Union Contract Rules Prevent Hiring Best Teachers, Study Says

Contract provisions that force principals to hire teachers they don’t want are hampering efforts to build a strong corps of teachers for urban schools, a report released Nov. 16 contends.

In a study of collective-bargaining agreements in five large cities, The New Teacher Project calls for revising rules that allow senior teachers to take their pick of job openings, while novices are the first to be cut and can be “bumped” from their jobs by colleagues with more seniority. The New York City-based nonprofit group urges allowing principals to hire the teachers that are the best “fits” for their schools, regardless of seniority. Maintaining current practices allows mediocre tenured teachers to choose their schools, the study said, while high-performing novices are treated as expendable. It adds that strong leaders are discouraged from taking principalships because they lack the power to assemble the teams of their choice, yet are held accountable for results.

While such work rules were adopted four decades ago as sorely needed protections from arbitrary management practices, changing times now demand a changed approach, the report’s primary author, Jessica Levin,...