Monday, March 12, 2007
Teacher Pay for Performance
A hot teacher motivation topic is Pay for Performance.There is a lot of opinion about this topic---on both sides of the coin.Teachers, administrators, policy makers, and the public all have strong opinions on this issue.For the YES group, supporters say that it is a positive incentive to recruit and keep the best teachers. This group believes that we are losing our brightest educators to the world of business where they can get more pay for the same (ad sometimes less) work.For the NO group, the problems raised include disparity in student enrollment, teaching situations, and experience. Is it fair to use PFP when one teacher has a special ed group and another gifted? High free and reduced lunch over high socio-economic group?Many questions, many concerns.
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10 comments:
Teacher pay for performance is appealing when you teach the haves or gifted students. But there is no equity in evaluating performance unless a pre test and post test are created to measure gains with one group of student over a one year period.
The questions you raise at the end of your article are valid. I'd like to know how Performance is evaluated and if the same criteria will be used across the board.
I feel that pay for performance has its merits, but more than grades should be used to evaluate the performance. Pre and post tests may work as well as onsite visits and speaking with the students and parents when possible to get their feedback on the teachers performance. Not all of a teachers accomplishments can be measured by the grades a student makes. Things like inspiring a child to expand their horizons and better their future are very important but very hard to measure.
How are teachers paid for performance? Is there a base pay at which all teachers begin and then increments of increased pay according to performance? Do teachers receive a financial bonus in addition to their standard pay? Who defines "performance" because this determines how it is defined?
Teacher Pay for Performance does not seem as if it would be created equal for teachers of all grade and performance levels. It only lends to benefit the instructors of gifted students. It would also be interesting to see how exactly the pay scale would be measured and put into effect fairly.
Although I am not currently in a k-12 classroom, I don't see the equality in this. How do you pay for performance when comparing socioeconomic divides?? Does this seem fair to the teachers who choose to work in low-income areas just because they want to actually help students?? Talk about creating a teacher shortage.........
I do not think pay for performance is fair. We can not control the homelife or previous experiences of the students who enter our classroom. I also understand that it is determined by schools. If one teacher works very hard and another just gets by, if the school is rewarded with pay for performance then all teachers get the reward. This does nothing to inspire the really good teachers to continue if they are rewarded the same as those who are barely getting by.
Pay for Performance is certainly a hot topic. There are many issues raised when this topic is related to education, but not to other professions? I wonder why that is.
In Georgia, the Office of Student Achievement gives guidelines to consider regarding PFP in public education.
As a recent recipient of a PFP stipend, I do appreciate the fact that my district appreciates the trend of rising student achievement at my school.
In Georgia, every school is not required to use the same criteria...and as Deena pointed out it is important to consider your student group....maybe an overall achievement would be considered for the entire school?
My belief is that all children can learn....and show academic improvement.
Mizgwendar
It is my belief that PfP is just another way to create disharmony and conflict that most school districts do not need. PfP is simply another political move that will not benefit children at all. Sure, all teachers would love to receive a little bonus in their paychecks. With PfP will they all receive this bonus? No. This will cause feelings of inadequacy among highly qualified teachers. I once heard a poem that compared blueberries to school. In the poem the farmer had to pick out the "bad" blueberries and throw them out. In school we can not pick out the "bad" children. We can not send children back home because they did not sleep well or because they missed breakfast or dinner the night before. We do not even send back the children who have been abused and come with emotional or behavioral issues. We take them in and do the best we can.
All children are not going to learn at the same rate and the teacher can not be held responsible for this. Maybe someone should be reminded, we do not give birth to them, we simply teach them!!
The pay for performance system has both positive and negative aspects. I will all depend on how it is set up and governed in order to be fair for the teachers. When it comes to a pay for performance system I have found that favoritism plays a big factor how employees receive their raises. Sometimes it is not based on merit.
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