Teacher Accountability In Public Schools

A major problem we face in public schooling is how we have deal with teacher accountability. Teacher performance has a huge impact on the success of the students. A good teacher can cover around 150% of the curriculum, while a bad teacher will usually only cover 50%. Teacher tenure, a product of unions, protects public school teachers from being fired, and it is usually obtained between 1-5 years. Once a teacher has tenure, they are not able to get fired, instead certain schools will trade their poor performing teachers in a process called the lemon dance. It has many names for other states, but the process remains the same. They trade poor performing teachers in hope of receiving one that is not performing as poorly. Another byproduct of teacher …show more content…
Over 178 administrators in numerous elementary and middle schools were tied to a cheating scandal. They gave children correct answers and erased incorrect answers. This method of inaccurate test results is a waste of money and time, but most importantly, how it has affected the students. The students advancing to the high schools have a early elementary school literacy level. How can they compete on a GPA ranking system or parents that can provide enough money to for a tutor. This is one reason why dropout rates are at such a high level in these districts. Certain teachers participating in this scandal had been cheating as far back as 2001, while up to 800,000 documents had been discovered dealing with the scandal. It is a lost opportunity to the students who loathed for a chance to attend …show more content…
Poor performing teachers can’t be punished just as the best performing teachers can’t be rewarded. Unions have been proven unnecessary by charter schools. They can maintain the cheap prices, while retaining a teaching force that is held to a higher standard. It is time for change and the teachers who are interested in their students success will openly agree. In the beginning the unions had been created to protect the teachers rights, but now they have corrupt school districts. Students must be prepared adequately to attend college. Tenure has become most burdensome to those in poverty. Their children are not getting the proper education when attending public schools, so they are forced to pay more than they are able to enlist them in private schools. Other parents rely on a charter school 's lottery based student enlistment. It is time to hold teachers accountable for their