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Teacher Pay Performance
Is it justifiable to tie public school teachers' pay to student test scores? What are the pros/cons?
On the surface, it seems so simple -- better teachers should be paid more than teachers of poor quality. After all, that is the rationale behind bonuses at a company in private enterprise. A salesperson who has a higher rate of sales receives a higher commission and salary than an individual with a poor sales record. The argument to linking teacher pay to student performance is similar to the rationale used in business -- linking pay to performance gives teachers an incentive to go the extra mile to make sure students will learn the material. They will stay after school later to tutor struggling pupils and follow up in class if students do not understand the material.
However, there is one problem with this analogy -- school is not a factory, and teachers are not dealing with a product over which they have sole control. Teachers deal with students for one brief year, and must grapple with the consequences of the student's previous education, home life, and learning disabilities. Sometimes, an apparently poor performance on a standardized proficiency exam may be a remarkable performance for an individual student, although not when compared to the rest of the district's more privileged or capable children,
Linking pay to student performance provides a profound disincentive for teachers not to take the risk of teaching in historically disenfranchised and underperforming school districts. Why work twice as hard to deal with students who are more difficult to educate, for less pay? Finally, linking pay to performance assumes the validity of the test used to measure student performance. Teachers who teach 'to the test' may receive a bonus, while teachers who spend time devising creative assignments, or who cover material in a way that deals with all of the student's multiple intelligences, rather than just the verbal and mathematical capabilities tested on standardized proficiency tests, may not be rewarded adequately.
Pay for performance is becoming commonplace in the business world. Pay raises and bonuses are often based on how well one performs on the job or on achieving specific results. However, this is not the case in education. Pay levels are typically based on years of experience and levels of education rather than on teacher effectiveness. As concerns about the quality of the nation's educational systems frequently appear in the
They computed a variety of measures to determine whether there was in fact a narrowing of a gap between teacher qualifications across wealthier and poorer schools and found that there was. This narrowing -- indicative of changes in hiring practices and policies as a result in NCLB, was positively correlated with improved test scores in those districts with higher poverty populations. The researcher felt there was some possibility, as indicated
In other fields, going the extra mile, investing extra weekend or evening time, or providing exemplary presentations and materials usually results in some form of bonus. In teaching, however, much of this is expected -- before and after school tutoring, evening performances, weekend events, out-of-pocket expenses for supplies and materials not covered in the budget (See: Johnson, 2004). Thus, while still presenting the overall debate from the public administration, governmental,
Since smaller class size has been shown to positively affect student learning, at least in the early grades, one might also infer that this affects teachers' work positively. Further, researchers have found a positive relationship between collective bargaining and increased preparation time for teachers, which many educators believe is essential for good teaching and collaborative work among colleagues within a school. Collective Bargaining, Unions and Teacher/Educational Quality In a March 1999
Teacher Performance Assessment Lesson Title: Science Central Focus of Lessons: What science is all about State Standard(s) Addressed: 7th Grade on science, science methodology and famous scientists. Lesson Objectives and Language Demands • Content/Skill Objectives: Students should state the definition of science Students should discuss the various science methodologies Students should name and discuss various prominent scientists Students should be able to identify the application of science in day to day life Language Demands: students are required to define and
, 2001). Prior to 1930, thought, little attention was given to pay-for-performance in the public sector in the United States except for the blue-collar, manufacturing functions that were being primarily performed for the military. During this period in American history, government was viewed (and perhaps still is by many) as a competitive threat to private enterprise; as a result, there was not much public support for developing a highly motivated and