Post by slt on Oct 23, 2009 9:46:31 GMT -5
www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/news/schools/1837908,performance-pay-classroom-tatar-column_AU102109.article
Does performance pay belong in the classroom?
October 21, 2009
By SHERRY TATAR For The Beacon-News
One of the ideas being promoted by the Obama administration is performance pay for teachers. This seems to make sense. In most industries a worker's salary and/or bonus is tied to his or her own and the company's performance, rather than a combination of the worker's number of years of experience and education that disregards individual performance.
The problem comes in measuring teacher performance. Usually a person's performance is evaluated by his or her direct supervisor. Due to the nature of the job and the number of teachers working in a school, it might be difficult for a principal to accurately rate performance. Data would be needed, likely in the form of test scores, and possibly including feedback from parents and students. Yet care needs to be taken with this. I have found as a parent that some of the teachers my children have most loved and thrived under are the same ones with whom other families have had the worst experiences, and vice versa.
In order for test scores to be used, students would need to be tested at the beginning and end of each school year. What kind of tests would be used here, a test for each grade level in the lower grades and for each subject in the upper grades? Would this be in addition to the myriad of standardized tests our students are already subjected to?
Parents want their children's time spent learning. They do not want students spending vast amounts of time learning how to take tests, practicing tests, having their learning restricted to only things that will be on tests, and spending more and more time taking standardized tests. If our teachers' salaries were tied to the outcome of these tests, it seems that classroom learning and teacher creativity would take yet another turn for the worse. What would happen to art, music, sports, and other extra-curriculars and electives in such a system?
Even if the tests themselves could be agreed upon, how would the results be handled? At all levels students may have different teachers for different subjects. Would the scores be divided out by student by subject in order to allocate them to the proper teacher? This seems like it would get unwieldy rather quickly. Would teachers be held responsible for the learning of students who moved in during the course of the year, or those who had a high number of absences throughout the year?
When a teacher is doing a poor job it is likely apparent to the students and parents, and hopefully the principal as well. These teachers should be given some guidance for improvement as would an employee in any other organization. Because of tenure it can be very hard to do anything about this situation. Any plan that involves rewarding excellence needs to also allow for replacing teachers whose performance is not up to par.
We like to think that the quality of a person's teaching will have a huge impact on student learning, and in fact it should and in many cases it does, but there are many factors that teachers have no control over, which can have an even greater impact. A student's home life and their own internal motivation or lack thereof will in many cases be an even bigger indicator for that student's success in school. Teachers should not be blamed for having students who are not ready and able to learn. If teacher salaries are to be tied to student performance, then who in their right mind would choose to teach at the more challenging jobs at poorer schools over schools in more wealthy areas?
“The big question that looms over these pay for performance initiatives remains, ‘Is it the pay for performance or the programs that accompany this initiative that seems to increase student achievement?,’ said Val Dranias, Indian Prairie School District 204’s Education Association president. “The better pay for performance initiatives all include student-focused data analysis, targeted professional development for teachers, and strong mentoring programs. In many parts of the country, these programs do not exist. In Indian Prairie School District 204 we have worked together with the administration to initiate these methods of increasing student achievement.”
There are some teachers who absolutely excel at what they do — and while they do not get any extra monetary award for that, they may be rewarded with students who are eager to learn, who are actively engaged in classroom activities, and who come visit them years later to thank them. Teachers at the other end of the scale may find themselves with students who don't turn in their homework, who don't understand the material, who are unhappy to be in the classroom, and who never come back excited to see them.
“In my department I choose to put the best teachers with the lowest level learners; this is who and what they need to be successful learners,” said Molly Owles, math department chair at Waubonsie Valley High School. “If teachers were paid based on the performance of their students, no teacher would choose to teach these courses, and who could blame them?”
I have to believe that most teachers chose their profession not to get rich but to help guide young minds through either a particular subject or a year of elementary school. They want their students to learn. They are willing to jump through the hoops required by today's educational system in order to get the payoff of students understanding the topic at hand and possibly bringing them to a love of learning itself.
Some of the best things a good teacher provides students cannot be measured easily on a test. These include inspiring a passion for learning, inspiring a deeper interest in the topics presented, and instilling a sense of worth in the students themselves as well as possibly planting the seeds that will lead to a student pursuing a new passion or the beginnings of something that will become that child's career someday. Good teachers can make a lasting positive impact on the lives of their students in ways that go far beyond improving their test scores.
Pay for performance is one of those things that sounds like a great idea on the surface but there is a lot that needs to go into making it a viable program.
