a rigorous defense of tenure. In fact, look for them to plead that they will figure out ways to help get rid of teachers, continuing a long tradition, as Eterno points out over at ICE, where our own union has helped weaken the tenure laws (LETTER TO PROTECT TENURE FROM PEOPLE WHO WEAKENED IT).
Like, does anyone think it is only 3 years when half the people get extended, sometimes for more than one year (I recently met a guy who was in his 7th year as a teacher and only got it by getting away from the witch who was his principal.

Read the report below the break.

I Defend Tenure in the Indypendent

Thanks to John Tarleton for a great editing job. Making me look literate ain't easy.

Teacher Bashing Knows No Summer Vacation

By Norm Scott

July 16, 2014

Issue # 198

 

In a closely watched case, a California judge ruled on June 10 that the state’s teacher tenure laws infringed on the civil rights of students in schools in poor communities to a proper education guaranteed under the state constitution.

Pointing to evidence that one to three percent of teachers in California’s public schools are grossly ineffective, Judge Rolf Treu wrote in his 16-page decision that teacher tenure laws “impose a real and appreciable impact on students’ fundamental right to equality of education and that they impose a disproportionate burden on poor and minority students.”

The astroturf parent group that pursued the lawsuit was funded by Silicon Valley millionaire David Welch. While Treu left California tenure laws in place until state appeals courts review his ruling, similar anti-tenure lawsuits have since been filed in several states, including here in New York. 

MORE at
https://indypendent.org/2014/07/16/teacher-bashing-knows-no-summer-vacation

Defense of Tenure - It Ain't Only About the Teachers

At the MORE UFT history event, a teacher who I first met about 6 weeks ago and is new to MORE asked why we don't see campaigns defending teachers and tenure. The UFT spends millions on ads but tenure is not mentioned. Interesting that at the AFT on Monday just before the convention ended, AFT press people came over and asked some of us to attend a press conference upstairs on this very issue.

The event was being run by new AFT superstar Mary

Catherine Ricker (on the right) and included teachers who defended their children and  parents who work with teachers. Parent Helen Gym from Philadelphia gave one of the most passionate defenses of tenure I've seen (I have the video to process).

What was interesting was that the AFT was filming the event to use it for advocacy - meaning that maybe some commercials will be coming. We'll see. In the meantime, while the union twiddles teachers on the front line like Arthur Goldstein, who could not attend the AFT convention because he won't sign the Unity Caucus loyalty oath, took up the issue and wrote a great defense of tenure in the July 16 Daily News.

RBE points to another pro-tenure piece in Salon by Gabriel Arana. http://www.salon.com/2014/07/1...

John Thompson at The Chalkface Expores the Subtleties of the Tenure Battle

Something tells me...that getting rid of our due process rights won’t be a promising tactic for recruiting and retaining new teacher talent..... Without seniority, this school closure mania gives districts a Get Out of Jail Free Card – they can commit age discrimination at will.....Obamacare might now be the best education reform of his administration. .. John Thompson

Some more great points from John Thompson:

If reformers spent more time in schools, I bet they would recognize the pattern that has been obvious throughout my career. In many or most classrooms with an incompetent teacher in my inner city school, the current bad teacher replaced the previous bad teacher, who replaced a previous bad teacher. Why? Qualified teachers won’t volunteer for those jobs. And, that is why so many principals grant tenure to teachers who aren’t capable of teaching in tough classes. If they fire that teacher, what is the chance of finding a better applicant next year?

An important point here that John might emphasize: There are excellent teachers who just aren't as capable of teaching in tough classes as they might be in classes of eager, on-grade level learner. In fact many teachers who are "capable" use survival rather than the best pedagogical techniques. I know I had to use different tactics with the tougher classes -- I had to work very hard on building community before the academics. Nothing like a fight breaking out to ruin a lesson. Other than one particular class out of the 17 self-contained classes I taught, I rarely had fights due to this effort. And even in that class I managed to get that under control within a few months. But did academics suffer? Hell yes. Those trials I held to adjudicate the tensions between some of the kids took time.

Reformers, including those who might have fought against civil service laws in the age of Progressivism, say that tenure was designed to protect teachers against political pressure. What do they think we’re facing today? Don’t they understand the political pressure we are under to practice educational malpractice in an age of test and punish, and rushing through a skin-deep test prep guide? Even with due process, it’s not easy to advocate for high-quality instructional practices... 

My friend - an ed notes reader who will recognize his words -- used to refer to teachers as "New York's Meekest." I would claim that with the Bloomberg Leadership Academy "gotcha" squad of principals, even teachers with tenure were fearful of being sent to the rubber room gulag for minor transgressions.

Here is a superb point.

In my experience, when bad teachers aren’t removed, the collective bargaining agreement usually has little to do with the outcome. In my experience, health issues and disability law are a much, much bigger factor than tenure. Perhaps the ineffective teacher tries to hold on for too long because he can’t lose his health insurance, and the administrator is loath to put him on the streets without medical benefits. As my former union local president used to say, nothing would help us improve teacher quality as much as universal health insurance. Had reformers been willing to address the real problems in schools, and not scapegoat teachers, Obamacare might now be the best education reform of his administration

John points to why many experienced teachers run from tough schools if they can.

