Dallas Math Education Examiner: Merit pay for math teachers
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Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
Merit pay and math teachers
President Obama's big plan for education .... reward good teachers and remove bad ones. Great idea, Mr. President. Now ... how do you propose to implement it? How do you define a "Good Teacher" or a "Bad Teacher"?
Maybe something like this?
Good Teacher .... a teacher whose students have better test scores than they did the previous year.
Medium Teacher ... a teacher whose students show no improvement over test scores from last year.
Bad Teacher ... a teacher whose students have worse test scores than they did the previous year.
To you, Mr. President, and to the General Public, these definitions probably sound pretty good! And we should reward the Good Teachers with more money .... Fire the Bad Teachers ... and encourage the Medium Teachers to try harder to do better. Right?
The test scores we will be comparing from year to year should be the standardized tests implemented in all states due to No Child Left Behind. Right? These tests are already in place and being used to measure all kinds of things, why not use them to measure a teacher's worth?
This type of plan is doomed to fail and will only create a worsening deficit in the quality of education in our public schools. Allow me to try to explain from the point of view of a high school math teacher in Texas. This explanation itself will test my teaching skills .... let's see if you can follow along.
Say I am a High School Geometry teacher. Regular Geometry ... not Pre-AP or Honors ... just regular 10th graders taking Geometry for the first time in High School. I feel that I should teach GEOMETRY to these students.
In April of their 10th grade year, these students will take the state mandated TAKS test. The state mandated TAKS test for 10th graders tests their knowledge of Algebra I and 8th grade Math. It does NOT test their knowledge of Geometry. However .... my merit pay will be based on how my 10th graders preform on the 10th grade TAKS test.
So ... here is my quandary .... do I teach the subject I have been assigned to teach, which is Geometry, or do I teach the subjects which my students will be tested on in April, which are Algebra I and 8th grade Math?
If I teach to the test, I will not be covering the Geometry .... if I teach the geometry, I risk the chance of my students not preforming well on the State test, and that could cost me my merit pay and maybe even my job. But if I don't teach them the Geometry, when will they learn it?
The 11th grade TAKS test tests Geometry and Algebra I .... but the students are sitting in Algebra II at that time. Should their Algebra II teacher focus on teaching the Geometry to them during Algebra II? His or her merit pay will be determined by how well the 11th graders can do Geometry on the test. So who will teach these students Algebra II? And when?
I felt strongly I needed to teach Geometry to my Geometry students. My new principal felt otherwise .... she wanted higher test scores. She ordered me to teach to the TAKS test. I said NO .... she said YES ... I said I QUIT! Which is how I ended up running my own tutoring business! ((And very happy for it, thank you!)) Now I earn my Merit Pay by getting repeat business.
This is just one small example of how difficult and troublesome it would be to implement Merit Pay in Texas High schools. One tiny example.
Other issues:
Maybe something like this?
Good Teacher .... a teacher whose students have better test scores than they did the previous year.
Medium Teacher ... a teacher whose students show no improvement over test scores from last year.
Bad Teacher ... a teacher whose students have worse test scores than they did the previous year.
To you, Mr. President, and to the General Public, these definitions probably sound pretty good! And we should reward the Good Teachers with more money .... Fire the Bad Teachers ... and encourage the Medium Teachers to try harder to do better. Right?
The test scores we will be comparing from year to year should be the standardized tests implemented in all states due to No Child Left Behind. Right? These tests are already in place and being used to measure all kinds of things, why not use them to measure a teacher's worth?
This type of plan is doomed to fail and will only create a worsening deficit in the quality of education in our public schools. Allow me to try to explain from the point of view of a high school math teacher in Texas. This explanation itself will test my teaching skills .... let's see if you can follow along.
Say I am a High School Geometry teacher. Regular Geometry ... not Pre-AP or Honors ... just regular 10th graders taking Geometry for the first time in High School. I feel that I should teach GEOMETRY to these students.
In April of their 10th grade year, these students will take the state mandated TAKS test. The state mandated TAKS test for 10th graders tests their knowledge of Algebra I and 8th grade Math. It does NOT test their knowledge of Geometry. However .... my merit pay will be based on how my 10th graders preform on the 10th grade TAKS test.
So ... here is my quandary .... do I teach the subject I have been assigned to teach, which is Geometry, or do I teach the subjects which my students will be tested on in April, which are Algebra I and 8th grade Math?
If I teach to the test, I will not be covering the Geometry .... if I teach the geometry, I risk the chance of my students not preforming well on the State test, and that could cost me my merit pay and maybe even my job. But if I don't teach them the Geometry, when will they learn it?
The 11th grade TAKS test tests Geometry and Algebra I .... but the students are sitting in Algebra II at that time. Should their Algebra II teacher focus on teaching the Geometry to them during Algebra II? His or her merit pay will be determined by how well the 11th graders can do Geometry on the test. So who will teach these students Algebra II? And when?
I felt strongly I needed to teach Geometry to my Geometry students. My new principal felt otherwise .... she wanted higher test scores. She ordered me to teach to the TAKS test. I said NO .... she said YES ... I said I QUIT! Which is how I ended up running my own tutoring business! ((And very happy for it, thank you!)) Now I earn my Merit Pay by getting repeat business.
This is just one small example of how difficult and troublesome it would be to implement Merit Pay in Texas High schools. One tiny example.
Other issues:
- Teachers whose students already top out the tests and have no way to improve. Do those teachers get Merit Pay?
- Teachers who teach something besides the core curriculum subjects of Math, Science, English, and Social Studies .... do those teachers get Merit Pay?
- Teachers who are assigned non-English speakers and all the tests are in English ... will these teachers lose their jobs?
- In Texas 3rd, 5th, 8th, and 11th grade tests are High Stakes Tests .... the students must pass them to move on. But 4th, 6th, 7th, 9th, and 10th grade tests have no strings attached ... the students will be promoted regardless of their performance. Would you want your paycheck tied to the performance of a high school sophomore on a standardized test which holds nothing of value to him?
Next: More thoughts on Merit Pay and how I would LIKE to see it done.
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