Beyond Compliance: Response to Michigan’s Teacher Induction Mandate

Faced with an unfunded mandate, school and district leaders can respond in several ways. The first, ignoring the mandate, may actually work quite well in some cases. Some mandates turn out to be downright silly and, as long as the consequences are mild, ignoring them is an effective strategy. Most, however, cannot be ignored. Ignoring them results in severe sanctions, including loss of funds and public embarrassment. In these cases, district leaders can choose to comply with the letter, if not the spirit, of the mandate. Finally, some mandates actually embody such good ideas that ignoring them is not in the best interests of students. These mandates deserve to be embraced – even if unaccompanied by additional resources.