Most teachers have tenure protections that constrain dismissal. Some argue that tenure improves recruitment and retention by mitigating the risk of monopsony employment and substituting job security for lower salaries. Others argue that tenure reduces performance incentives making it difficult to dismiss ineffective teachers. We examine…

Louisiana's Believe and Prepare pilot program, supported by grants from the Louisiana Department of Education, aimed to prepare teacher candidates or in-service teachers through a residency with a mentor and a competency-based curriculum. To improve teacher preparation and teacher residencies, state and teacher education leaders in Louisiana…

This Study Snapshot highlights key findings from a larger study on Louisiana's Believe and Prepare pilot program. The program aimed to provide teacher candidates or in-service teachers a competency-based curriculum and a residency with a mentor. State and teacher education leaders in Louisiana sought to better understand the early career outcomes…

The "Outcomes for Early Career Teachers Prepared through a Pilot Residency Program in Louisiana" study examined early career outcomes for participants in the Louisiana Believe and Prepare pilot program that launched in 2014. The pilot program provided grants to school districts (known as "school systems" in Louisiana), in…

An increasing number of states are mandating teacher performance be considered in educator employment decisions, including awarding tenure and layoffs, according to a 50-state policy review of teacher tenure laws. Tenure laws have historically granted job protections based on years of employment. The Education Commission of the States (ECS)…

In this article, we explain how overly prescriptive, rigid state statutory and regulatory policy frameworks regarding teacher evaluation, tenure and employment decisions outstrip the statistical reliability and validity of proposed measures of teaching effectiveness. We begin with a discussion of the emergence of highly prescriptive state…

This study was conducted to determine the degree to which a randomly selected sample of teachers in Mississippi and Louisiana (N=291) experience various types of work-related problems. It provides an opportunity to either confirm or deny the findings of previous studies, many of them limited by various methodological problems. Data were collected…

This legal handbook, developed at the recommendation of the 1970 National Education Association (NEA) fact-finding teams in Louisiana and Mississippi, describes the rights of teachers, with specific focus on Louisiana. The introductory section lists 10 cautionary rules to assist a teacher if his employment status on security is threatened by…

Examines extent of agreement among teachers, principals, superintendents, and State Department of Education personnel on 24 recommended changes to improve the quality of public education in Louisiana. Significant disagreement between teachers and other groups occurred on six of the recommendations. (TE)