Headline: “Obama calls for merit pay in education plan”.
Well, well, well. What a fine mess this is! It wasn’t all that long ago that Candidate McCain was calling for the same thing. That was in July and here’s my partial response (see blog dated July 20, 2008 in archive):
Having served in public education for over 30 years, I will be the first to say that in all of my years I have known my share of colleagues who were quite simply not getting it done and it annoyed me a lot that they were making as much as me who WAS getting it done. And yet, I can’t support McCain’s program for merit pay because the whole thing is tied to test scores. Here’s the theory the McCain & the Republicans love to put forward: Education is a business. As in all businesses, your compensation is based on your performance, right? Therefore it follows that if you perform satisfactorily (according to test scores), you’ll be justly compensated. Here’s the problem: The basic premise is wrong. That’s not at all how it works in the private sector. Think of all the people you know who were forced into retirement or who otherwise got shafted by their companies for reasons entirely different from performance-poor or otherwise. So let’s cut the bull and tell the truth. Second, the reason why merit pay won’t work is because there are certain significant segments of our society who simply do not value education. What’s a teacher supposed to do about that? Is that in his/her control? On top of that what about the significant number of students who don’t or barely speak English? Do you seriously expect them to be able to pass a test? Look, there’s no question there are people who simply do not belong in a classroom. Fine. Get rid of them. Fire them and let them work at McDonald’s. Then, those who are left can continue to do the fine job they’re doing for however much the pay scale they’re on dictates.
Nothing much has changed. The interesting part is that the teachers’ unions are so calm about this. Usually when someone (read: a Republican) brings this up, all hell breaks loose. But as one local NEA president said, “The devil’s in the details.” True enough. So what are the details, Mr. President? Here are some questions for you to ponder before turning this into reality:
1. Is your plan, in fact, tied to test scores?
2. If so, which ones? If not, then what?
3. Who’s funding this thing?
4. Who is going to oversee this plan: local administrators, state education officials, politicians at any level (local, state, federal), the federal government….who?
5. What about the teachers who aren’t getting it done? Is it good enough that they simply settle for less money or will there be some effort to retrain them or will they be dismissed or..what?
6. What about those parents/students who aren’t playing nice? Why should a teacher’s compensation be affected by factors beyond a teacher’s control? How do you plan to (delicately-or not) handle that?
7. Is this plan going to apply to every single public school in the country with the realization that there are many that are doing a great job? Would all those teachers at those schools get ‘merit’ pay?
You get the idea. Lots of sticky issues involved here so stay tuned. As details emerge, I’ll address them. I’m sure you can’t wait!
2 comments:
To use a current popular phrase, merit based pay is embarking on a "slippery slope". Teacher competency based on test scores is not a true total evaluation. Teaching is so much more than test results. Merit based evaluations tend to ignore the contributing social factors involved in fostering the development of students and also tend not measure true growth.
And another thing...how 'bout those of us that get...'those kids' every year? Often times, their skills are below standard or marginal at best. Or we have the kids that are so much in need they need an educational assistant to support them along with a certified teacher and special ed. teacher as well. With these guys comes a pack of the 'gray area kids'...the ones that struggle all the way through, are not eligible for services, etc. Ironically, their Mastery Test scores are just under or just at standard, but they don't qualify for services. The deck is stacked sideways, and if merit pay becomes the 'thing', I would probably still take 'those kids,' and I'd work my butt off to show the government what it means to REALLY EARN a living!!
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