State's Largest Teachers Union Calls For Tenure Reform

HARTFORD ? The state's largest teachers union is recommending a plan that includes reforming the teacher evaluation and tenure systems, to ensure that every teacher is evaluated every year and to streamline the system for dismissing a poor teacher.

At a news conference Tuesday, Mary Loftus Levine, executive director of the Connecticut Education Association, said the new tenure system would be "fair, efficient and cost-effective."

She said the teacher evaluation system would take into account student performance but also cover a teacher's class management skills, interaction with other teachers, professional learning and other factors.

Teacher evaluation "shouldn't be all about test scores," Loftus Levine said.

The union's plan, called "A View from the Classroom," also calls for increasing state funding of local education expenses and supports universal access to high-quality preschool and full-day kindergarten. It also advocates upgrading certification requirements for preschool educators.

The reform proposal also recommends steps to encourage parent and community involvement in schools, including incentives for employers to provide time for parents to participate in school-day activities.

Education Commissioner Stefan Pryor said that he supports much of what the union is recommending, but he declined to talk about areas where he would disagree. He said those areas of disagreement will emerge in the coming months.

Patrick Riccards, chief executive officer of the ConnCAN, a private, non-profit education reform group, said he also supports much of the union's plan, but feels the evaluation and tenure recommendations don't go far enough.

The Connecticut Education Association represents more than 43,000 teachers.

A copy of the plan is available at cea.org/viewfromclassroom.

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Source: http://www.courant.com/news/breaking/hc-cea-reforms-0104-20120103,0,2520170.story?track=rss

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