Experts agree the most important determinant of a successful learning environment is quality teaching. Teachers need to be treated as professionals, and there is no question that good teachers deserve well-paying compensation. Conversely, poor teachers need to be shown the door. Reforms espoused by conservatives would reward those teachers who had a profound impact on our children's lives and demand accountability from teachers who fail our children. This is why tenure reform is so important.
Tenure prevents teachers from being treated like other professionals.
In other occupations, high achievers are rewarded, consistently low achievers are let go. Likewise, the rigid pay schedules supported by unions also prevent merit pay. In other words, the Teacher of the Year makes the exact same pay as a teacher who routinely falls asleep in class because his or her schooling and time in service are the same. If we are going to raise our expectation of schools, we need to give education leaders the authority to make changes in personnel, pay, and accountability. Additionally, focus needs to be put back on the teachers rather than the bureaucracy that envelops the educator.