Thursday, January 29, 2009
Teacher Pay and Student Performance
I thought the discussion between teacher pay and student performance was interesting. We know that simply paying teachers who are in their positions now more would not effectively raise test scores. I think there can be a way that paying teachers more could lead to higher test scores, although I am not sure if it would make things better or worse overall. Rather than having salary schedules, teachers could be considered like free agents in baseball are , with a minimum salary. Schools could then sign teachers for whatever their market value is; the better the teacher, the higher the salary. In this scenario, paying teachers more could lead to increased student achievement. There are some potential issues with this, such as 1) districts would have to value teaching ability over saving money, 2) without equitable funding, poorer districts couldn't afford the best teachers, 3) an effective way to determine the quality of a teacher would need to be created, and there are most likely more than I am thinking of now. I also wouldn't want to be the first administrator to try to implement such a system. It is certainly interesting to think about.
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2 comments:
Ian,
This used to be the system and women were paid less (elem teachers) and people who had political connections made even more.(coaches, band directors and relatives of the school board) This was not a morale booster. What happens if a teacher is a "free agent" and gets cancer or needs a heart transpant or has a child with diabetes? A district could "cut" them because
they are too expensive. What about the time it would take for each teacher to individually negotiate their contract. What type of data would you use to try to make it objective? Test scores? That would make SPED and ELL less than attractive. I started my career in the last district in Iowa without a master contract. That's what turned me into the teachers' union advocate I am today.
Yeah, I know- I'm just being hypothetical here. One of the problems is that school districts won't always value the quality of education a teacher can provide the most (paying coaches & relatives more). Perhaps you could make a salary schedule based on objective data.
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