Retaining Effective Teachers Policy
Length of Probationary Period: Kentucky teachers are awarded tenure after a four-year probationary period.
As a result of Kentucky's strong probationary period policies, no recommendations are provided.
Kentucky asserted that teachers are eligible for tenure after four years of experience; however, tenure is not automatically awarded upon completion of the four-year period. Nontenured teachers are required to undergo annual summative evaluations that do provide sufficient data upon which principals make decisions about tenure.
Tenure should be a significant and consequential milestone in a teacher's career. The decision to give teachers tenure (or permanent status) is usually made automatically, with little thought, deliberation or consideration of actual performance.[1] State policy should reflect the fact that initial certification is temporary and probationary, and that tenure is intended to be a significant reward for teachers who have consistently shown effectiveness and commitment.[2] Tenure and advanced certification are not rights implied by the conferring of an initial teaching certificate. No other profession, including higher education, offers practitioners tenure after only a few years of working in the field.[3]
States should also ensure that evidence of effectiveness is the preponderant (but not the only) criterion for making tenure decisions.[4] Most states confer tenure at a point that is too early for the collection of sufficient and adequate data that reflect teacher performance. Ideally, states would accumulate such data for four to five years. This robust data set would prevent effective teachers from being unfairly denied tenure based on too little data and ineffective teachers from being granted tenure.