Reductions in Force: Colorado

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.

Best Practice
Suggested Citation:
National Council on Teacher Quality. (2011). Reductions in Force: Colorado results. State Teacher Policy Database. [Data set].
Retrieved from: https://www.nctq.org/yearbook/state/CO-Reductions-in-Force-10

Analysis of Colorado's policies

In Colorado, new legislation considers teacher performance—measured by a performance evaluation—as the top criterion for districts to use in determining which teachers are laid off during reductions in force. Other factors, including "the consideration of probationary and nonprobationary status and the number of years a teacher has been teaching in the school district" may only be considered after a teacher's performance is taken into account.

Citation

Recommendations for Colorado

State response to our analysis

Colorado 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).