Reductions in Force: New Hampshire

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: New Hampshire results. State Teacher Policy Database. [Data set].
Retrieved from: https://www.nctq.org/yearbook/state/NH-Reductions-in-Force-10

Analysis of New Hampshire's policies

In New Hampshire, new legislation ensures that seniority is not the sole factor used by districts to determine which teachers are laid off during a reduction in force. However, the state does not require that teacher performance be among the considered factors. 

Citation

Recommendations for New Hampshire

Require that districts consider classroom performance as a factor in determining which teachers are laid off during reductions in force.
New Hampshire 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

New Hampshire was helpful in providing NCTQ with facts that enhanced 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).