Gov. Jack Markell continued his self-described efforts at advancing public education reforms July 30 with the signing of a law that ties student achievement to a teacher’s eligibility for tenure.
Senate Bill 263, passed unanimously by the General Assembly in mid-June, is designed to dovetail with Markell’s other top education priorities: implementing a new statewide assessment to replace the Delaware Student Testing Program, and making significant changes to state education policies and regulations to align them with federal standards.
Most of the state regulation changes are devoted to strengthening rules for how teachers are evaluated based on student test scores and setting up a prescribed system for dealing with schools where students consistently underperform on state tests.
In March, the U.S. Department of Education signaled its approval of the proposed reforms by awarding the state $119 million over the next four years from the Race to the Top program.
The new tenure rules outlined in SB 263 give school districts the ability to remain flexible with new teachers as they refine their skills and adjust to the stiffer evaluation criteria the state committed to by taking the Race to the Top money, said sponsor Sen. David Sokola, D-Newark.
Currently, school districts basically have two options when a teacher reaches three years of service: give the teacher tenure, making it much more difficult to fire that person later, or let the teacher go.
Senate Bill 263 adds the stipulation that to obtain tenure, a teacher must have three years of service and at least two years of “satisfactory” ratings, tabulated according to new teacher evaluation rules the state is developing.
The new tenure rules will be implemented within three years, whenever the state codifies its new teacher evaluation criteria.
“A teacher can show promise but still have some identified needs,” Sokola said. “If you make that commitment [to tenure] at that point in time, you may not have the hammer you need to make them take that next step. This is another tool in the box.”
Markell said the law reinforces a teacher’s ultimate goal, educating students.
“It creates a link between a teacher’s ability to obtain the highest level of protection against termination and student performance,” he said.
The governor stressed the law will help teachers who still are refining their skills by allowing district to extend their pre-tenure provisional periods.
“Districts face a tough decision for a teacher that might not have quite figured it all out,” he said.
