ABC World News leads with a HUGE Assumption
The title sounds like something NO ONE could possibly disagree with, “Bonus Pay for Teachers,” which reminds me straight away of No Child Left Behind. Which is supposed to make you cringe. Sure, sign me up for a bonus, why not?
The catchis that this story that aired on national news tonight glossed over the real point of contention, standardized test scores do not equal an education. I made a few hundred extra my second year teaching in FL by completing a ‘Pay for Performance’ goal, documentation and then submitting FCAT scores. Because this money is administered through the states the instrument chosen to report gains are state produced tests, criterion referenced - not norm referenced (criterion means to criteria the state sets and writes the instrument for / norm meaning comparing kids to all other kids taking this test, putting everyone on one huge bell curve). State tests are written by the state DOE and are a product of people policing themselves, interested in gains, educational inbreeding as it were. The instance reported in TX showed Houston schools increasing scores on standardized tests by ten points over two points state wide. By just looking at that data you realize there is always gain on standardized tests as teachers and students learn the test (you get negative growth overall usually only when a test is revamped/changed).
Aren’t there any other quantitative OR qualitative measures to judge by, let’s say the standards, the curriculum, whatever your local school boards calls it that they deem essential for students to learn? That would be authentic, valid work to assess growth upon, but that would take time which is money and states are just looking to appease teachers and pat them selves on the back in the same motion.
When those large companies ,that were trotted out for this comparison on the point of bonuses, want to attract the best they PAY better and offer better benefits. You could find some bad teachers out there, but mostly you will find teachers that want to do better, but are shackled by Lunch/Recess/Bus Duty, playing nurse/secretary/referee and spending their personal money on supplies/treats/science materials for their students. Based on that type of multitasking I’d bet we could increase test scores if we just alleviated all non-teaching tasks from teachers lives!
A new federal initiative will give bonus pay to teachers in certain states if students’ test scores improve.
A Poll from ABC News:
Should teachers get merit pay?
They should just get better pay overall.
63
No way. It’s their job to help kids succeed.
17
Definitely, they deserve a bonus for their good work.
9
Total Vote: 89
