Reductions in Force: Indiana
Exiting Ineffective Teachers Policy
Analysis of Indiana's policies
Indiana considers teacher performance as the top
criterion for districts to use in determining which teachers are laid
off during reductions in force. The cancellation of teachers' contracts
due to a decrease in the number of teaching positions is to be
"determined on the basis of performance rather than seniority." In
addition, if teachers are placed in the same performance category, the
following may be considered to determine which teachers are laid off: 1)
years of experience, 2) attainment of additional content area degrees
or credit hours beyond the requirements for employment, 3) evaluation
results, 4) instructional leadership roles and 5) academic needs of
students.
However, in March 2015, a federal district court judge for the southern part of the state found the underlying statute, passed in 2011, unconstitutional as applied to tenured teachers, citing case law that required the retention of tenured teachers over nontenured teachers during a RIF. It appears that only school corporations within the Southern District Court jurisdiction are subject to this decision.
Recommendations for Indiana
As a result of Indiana’s strong reductions in force policies, no recommendations are provided.
State response to our analysis
Indiana had no comment on this goal.
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Indiana
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Delivering Well Prepared Teachers
- Admission into Teacher Preparation
- Elementary Teacher Preparation
- Elementary Teacher Preparation in Reading Instruction
- Elementary Teacher Preparation in Mathematics
- Early Childhood
- Middle School Teacher Preparation
- Secondary Teacher Preparation
- Secondary Teacher Preparation in Science and Social Studies
- Special Education Teacher Preparation
- Special Education Preparation in Reading
- Assessing Professional Knowledge
- Student Teaching
- Teacher Preparation Program Accountability
Expanding the Pool of Teachers
Identifying Effective Teachers
- State Data Systems
- Evaluation of Effectiveness
- Frequency of Evaluations
- Tenure
- Licensure Advancement
- Equitable Distribution
Retaining Effective Teachers
Exiting Ineffective Teachers
Pensions
Research rationale
LIFO policies put
adult interests before student needs.
Across the country, most districts utilize "last in, first
out" policies in the event of teacher layoffs.
Most states leave these decisions to district discretion; some states require layoffs to be based on
seniority. Such policies fail to give
due weight to a teacher's classroom performance and risk sacrificing effective
teachers while maintaining low performers.
Policies that prioritize seniority in layoff decisions can
also cause significant upheaval in schools and school districts. As teachers
who are newer to the classroom traditionally draw lower salaries, a
seniority-based layoff policy is likely to require that districts lay off a
larger number of probationary teachers rather than a smaller group of
ineffective teachers to achieve the same budget reduction.
States can leave districts flexibility in determining layoff
policies, but they should do so while also ensuring that classroom performance
is considered. Further, if performance is prioritized, states need not prohibit
the use of seniority as an additional criterion in determining who is laid
off.
Reductions in Force: Supporting Research
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); D. Boyd, H. Lankford, S. Loeb, and J. Wyckoff, "Teacher Layoffs: An Empirical Illustration of Seniority v. Measures of Effectiveness", Calder Institute, July 2010, Brief 12; D. Goldhaber and R. Theobald, "Assessing the Determinants and Implications of Teacher Layoffs." Calder Institute, Working Paper 55, December 2010; C. Sepe and M. Roza, "The Disproportionate Impact of Seniority-Based Layoffs on Poor, Minority Students." Center on Reinventing Public Education, May 2010.