3 ms·

> Why not? State law prevents it in many cases. Collective bargaining agreements with unions, standard pay scales etc.

by ktsmith 14y ago

w1ntermute 14y ago
That sounds like a place to start then. Change the laws.
- ktsmith 14y ago
  One of the provisions of being eligible for federal funding as part of the Race to the Top program is that states implement merit pay. I don't personally believe that will change anything and may place even more emphasis on standardized testing, but it could also lead to diversified pay scales.
  - japhyr 14y ago
    I am really suspicious of any teacher evaluation system that ties to merit pay. I don't trust administrators and politicians to understand statistics well enough to measure my impact on student learning, as distinct from impacts such as home life, previous teachers, environmental factors, etc. I would love to be able to earn higher pay for better performance. I have been so frustrated with terrible teachers getting paid much more than me throughout my career, simply because they'd been there longer. But I haven't seen any merit pay system yet that is anything more than a token bonus for some nebulous student performance measures. Nate Silver did an AMA on reddit the other day, and the top question related to teacher evaluation and merit pay: "What are your thoughts on data-driven metrics for teacher evaluation? Do you think a system that accurately reflects teacher value could ever be created, or will it always be plagued by perverse incentives (teaching to the test, neglecting certain types of students, etc)?" He basically said that's too big of a question to answer in an AMA[0], it would take a book. But his first line captures my stance on merit pay: "There are certainly cases where applying objective measures badly is worse than not applying them at all, and education may well be one of those." [0] - http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/166yeo/iama_blogger_for_fivethirtyeight_at_the_new_york/ http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/166yeo/iama_blogger_fo...
    - ktsmith 14y ago
      I agree with Silver that it's far too big of a question for an AMA. My biggest concern in the short term regarding merit pay is that it is little more than a buzz word. Politicians throw it around as if it's a quick fix and then administrators are handed mandates that are poorly thought out so that it looks like something is being done.

> Why not? State law prevents it in many cases. Collective bargaining agreements with unions, standard pay scales etc.

by ktsmith 14y ago

> Why not? State law prevents it in many cases. Collective bargaining agreements with unions, standard pay scales etc.

w1ntermute 14y ago

That sounds like a place to start then. Change the laws.

ktsmith 14y ago
One of the provisions of being eligible for federal funding as part of the Race to the Top program is that states implement merit pay. I don't personally believe that will change anything and may place even more emphasis on standardized testing, but it could also lead to diversified pay scales.
- japhyr 14y ago
  I am really suspicious of any teacher evaluation system that ties to merit pay. I don't trust administrators and politicians to understand statistics well enough to measure my impact on student learning, as distinct from impacts such as home life, previous teachers, environmental factors, etc. I would love to be able to earn higher pay for better performance. I have been so frustrated with terrible teachers getting paid much more than me throughout my career, simply because they'd been there longer. But I haven't seen any merit pay system yet that is anything more than a token bonus for some nebulous student performance measures. Nate Silver did an AMA on reddit the other day, and the top question related to teacher evaluation and merit pay: "What are your thoughts on data-driven metrics for teacher evaluation? Do you think a system that accurately reflects teacher value could ever be created, or will it always be plagued by perverse incentives (teaching to the test, neglecting certain types of students, etc)?" He basically said that's too big of a question to answer in an AMA[0], it would take a book. But his first line captures my stance on merit pay: "There are certainly cases where applying objective measures badly is worse than not applying them at all, and education may well be one of those." [0] - http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/166yeo/iama_blogger_for_fivethirtyeight_at_the_new_york/ http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/166yeo/iama_blogger_fo...
  - ktsmith 14y ago
    I agree with Silver that it's far too big of a question for an AMA. My biggest concern in the short term regarding merit pay is that it is little more than a buzz word. Politicians throw it around as if it's a quick fix and then administrators are handed mandates that are poorly thought out so that it looks like something is being done.