Education

Ohio Report Calls for Tougher Tenure Standards

By Vaishali Honawar — January 23, 2009 1 min read
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An Ohio philanthropic group says schools should have a freer hand in awarding tenure to good teachers and firing bad ones.

The Ohio Grantmakers Association, a group representing more than 200 private and corporate foundations that give more than $300 million to schools in the state each year, made its recommendations to the governor and legislature yesterday.

The report calls for strengthening state law to require teachers seeking tenure to demonstrate their skills, based partly on student performance. And whereas current law on dismissing teachers focuses on immoral conduct, the report recommends that the terms for dismissing teachers be made similar to those for firing other public employees.

The report also recommends getting rid of the state’s standardized high school graduation tests and replacing them with other ways to gauge critical-thinking skills and readiness for college and work.

Gov. Ted Strickland is expected to discuss his educational proposals next Wednesday before state lawmakers.

You can read more about the report here, and more about the Ohio Grantmakers Forum here.

A version of this news article first appeared in the Teacher Beat blog.