As I was talking over lunch with some fellow teachers the other day, an upper level science teacher made the comment that our educational system does little to reward teachers for doing a good job. As a core teacher, he has lobbied for science and math teachers to get paid more than other teachers because of NCLB. His point is that since they are directly tested for NCLB, they have more accountability and more value in the school system. His solution is for merit pay. When asked how he would do it, he said that making AYP shows that they are doing their job.
I am not personally against merit pay in theory, but am against it in the fact that it should definitely not be test based. No good teacher should be afraid of merit pay. However, until a system can be formed and maintained that rewards all teachers for doing a good job that can be applied equitably for all teachers, with the opportunity to earn merit pay every year that they qualify, I don't see merit pay as a solution.
The example I used is that most people who see test scores affecting their pay will begin to teach to the test rather than teach the material. I know very few teachers who will admit to teaching to the test, but I know it is going on. I know there are accounting teachers teaching to the test for various competitions. Those students can do very well when given a multiple choice test, but when having to apply the concepts they can't do it.
NEA Today recently had an article that discusses a study that shows low-income schools with primarily minority populations are teaching to the test and teaching test-taking strategies in place of teaching content. "Study: Test Prep Grows, Curriculum Shrinks in Low-Income Schools" discusses the perils of teaching to the test, providing students with ways to meet AYP but leaving them with skills that are useless in their future lives. AYP was supposed to help low-achieving students, yet the pressure to attain test scores is actually hurting the very students it was supposed to help.
This study also supports my argument that test scores should not be a basis for determining teacher pay. It is unfortunate that we have teachers that believe their role is more important than other teachers within our own school. I made the point to my co-worker that several of the areas he felt provided a lesser role that each teacher has an equally important role in every student's education. Teachers teaching the low-achieving student is every bit as important as the one's teaching the high-achieving students. Physical education teachers are every bit as important if we are going to stem the tide of obesity in our society. Career and Technical Education teachers are important in preparing students for their careers. We need to understand that all faculty members have an important role and it is more important for us to work together instead of becoming divided because we want monetary rewards for doing a good job.
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Merit Pay
ReplyDeleteThis is an issue that is closely associated with charter schools and is a reiteration of the No Child Left Behind Act.
Basically, it requires that teachers pay be based on how well their students perform on standardized tests. With the No Child Left Behind Act, teachers and staff were pressured to teach much of the class work to the standardized tests. With so much focus on the test, many other parts of knowledge building, creativity and understanding of subjects and their synthesis with other knowledge had to take a back seat. For many students, teaching to a test meant that they were not able to reach their full potential which would have been far beyond the level of the tests.
No one wins in this situation.
Part of the fallout also is that if a teacher's pay is based on how well their students test, many teachers will want to teach in a school where they know that the students will perform better. Those schools are, for the most part, not the minority schools.
Some students do not perform well on standardized tests for many different reasons and yet a teacher's pay can be tied to that student's performance. High stakes testing also puts pressure and stress on the students who become burdened with the thought that they need to perform well on one test. The test becomes a focus with little opportunity to explore and have fun learning, creating and synthesizing new thoughts and ideas.
For additional information on the ramifications of merit pay, see;
http://seattle-ed.blogspot.com
Good points Randy.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was very disturbing after reading the article when the comment was said that test taking strategies are not going to help students out in the real world after school.
Then why do we give them this form of test?! Of course schools are going to focus on these kind strategies and teach to the test if this is what their students are supposed to know. We need to revamp the system if schools are getting penalized for teaching how to pass a test in which they need to pass. It seems logical that schools would do this. If they are not supposed to change the system.
The other thing about merit pay. I agree with you that all teachers are important. On top of this math and science already have better job security plus they can have more than 3 times more loans forgiven.
Instead of merit pay, we should throw out the tenure crap and make the job market more competitive. If you are the best teacher for the job, it's yours.
Philip
Randy,
ReplyDeleteI wrote about this a little in the past, as well. One thing that I found was that student performance seemed to be directly linked to the students no matter what. If you could keep a group of kids together for 12 years, they'd perform only slightly differently from one teacher to the next. There was rarely anything dramatic that would say one teacher did something differently to really affect their scores negatively or positively. There are too many factors, however, that do affect these scores. At my school district, the teachers split the kids up according to behaviors, reading, math, and gender. They try to keep it equitable amongst the grade level and the following teachers. Sometimes they take into account that one teacher has a different personality than the other.
I think with all the changes and factors from home life and new curriculums each year, our kids are naturally going to perform differently. If I was to receive pay from performance, I'd be for it if I was able to recruit my students like a good basketball coach recruits his team.
As far as Dora's comment about people not working in a minority school anymore, I'd say it's generally true. However, Dr. Chavis, from Oakland, CA proved that doesn't apply when he turned his school's API scores from 300 to 900 in 8 years after demanding homework completion and firm discipline in the form of public humiliation at the 99% minority populated school he was at. You can read more about it at my blog. http://vcsugrad.blogspot.com/
Have a great week.
Randy B.