Nice of CNN to give the first ten minutes of the debate to Barack and Hillary. But here's the candidates takes on Merit Pay:
Dodd against merit pay: Right on. Explained that we shouldn't reward teachers financially for being in the wealthiest districts with the wealthiest families. Great answer on Education.
Kucinich asked about unions. Really stupid question, "are there any issues with the unions that you disagree with?" Why he wasn't given a chance to address the merit pay issue I can't understand.
Richardson: Minimum wage for teachers. Didn't address the merit pay issue.
Hillary on merit pay: school-based merit pay (she means rewards for working in underserved areas). Reward collaboration. She's right: we need to get rid of ineffective teachers, not just reward the good ones.
Biden: An excellent teacher should be judged by whether they increase their skills on their own. Problem with merit pay: who makes the decision? We should demand more in terms of participation before school and after school. Starting salaries for teachers not competitive. Show me your budget and I'll tell you what you value.
John Edwards: Screw you, Edwards, you don't get to answer!
The ohdave award for excellence in answering the question on merit pay goes to:
Chris Dodd.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Merit Pay during Democratic Debate
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2 comments:
Dave:
Wish I had seen this debate. Will have to look for a replay (got to be some stuff on YouTube).
How about if we changed it from "Merit Pay" to "Achievement Recognition?" Not every, and perhaps few teachers are motivated by money - although you should have been at our School Board meeting last night. The union contract is under negotiation, and it's not going well. I suspect pay and benefits are the sticking point. 100s of teachers showed up, all dressed in black, filling the meeting room as well as the parking lot outside, visible through the windows. They stayed through the Pledge of Allegiance, then all left before the formal meeting started. The kids asked why the teachers were all Goth that day...
We have to figure out a way to reward the teachers who are getting the best results. It may occur in a classroom of gifted kids in an affluent suburb, or in an inner city classroom of kids who don't want to be there and chronically underachieve. I'd figure out how to reward the latter teacher generously if he/she got results.
I won't pretend to know what a great reward is. The best is one that individualized to the teacher. Maybe a year's paid sabbatical, or a room full of computers.
And the ones just getting by until retirement, creeping up the pay scale just like the good ones - those have to be weeded out.
PL
You know, I agree with you on this... I really think recognizing excellence through teaching awards like teacher of the year, etc., are very meaningful honors. Good teachers take those kinds of recognition very seriously.
A program around here recognizes teachers who are nominated by parents and administrators. Sure, occasionally political picks are made, and people just roll their eyes. But no one loses any money over it. And most of the time, the recipients are very deserving, and appreciative.
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