Mike's post from this afternoon makes an excellent point: because teachers are the main drivers of student achievement, teacher quality reforms (like eliminating tenure and linking teacher evaluation to student achievement results) are central to improving education.
Unfortunately, (or fortunately for those who like Gadfly debates) Mike goes one step too far by saying that these, and not choice- (and, I would add accountability-) based reforms are the holy grail of education reform.
For starters, while removing tenure requirements and allowing merit-based pay is an opportunity, it is nothing more than that. It creates the conditions where principals can stop acting as middle managers and start acting as true CEOs of their schools.
It does not, however, necessarily put pressure on school leaders to make hiring and firing decisions based on something other than tenure. Such pressure is necessary if we want tenure reform to bring about the kind of change that we need to drive ineffective teachers out of the classroom.
The only way to truly put pressure on school- and district- leaders do make these incredibly tough decisions is to implement both accountability- and choice-based reforms in concert with removing certification, tenure, and merit-pay barriers. Because without clear accountability, we haven't clearly defined the outcomes to which we're holding districts, schools, and teachers accountable. And without choice we aren't putting the essential bottom-up pressure on schools to actually make the kinds of changes that will ultimately drive student achievement.
What's more, let's not lose sight of the fact that tenure reform is a net positive exactly because it removes constraints that prevent principals from truly leading their schools. Teacher quality reforms must be tied with the kinds of school governance reforms that put the power to lead back in the hands of school leaders where it belongs.
I'm not making the small point that more reform is better. Rather, I would argue that you can't take a top-down reform short cut and expect it to yield dramatic student achievement results.
--Kathleen Porter-Magee
