The background and pro and con arguments were written by ProCon.org staff based upon input from the following footnotes (directly referenced) and sources (used for general research and not directly referenced):
Footnotes:
Carl E. Van Horn, Herbert A. Schaffner, Work in America: An Encyclopedia of History, Policy, and Society, 2003
Daniel Weisberg, Susan Sexton, Jennifer Mulher, David Keeling, "The Widget Effect: Our National Failure to Acknowledge and Act on Differences in Teacher Effectiveness," The New Teacher Project website, www.widgeteffect.org, June 1, 2009
Nanette Asimov, "Teacher Job Security Fuels Prop. 74 Battle," San Francisco Chronicle, Sep. 30, 2005
Patrick McGuinn, "Ringing the Bell for K-12 Teacher Tenure Reform," www.americanprogress.org, Feb. 2010
"Special Statewide Election - November 8, 2005: State Ballot Measures," vote2005.sos.ca.gov, Dec. 19, 2005
Steven Brill, "The Rubber Room," New Yorker, Aug. 31, 2009
Jennifer Medina, "Last Day of 'Rubber Rooms' for Teachers," www.nytimes.com, June 28, 2010
Wanda Marie Thibodeaux, "Pro & Cons of Teacher Tenure," www.ehow.com (accessed Dec. 28, 2010)
Ksenia Galouchko, "Bloomberg’s New Tenure Plan Triggers Demo and Debate," www.theuptowner.org, Dec. 16th, 2010
M.J. Stephey, "A Brief History of Tenure," www.time.com, Nov. 17, 2008
David McGrath, "Teacher-Tenure Proposal Would Weaken Florida Education," Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Apr. 15, 2010
Stephanie Banchero, "Teacher-Tenure Row Reheats," www.wsj.com, May 3, 2010
Sylvia A. Allegretto, Sean P. Corcoran, Lawrence Mishel, "The Teaching Penalty: Teacher Pay Losing Ground," Economic Policy Institute website, www.epi.org, Mar. 2008
Heather Wolpert-Gawron, "The Truth about Teacher Tenure," www.edutopia.org, Dec. 21, 2009
National Council on Teacher Quality, "State Teacher Policy Yearbook: What States Can Do to Retain Effective New Teachers," www.nctq.org, 2008
Sam Dillon, "A School Chief Takes On Tenure, Stirring a Fight," www.nytimes.com, Nov. 12, 2008
Thomas A. Kersten, "Teacher Tenure: Illinois School Board Presidents' Perspectives and Suggestions for Improvement," Planning and Changing, Oct. 1, 2006
Fritz Machlup, "In Defense of Academic Tenure," The Case for Tenure, Ed. Matthew W. Finkin, 1996
Julie Mack, "Tenure Reform: Union Says It's Open to Streamlining Process for Firing Educators," Michigan Live website, www.mlive.com, Nov. 22, 2010
Michelle Rhee and Adrian Fenty, "The Education Manifesto," www.wsj.com, Oct. 30, 2010
Adolfo Guzman-Lopez, "ACLU Sues LAUSD to Stop Teacher Layoffs," KPCC-FM Los Angeles website, www.scpr.org, Feb. 24, 2010
Rose Garrett, "What Is Teacher Tenure?," www.education.com (accessed Dec. 30, 2010)
Dan Goldhaber and Michael Hansen, "Is It Just a Bad Class? Assessing the Stability of Measured Teacher Performance," Center on Reinventing Public Education website, www.crpe.org, Nov. 21, 2008
Marcus A. Winters, "Challenging Tenure in D.C.," www.manhattan-institute.org, Nov. 5, 2008
Steve Farkas and Ann Duffett, "Cracks in the Ivory Tower? The Views of Education Professors Circa 2010," www.edexcellence.net, Sep. 2010
William G. Howell, Martin R. West, and Paul E. Peterson, "The Public Weighs in on School Reform," EducationNext, Fall 2011
Marguerite Roza, "Must Enrollment Declines Spell Financial Chaos for Districts?," Center on Reinventing Public Education website, www.crpe.org, Aug. 29, 2006
George A. Clowes, "Teachers Like Tenure but Admit Its Flaws," www.heartland.org, July 1, 2003
David B. Tyack, Robert Lowe, Elisabeth Hansot, Public Schools in Hard Times: the Great Depression and Recent Years, 1984
National Commission on Excellence in Education, "A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform," Saint Paul Public Schools Data Center website, www.datacenter.spps.org, Apr. 1983
Walter C. Jones, "Barnes Goes on Attack over Teacher Tenure," www.savannahnow.com, Feb. 4, 2000
US Department of Education, "Race to the Top Program Executive Summary," www.ed.gov, Nov. 2009
Michelle Exstrom, "The A+ Teacher: Deciding Who Is Effective in the Classroom Is Not as Easy as It Seems," State Legislatures, Sep. 2010
Karen Matthews, "NYC Takes Aim at Teachers' 'Tenure for Breathing,'" Associated Press / www.usatoday.com, Oct. 8, 2010
Beth Barrett, "LAUSD's Dance of the Lemons," www.laweekly.com, Feb. 11, 2010
John Heilemann, "Schools: The Disaster Movie," New York Magazine, Sep. 5, 2010
New Jersey School Boards Association, "Tenure Reform," www.njsba.org, Sep. 30, 2010
Diane D'Amico, "NJEA Plans to Fight Gov. Christie Over Plan to Eliminate Teacher Tenure," www.pressofatlanticcity.com, Jan. 13, 2010
Kathy Christie and Jennifer Dounay Zinth, "Teacher Tenure or Continuing Contract Laws,” www.ecs.org, Aug. 2011
Sources: Richard T. De George, Academic Freedom and Tenure: Ethical Issues, 1997
Andrew Sloan Draper, Necessary Basis of the Teacher's Tenure, 1912
The Journal of the National Education Association,Volumes 10-11, 1921
Mary M. Kennedy, Marilyn Cochran-Smith, Teacher Assessment and the Quest for Teacher Quality: A Handbook, 2010
National Education Association, Report of the Committee on Salaries, Tenure, and Pensions of Public School Teachers in the United States to the National Council of Education, July, 1905
Franklin H. Silverman, Teaching for Tenure and Beyond: Strategies for Maximizing Your Student Ratings, 2001
