Rate Teachers: Then let Seniority Reign
Lets all agree:
Schools do not exist for the benefit of teachers, but for the benefit of students.
For students to truly benefit from the schools they are in, they need to have the best teachers they possibly can.
To get the best teachers they possibly can, a fair system of teacher evaluation is required and should be enforced.
A fair system would evaluate all teachers based on the outcomes they produce for their students.
A fair system will not be perfect, but will reasonably differentiate between the good and the bad teacher.
Once teachers have been evaluated, at each evaluation level appointments, retention or promotion should then be based on seniority. If the evaluation system rates all teachers from 1 to 10, the teachers rated, say, in group 1 should be given priority according to their seniority.
Two final thoughts:
Experience does count! If the evaluation system is used well early in a teacher's tenure, there is a reasonable probability that all teachers with high tenure will be evaluated among the best.
Everyone cannot be a good teacher!A bad teacher may be deeply concerned about their students, deeply driven to impart everything they know to their students, and absolutely committed to their personal excellence and that of their students. This is not a character flaw. They may be wonderful people. But they simply may not have the ability and skill to be a great teacher.