[etni] Re: Solving the teacher pay issue could help students
- From: Bari Nirenberg <bnirenberg@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: ask@xxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 4 Oct 2009 10:43:49 +0200
Interesting piece, but I think the issues raised lead to more questions than
answers. For example, how can we objectively measure a teacher's
"effectiveness"? Students' grades are certainly no indication of how good
their teacher is -- they have as much to do with the ability of the students
and their prior knowledge as they do with what and how they were taught over
the course of one year. A system in which teachers' salaries are based on
the performance of their students (as "proof" of the teachers'
effectiveness) will likely lead to a lot of embittered teachers who will
have even less incentive to work hard than they currently do.
I also believe that we're treading on dangerous ground when we start to
value the contribution of a teacher of one subject over that of a teacher of
another subject. Furthermore, I don't believe that teachers choose the
subject they are going to teach based on how much work they will have to
do. Rather, I think that most people end up teaching a subject that they
excelled at and/or a subject that interests them.
I agree that current employment conditions for teachers (in Israel
especially, although the editorial is referring to the US) do not attract
nearly enough potentially good teachers to the system. I say "potentially"
because we all know that a bright mind is not the only requirement for a
good teacher. However, in my opinion, the answer is not in the "not all
teachers were created equally" philosophy.
Bari
2009/10/4 Ask_Etni <ask@xxxxxxxx>
> Solving the teacher pay issue could help students
> KALAMAZOO NEWS - October 3, 2009
>
> For decades, the debate about teacher pay was framed in simplistic terms:
> Are teachers paid too much or too little?
>
> The teacher-pay debate is heating up nowadays, with even President Barack
> Obama weighing in, but the nature of the discussion has changed
> considerably. Rather than the too-much-or-too-little argument, there?s
> growing consensus that the real problem is a system that rewards seniority
> over performance, ignores the difference between, say, teaching gym and
> calculus, and fails miserably at putting the best teachers with the kids
> who
> need them most.
>
> At the core of the debate is this recognition: Teacher quality is the
> single-most important factor in school quality.
>
> An at-risk kid who has stellar teachers has a good chance of success,
> research shows. The at-risk kid with poor teachers for several years
> running
> is academically sunk.
>
> ?It?s time to start rewarding good teachers, (and) stop making excuses for
> bad ones,? Obama said in a March speech.
>
> (To read the whole article, go to -
>
> http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2009/10/solving_the_teacher_pay_issue.html
> )
>
>
>
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