Does tenure make teachers invincible and prone to slacking, or does it keep good teachers safe?

A group in Missouri is crafting a ballot proposal that would end tenure protections for public school teachers and instead make their employment contingent on student achievement.

Kathleen Sullivan Brown, associate professor of educational leadership and policy studies at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, discussed tenure for educators recently with KMOV (Channel 4).

Brown said tenure has its place and believes a new system the state is starting will be better than revoking tenure altogether.

“I think this new evaluation system in Missouri that we are piloting this year is a better way to address this,” Brown told KMOV. “If after a period of time they don’t respond then you have documentation and evidence that they are not preforming up to where you’d like to see them preform.”