Reductions in Force

Exiting Ineffective Teachers Policy

Reductions in Force

The state should require that its school districts consider classroom performance as a factor in determining which teachers are laid off when a reduction in force is necessary.

Best practices

Colorado, Florida and Indiana all specify that in determining which teachers to lay off during a reduction in force, classroom performance is the top criterion.  These states also articulate that seniority can only be considered after a teacher's performance is taken into account.

Suggested Citation:
National Council on Teacher Quality. (2011). Reductions in Force National Results. State Teacher Policy Database. [Data set].
Retrieved from: https://www.nctq.org/yearbook/national/Reductions-in-Force-10
Best practice 3

States

Meets goal 6

States

Nearly meets goal 4

States

Meets goal in part 4

States

Meets a small part of goal 0

States

Does not meet goal 34

States

Research rationale

See National Council on Teacher Quality, "Teacher Layoffs: Rethinking 'Last Hired, First-Fired' Policies." (2010); The New Teacher Project, The Case Against Quality-Blind Teacher Layoffs (2011); Boyd, Donald; Lankford, Hamilton; Loeb, Susanna; and Wyckoff, James, "Teacher Layoffs: An Empirical Illustration of Seniority v. Measures of Effectiveness" The Urban Institute, CALDER (2010);  Goldhaber, Dan and Theobold, Roddy, "Assessing the Determinants and Implications of Teacher Layoffs." Center for Education Data & Research, University of Washington-Bothell (2010); Sepe, Christina and Roza, Marguerite, "The Disproportionate Impact of Seniority-Based Layoffs on Poor, Minority Students." Center on Reinventing Public Education (2010).