Incentive pay for Teachers ....

I am a High School Math teacher in my 22nd year of teaching in Texas public schools. I have mixed emotions about incentive pay for teachers.

I do believe teachers need to be paid more for the work that they do.

I do not believe that simply putting in another year in the classroom is reason enough to give a teacher a raise.

I would be in support of Incentive Pay for teachers if:

A) My students were tested at the beginning of the semester to establish a baseline of present knowledge.

B) I then teach my students the material I am required to teach them in the best ways I possibly can throughout the entire semester.

C) At the end of the semester the students are tested again .... over the material that I taught them and the baseline material ... to see if they gained in knowledge.

D) If a student has been out of my class due to absences or for disciplinary reasons .... even if they have been in a school based disciplinary program .... for 5 or more days in an 18 week period .... I would NOT be held accountable for that student's scores. Five days of a 90 minute/day class is equivalent to 10 days of a regular 45 minutes class ... and is a lot of lost learning time.

I believe this to be a fair and just basis for awarding Incentive pay to teachers.

With the system as it is now, I am against Incentive Pay for Teachers because:

A) I teach the low to average students with a high percentage of Special Ed. and ESL and disciplinary problem students tossed in for good measure. If the performance of my students is to be judged against the performance of students in Gifted/Talented or Pre-AP and AP classes ... I won't ever stand a chance of earning more money.

B) I teach Geometry to 10th graders. YET .... the TAKS test they take in 10th grade covers Algebra I and Middle School Math. I would be judged on how well they learned math in other teachers' classes last year and years before, NOT on the material I am teaching them now. My 10th grade students will not actually be TAKS tested on Geometry until Spring of their 11th grade year .... while they are in an Algebra II class with a different teacher. Would I be judged then on how well they did on the material I taught them over a year previous, or would the Algebra II teacher be held accountable for their scores on the 11th grade TAKS test which tests mostly the Geometry that they learned A YEAR AGO.

C) I would feel very strongly pressured to "teach to the test" which would mean that in my "Geometry" class I would focus all my energies on being sure my students can do Algebra I backwards and forwards and upside-down. I would make sure all basic Middle-School Math concepts are absolutely mastered. Geometry covers a very different area of topics, which is why it is a separate class from Algebra I. I would only cover the topics I knew would be tested on the TAKS test my students would be taking .... because that determines money for me.

D) As it stands .... I am judged by the performance of every student on my roll sheet ... regardless of how much time they actually spent in my classroom. If they move to my school 2 weeks before the TAKS, their score is my problem. If they had surgery and missed 2 weeks of school, still my problem. I actually have some students on my roll whom I have never met, and will never meet because they are in Alternative Education Placement for disciplinary reasons. I have to send them lessons and grade whatever work I get back from them ... but I do not teach them.

E) I have students with IQ's ranging from 75-150+. A student with a 75 IQ will never become a student with a 100(average) IQ .... no matter how well I teach them. They will never MASTER the TAKS Math tests. I would hope I could raise their TAKS scores through time spent in my class, but their IQ will always hamper their achievement.

F) Believe it or not, some teenagers just flat do not care to learn. They are only in school because the law says they HAVE to be. They do not try. They do not care. I can pour love and patience and hours and expertise into these students and they still will not care. Failure has no effect on them. These students could cost me my bonus.