good teachers are who they are, and seniority is no big deal
City Journal explains: Faced with even more red ink on the books than usual, school districts across New York are preparing to lay off thousands of public school teachers. Many young and energetic instructors will be shown the door since, under state law, teachers with the least seniority get pink slips first. This first-in, last-out policy may ruffle the fewest feathers, but it isnt good for kids. Before a lot of good teachers are unnecessarily let go, New Yorkers should seriously consider a bill proposed by State Assemblyman Jonathan Bing and State Senator Ruben Diaz that would give principals discretion to decide which teachers to lay off.
The Bing/Diaz proposal is promising, because a wide body of research shows that on average, teaching experience beyond three years contributes little or nothing to student learning. In fact, according to a review of the research literature by Stanford economist Eric Hanushek, only 41 percent of high-quality estimatesanalyses that account for prior student proficiencycould distinguish any relationship between the amount of time a teacher has spent in the classroom and his or her effectiveness.