Teachers in two districts overwhelmingly support using factors in addition to seniority to determine who should be laid off, according to a survey by the New Teacher Project, a New York City-based teacher-training organization.
The group surveyed more than 9,000 teachers in two large, unnamed urban districts; about three-quarters of teachers in both districts supported more-nuanced layoff policies.
Nontenured teachers and those with fewer years of experience were more likely to support policies based on multiple factors.
In both districts, teachers listed classroom management and teacher attendance as top factors that should be considered in layoffs. Evaluations based on performance ratings were favored by 47 percent of teachers in one district and by 51 percent in the other. Student performance and principals’ opinions as layoff criteria were not as highly favored.
