Reductions in Force: Arizona

Exiting Ineffective Teachers Policy

Goal

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.

Meets goal in part
Suggested Citation:
National Council on Teacher Quality. (2011). Reductions in Force: Arizona results. State Teacher Policy Database. [Data set].
Retrieved from: https://www.nctq.org/yearbook/state/AZ-Reductions-in-Force-10

Analysis of Arizona's policies

Arizona ensures that seniority and tenure status are not the sole factors used by districts to determine which teachers are laid off during reductions in force. However, the state does not require that teacher performance be among the considered factors. 

Citation

Recommendations for Arizona

Require that districts consider classroom performance as a factor in determining which teachers are laid off during reductions in force.
Arizona can still leave districts flexibility in determining layoff policies, but it should do so within a framework that ensures that classroom performance is considered.   

State response to our analysis

Arizona recognized the factual accuracy of this analysis.

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).