Sherry Tatar can be reached at sherrytatar@ameritech.net.
Does performance pay belong in the classroom?
October 21, 2009
By SHERRY TATAR For The Beacon-News
One of the ideas being promoted by the Obama administration is performance pay for teachers. This seems to make sense. In most industries a worker's salary and/or bonus is tied to his or her own and the company's performance, rather than a combination of the worker's number of years of experience and education that disregards individual performance.
The problem comes in measuring teacher performance. Usually a person's performance is evaluated by his or her direct supervisor. Due to the nature of the job and the number of teachers working in a school, it might be difficult for a principal to accurately rate performance. Data would be needed, likely in the form of test scores, and possibly including feedback from parents and students. Yet care needs to be taken with this. I have found as a parent that some of the teachers my children have most loved and thrived under are the same ones with whom other families have had the worst experiences, and vice versa.
In order for test scores to be used, students would need to be tested at the beginning and end of each school year. What kind of tests would be used here, a test for each grade level in the lower grades and for each subject in the upper grades? Would this be in addition to the myriad of standardized tests our students are already subjected to?
Parents want their children's time spent learning. They do not want students spending vast amounts of time learning how to take tests, practicing tests, having their learning restricted to only things that will be on tests, and spending more and more time taking standardized tests. If our teachers' salaries were tied to the outcome of these tests, it seems that classroom learning and teacher creativity would take yet another turn for the worse. What would happen to art, music, sports, and other extra-curriculars and electives in such a system?
Even if the tests themselves could be agreed upon, how would the results be handled? At all levels students may have different teachers for different subjects. Would the scores be divided out by student by subject in order to allocate them to the proper teacher? This seems like it would get unwieldy rather quickly. Would teachers be held responsible for the learning of students who moved in during the course of the year, or those who had a high number of absences throughout the year?
When a teacher is doing a poor job it is likely apparent to the students and parents, and hopefully the principal as well. These teachers should be given some guidance for improvement as would an employee in any other organization. Because of tenure it can be very hard to do anything about this situation. Any plan that involves rewarding excellence needs to also allow for replacing teachers whose performance is not up to par.
We like to think that the quality of a person's teaching will have a huge impact on student learning, and in fact it should and in many cases it does, but there are many factors that teachers have no control over, which can have an even greater impact. A student's home life and their own internal motivation or lack thereof will in many cases be an even bigger indicator for that student's success in school. Teachers should not be blamed for having students who are not ready and able to learn. If teacher salaries are to be tied to student performance, then who in their right mind would choose to teach at the more challenging jobs at poorer schools over schools in more wealthy areas?
“The big question that looms over these pay for performance initiatives remains, ‘Is it the pay for performance or the programs that accompany this initiative that seems to increase student achievement?,’ said Val Dranias, Indian Prairie School District 204’s Education Association president. “The better pay for performance initiatives all include student-focused data analysis, targeted professional development for teachers, and strong mentoring programs. In many parts of the country, these programs do not exist. In Indian Prairie School District 204 we have worked together with the administration to initiate these methods of increasing student achievement.”
There are some teachers who absolutely excel at what they do — and while they do not get any extra monetary award for that, they may be rewarded with students who are eager to learn, who are actively engaged in classroom activities, and who come visit them years later to thank them. Teachers at the other end of the scale may find themselves with students who don't turn in their homework, who don't understand the material, who are unhappy to be in the classroom, and who never come back excited to see them.
“In my department I choose to put the best teachers with the lowest level learners; this is who and what they need to be successful learners,” said Molly Owles, math department chair at Waubonsie Valley High School. “If teachers were paid based on the performance of their students, no teacher would choose to teach these courses, and who could blame them?”
I have to believe that most teachers chose their profession not to get rich but to help guide young minds through either a particular subject or a year of elementary school. They want their students to learn. They are willing to jump through the hoops required by today's educational system in order to get the payoff of students understanding the topic at hand and possibly bringing them to a love of learning itself.
Some of the best things a good teacher provides students cannot be measured easily on a test. These include inspiring a passion for learning, inspiring a deeper interest in the topics presented, and instilling a sense of worth in the students themselves as well as possibly planting the seeds that will lead to a student pursuing a new passion or the beginnings of something that will become that child's career someday. Good teachers can make a lasting positive impact on the lives of their students in ways that go far beyond improving their test scores.
Pay for performance is one of those things that sounds like a great idea on the surface but there is a lot that needs to go into making it a viable program.
Sherry Tatar can be reached at sherrytatar@ameritech.net.