Hopatcong Schools Superintendent Says Tenure Reform Is Necessary, Questions Teacher Performance Evaluations

A day after the state's acting education commissioner unveiled a tenure-reform plan for teachers that would ditch the seniority system for performance-based evaluations, Hopatcong's superintendent said he agreed with the proposal's direction, but not its implementation.

Christopher Cerf called for “demonstrated student learning” to be part of the tenure process, along with yearly evaluations and a plan to strip tenure from teachers who aren't meeting requirements.

Cerf said teachers rated effective or highly effective for three consecutive years would be granted tenure under the plan. Teachers would lose tenure if they failed to meet requirements for two consecutive years.

"We do need to reform tenure," Dr. Charles Maranzano said. "Seniority has got to be turned upside down. It's not a system that serves us well in education.

"[But] we do not have the right evaluation tools in place to be able to link student achievement to teacher performance. … There has been no model in the country that has been proven valid enough to make the kind of connection between student test scores and teacher performance."

Hopatcong school board members Sue Madar and Patricia LoBue also said seniority should go. But they also said teacher evaluations shouldn't be based on students' standardized test scores.

"It should be performance-based," Madar said. "But not based on one standardized test. You have some kids that are really good at taking tests. But no mater how good the teacher teaches, [the students] would still do a great job. And yet other kids that teacher teaches really well just might not able to do the standardized tests."

Said LoBue, "I believe also it should not be based on the one test."

"I don't disagree that we need to change this system," Maranzano said. "I don't like tenure based on seniority. I don't like it at all. I think if tenure, if it continues to exist, I think it should be based on performance. But I don't see how to link that at all."