Who are the best teachers?
The words "merit pay" always lead to the question, "How do you rate teachers?" Teachers fear a return to the "bad old days" before tenure laws, when smoking in public or voting in the wrong party could get them fired. Parents fear a new wave of teachers teaching to a test that not only measures students, but sets their pay grade. Administrators and School Boards fear morale drops, disruption of teamwork and union issues. These are all real, not certainly not insurmountable problems.
We evaluate members of every other profession whenever we hire or choose them. From plumbers to doctors, architects to zoologists, employees are evaluated on a combination of statistical and subjective measures. If we work carefully and include all the stakeholders in the discussion we should be able to arrive at a system that is both fair and meaningful.
If you move into a neighborhood and ask, "What third grade teacher should I ask for?" or "Who's the best biology teacher?" you will get clear and pretty consistent answers. College students have few problems finding profs that meet their need, for an easy A or for real learning. School hire "the best available coach" all the time. If you ask teachers who they respect and honor within their own ranks, they know who the great teachers are.
Merit pay doesn't have to mean a permanent ranking teachers from #1 to #3,427. It could mean awards to 20% of teachers every year. It could mean awards to buildings or departments that meet pre-determined goals, or overcome obstacles. It will certainly mean some deep thinking about what we really value in education.
We evaluate members of every other profession whenever we hire or choose them. From plumbers to doctors, architects to zoologists, employees are evaluated on a combination of statistical and subjective measures. If we work carefully and include all the stakeholders in the discussion we should be able to arrive at a system that is both fair and meaningful.
If you move into a neighborhood and ask, "What third grade teacher should I ask for?" or "Who's the best biology teacher?" you will get clear and pretty consistent answers. College students have few problems finding profs that meet their need, for an easy A or for real learning. School hire "the best available coach" all the time. If you ask teachers who they respect and honor within their own ranks, they know who the great teachers are.
Merit pay doesn't have to mean a permanent ranking teachers from #1 to #3,427. It could mean awards to 20% of teachers every year. It could mean awards to buildings or departments that meet pre-determined goals, or overcome obstacles. It will certainly mean some deep thinking about what we really value in education.
posted by Kathy Smith at
12:56 PM
3 Comments:
I have two thoughts on this:
First, I agree with a merit pay system with "incentives" meaning teachers would make "x" salary and then they would make additional incentives based on certain criteria. I think that criteria would need to be decided in PA from a select number of individuals including some administrators, some teachers, and some parents or school board members.
Second, one of the problems with parents asking around to see who the "best" teacher is that each teacher and student are different. Just because one student and teacher do not "mesh", does not mean that teacher is bad. Another factor is the other students in a class. Certain types of students do not do well with certain teaching styles. It may be that parents should be more concerned with the other students in the classroom than the actual teacher. One disruptive or violent student can really cause chaos. Been there, done that with my child. It wasn't the teacher's fault she had to interupt class on a daily basis to deal with a child who was disruptive.
before anything is done, the "no child left behind" needs to get out of the school system. my child's education is put on hold because last year the teacher would actually take 2 weeks out of their regular schedule to PRACTICE for the PSSA testing, which is supposed to be a nonbiased testing to see where your child is. right.. crap it all into them before the test. that's really testing their progress?
I work at a school that has merit pay and I think it's terrible and I'm a teacher that typically gets my fill raise. There is nothing set that says if you do x,y, and z you will get this amount, etc. We just cross our fingers and hope for the best.
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