An Examination of Teacher Tenure Reform in Tennessee: Turnover, Performance, and Sense-Making

Abstract

The prevailing public discourse surrounding the effects of teacher tenure in public education is starkly divided. In recent years, a number of states have enacted tenure reforms, thereby potentially transforming the landscape and traditionally protected structure of the teacher labor market. Little empirical research has directly informed whether, in the wake of reform, tenure policies make a difference within the K–12 teaching profession. The state of Tennessee provides a prime setting to further explore the impact of tenure reform. In April 2011, the state legislature passed a series of reforms that made tenure status non-permanent and tied tenure eligibility to teacher performance within the newly restructured educator evaluation process. By exploiting longitudinal nature of available data before and after the legislated changes in tenure policy as well as the sharp performance cutoffs that determine tenure status, this dissertation quantifies the effects of tenure reforms on performance and retention outcomes for teachers in Tennessee. In addition, this work qualitatively analyzes how school administrators and teachers communicate and understand tenure reform. This multi-method approach aims to contextualize the quantitative analysis by offering insight into how school staff frame legislated changes to the tenure eligibility process and thus mediate change in behavior in reaction to policy reform.