Without seniority, this school closure mania gives districts a Get Out of Jail Free Card – they can commit age discrimination at will.
If conservative or liberal reformers doubt that that is a key reason why the modal years of experience of teachers has dropped to one year, they might want to stroll through a few turnaround or transformation schools. Plenty of great veteran teachers would love to cap their careers by helping to turn a school around. We have 1.6 million teachers approaching retirement, and our knowledge could be invaluable. How many are welcomed in SIG schools with their focus on test scores? Where are the teachers with institutional memories and where are they not? The next time a reformer is taken out on a SIG dog and pony show, they might want to count the number of twenty-somethings in the building and ask why.

Read John's entire piece, Why Tenure is Essential
at http://atthechalkface.com/2014/06/13/why-tenure-is-essential/

Vergara Tenure Commentary: High Crime Areas Due to Ineffective Police?

Police and firemen could be next. Let's say the same parents in the Vergara case claimed that crime was higher in their neighborhoods BECAUSE the police in their communities were all off probation. We could avoid blaming centuries of racism, discrimination, poverty exploitation of immigrants etc... blame crime on the police.
And their unions / civil service job protections.... Their goal is to make all civil servants at will employees. We need to wake up..... A NYC Principal

Residents of high crime areas often claim that they get the most inexperienced police who are low in seniority. I don't know how true that is but I bet there are seniority perks. Seniority placement is also used in the fire department, I believe. The reality is that the hedge hogs would never touch the police and fire people. Teachers are the easy target -

Our principal pal shows how tenure is not a job for life:

I myself have fired teachers for cause and won each and every time.  Two of these folks were veterans( over 30 years) who had done some great work but one was found to have verbally abused children on a regular basis and the other could no longer handle a large class when her smaller pull out program was eliminated due to a budget cut.

There's commentary all over the place -- many popped up on my blog roll. Raging Horse did part 2: Vergara Part Two : How the 1% Have Learned to Use the Noblest Causes for the Most Venal Ends

NYC Educator blog calls for all of us to get reparations for our own bad teachers: Will the Vergara Case Make Us Rich? By Special Guest Blogger Rolf M. Reformeo. I could get a few bucks myself. Most of my teachers are very good -- though when my East NY neighborhood changed drastically in a very short time they must have turned bad when kids began to do poorly.)

Our pal Brian Jones, running for Lt. Gov on the Green Party line has an op ed on the case at the NY Times blog.

If you have a moment, please read and share my commentary in the New York Times "Room for Debate" blog about the teacher tenure ruling in California:

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/06/11/does-tenure-protect-bad-teachers-or-good-schools/protections-of-teacher-tenure-do-not-hurt-students

Brian Jones is also part of the NY Times debate which includes Diane Ravitch and 2 deformers -  Debating the Vergara Decision in the New York Times.

And by the way --- tenure protections were put in place for the purpose of civil rights issues -- check the current ATR pool and count how many teachers of color are in that pool.
Do you think there are no homophobe principals around?

Diane also talks about that issue:

In response to the debate in the New York Times “Room for Debate” about the Vergara decision, teacher H.A. Hurley commented on the historical perspective I offered, showing that tenure was part of women teachers’ struggle against the pervasive gender discrimination of superintendents and school boards. 

Teacher: Tell the Stories About Tenure and Gender Discrimination.

Anti-Tenure People Try to Have it Both Ways

...flaws in reasoning... were in full bloom from the minute Judge Treu announced that court was in session. How else to explain the paradox by which teacher tenure laws apply to the state’s wealthiest school districts and its poorest, but only violate the civil rights of students in the latter? Or how about the related and even paradoxier claim beloved by Students Matter fans, including Arne Duncan, that while experience doesn’t Matter, the inequitable distribution of experience (which doesn’t Matter) is the civil rights issue of our time?..... EduShyster

The anti-tenure slugs make contradictory points. They claim that the worst teachers end up in the highest poverty schools. They claim the best teachers gravitate to the higher income areas.

Examine the experience and salary and tenure level of teachers in these high income areas and compare it to the low, high-turnover poverty schools. You will find younger, less experienced and more untenured teachers in the latter schools.

EduShyster continues:

who are the great teachers that Save Great Teachers seeks to save? Hint: while *fresh,* *young* and free from the burden (and price tag) of *experience.* these great teachers are not the same as the inexperienced teachers who overwhelmingly teach poor minority students in this country.

Joel Klein played this 2-sided game from the very beginning. In the early years he went after seniority transfers, saying the experienced teachers transfer out of the higher poverty schools, claiming these schools needed experienced teachers. Then he turned his attack dog Leadership Academy principals on the senior teachers, setting them up with the fair-funding formula that penalized schools with higher salaried - meaning, experienced - teachers.

California supposedly has 18-months to tenure rules. I agree that is too short a time. Here in NYC, we have a 3-year MINIMUM tenure but in reality, unlimited time to tenure, given that principals can extend tenure for years, and often do so.

I found that teachers whose tenure was extended into their 5th year often try to get out of their school and into one where they have a better shot at getting tenure, hoping their new principal would not hate them because they didn't like the color of their tie -- or their skin, which increases school turnover.

When you have a tenured teacher who is not very good, the reason that that teacher doesn't get dismissed is not tenure but a lazy principal. In fact, some of the worst teachers who couldn't care less about kids or teaching often become lousy principals - who even without tenure, are never fired unless they are caught red-handed eating a child for lunch.